So hey- I'm back to finish this- I hope you enjoy the rest of the ride.

Sirius smiles at Jodi as she starts setting the table.

"-and if you have anything that relates to his father or mother that would be nice. Any books, photos, videos, something he had treasured- you know. Sentimental value. I mean I wouldn't ask you to part with it and we all love Harry very much but it would be nice for him to have something to remind him of his real parents. From what I've been told they were good people." Jodi says softly, placing a bottle of wine between where she usually sits and the place Sirius takes at the moment. The man has no doubts that her daughters will somehow get hold of some during the night and would claim innocence should they point the finger at him.

The two have been getting on quite well, Jodi and the girls having adjusted relatively quickly to having a possibly dangerous man of questionable sanity- and roguish good looks if he is quite honest with himself- living with them albeit temporarily. Sirius has found it refreshing on his part in many ways despite the struggle of having to cope without magic.

In this small town in America there are very few wizards and even fewer who would know of his status. This enables him to walk far more freely than he ever has been able to in Britain. For the first time in his life he isn't a Lord or a disgraced traitor or a 'murderer'. In fact any attention he does draw is from his dark sense of fashion and his British accent.

Never before has he been asked to 'say anything- I don't know what, just say something' so many times. If there weren't quite a few pretty ones in the mix he would have ran out of patience quite a while back. As it is he has gained about seven numbers, a tutorial on phones and how to use them from Jodi (he had explained his lack of basic knowledge away as having come from a very strict background and she had given him a look which plainly said she didn't believe him) and a very basic mobile phone courtesy of the rather small fraction of the Black vaults he had managed to gain access to and convert into Muggle money for America.

His ancestors would be turning in their graves and that suited Sirius more than just fine.

There is a certain purity, he finds, to living like Muggles. It takes a lot of getting used to and a lot of apologies when he gets it wrong but there's so much they've done with technology since he was sent to Azkaban. Even his beloved bike was old news now except to enthusiasts whose eyes seemed to gleam when he told them about it- maybe if he was lucky Hagrid or Dumbledore would know where it was now. He is very glad to have a break from pesky house elves.

He is a bit curious however about the fact that if she has been looking after Harry and knows that he's at Hogwarts surely that means she knows something of magic. He doesn't ask though- it would probably be quite rude.

Sirius sits now on a sofa opposite the television, one leg bent over the other and head tilted back to talk to his godson's new mother. Words can't describe how pleased he is that she has been Harry's guardian while he's been unable to care for him. Merlin- he wishes he'd had a mother like her.

"I would be more than happy to. He's the last link I have to two of my good friends- I know I can find something for him. There are a lot of things I have from James- he-" the man takes a breath, swallowing down his sorrow, "he left quite a lot to me before it happened... They were. They were very good people. The best." He says firmly.

"You are brilliant too. You've done so much for Harry and he loves you guys as much as you love him. I can't thank you enough for giving him the childhood he never could have had in Britain." Sirius slides into the compliment smoothly and the sheriff rolls her eyes at him. If he weren't so used to it he'd still presume it was out of fondness.

"I wonder how long you've been practising that." She comments drily. Sirius laughs, flinging his arms over the back of the couch.

"Seriously though." He says with a goofy grin. After a week of such puns Jodi does not even deign this one with a response although she does smile just a little as she checks the contents of the oven.

"Should be another half an hour." Jodi calls from the kitchen. Sirius stands, joints clicking as he stretches.

"You alright with me popping out for a bit?" He asks, hand drifting to the weight in his pocket. Jodi looks at him briefly before checking her watch.

"You've done it every day since you came here. I don't know why you still ask." She replies bluntly.

"You know us English folk- got to be polite. Cream tea and top hats all of us." He says in his worst English accent with words parroted by many a stranger since he had arrived. He smiles at her as he heads for the door.

"Anyway I'll be off then- see you later Jodi." Sirius says, closing the door behind him and heading for the local park again.

Harry had told him before he left that he would tell his friend to meet Sirius in the park but so far she has been a no-show. He doesn't mind because- as he has already mentioned- the Americans are in general quite interested in him due to his general Britishness but the mystery keeps growing with every day she doesn't turn up.

It's been ten minutes by the time he checks his phone. He looks around idly, waving at a girl whose hair reminds him a little of Narcissa. He wishes she had been able to grow up in a country like this- maybe then she wouldn't have so much of a stick up her arse. Then there is a flicker of colour that screams Lily.

Sirius stares at the woman, caught first by the hair and second by the sense of power radiating from her. This woman is terrifying. Her eyes aren't the pure green Lily's were and her lips are pulled tight across her teeth as she smiles falsely.

"I take it that you have something for me." She says sweetly in an accent even more pronounced than Minerva's, hand outstretched towards him. He stands, raising his chin and taking on the manner of a Lord of the house of Black as he had (regretfully) been taught still childhood.

"What the bloody hell have you got my godson into?" He manages through his clenched jaw. She doesn't go for her wand and Sirius takes that to mean she isn't planning on attacking him and does not reach for his yet. The woman frowns, lips parting in either annoyance or confusion.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She responds coldly, tilting her head up. Somehow despite the fact she's so short that she's looking up at him it's rather intimidating. The dog in him bristles.

"You are dangerous. I can sense that much- can practically smell it on you. My godson asked me to deliver something to you. He didn't tell me anything about the object or the person I was giving it to but now I'm here I want to know what kind of danger you've put Harry into." He barely manages to keep a level voice and he sees her look around, shoulders tense. When she directs her gaze back to him there's something different about her, something more earnest.

"Look, the Godfather," She hisses, grabbing his shoulder, "Unless you didn't realise this is a public area and we're in the middle of enemy territory so to speak so if you would please keep your voice down I can explain some vital facts you seem to be missing." Sirius says nothing. Surely if Harry trusts her there must be a reason. He nods, thin lipped.

She looks into his eyes.

"Firstly, I would never hurt Harry." The witch spits out the words as if the mere idea of it was like poison to her, "He is one of the two people in this world I actually care about and the only person outside of myself who cares what happens to me. You think I would forsake that for anything? I taught him everything he knew before he got to Hogwarts- his mastery of wandless magic, his proficiency in potion-making. I taught him old secrets which would make today's masters seethe with envy to know that a wee boy has command over something they will never touch." Her eyes are wide as she whispers, hand still gripping his arm. Her gaze drifts to the pocket with the package in. Sirius doesn't doubt her power.

"Secondly," She continues delicately, "I am dying." Sirius raises an eyebrow and the woman scoffs.

"You didn't know so you don't believe me? Why do you think I would tell Harry that- he cares for me enough let alone with a burden like that to bear. It's not like I could just die and leave my training unfinished anyway." Her accent thickens as she speaks. She holds her head high and steps back from him.

"So the answer was simple. I told him I'm cursed with something non-fatal and that this stone you have in your pocket was part of a method that would rid me of my curse. They're banned here in America and it will work to get rid of my curse. So. I live, Harry gets a Scottish education and I teach Harry everything I know. Win- win- win. Now why don't you hand it over so I can get to work and save my bloody life before Harry has to deal with me dying." She manages to make her shouts go unheard and Sirius just laughs.

"You expect me to believe that?" He says finally. The witch's expression shuts down.

"You don't?" She questions lightly. Sirius snorts.

"It's exactly the kind of mess a son of James would find himself in accidentally. It's too crazy to be true- and I know crazy seriously well- so you can't be making it up. You even look a bit like his mother." The man fishes in his pocket and pulls out a wrapped stone. The witch just stares at him in shock.

"Wait- you're just giving it to me? After that whole show of not trusting me you're just- And I- I look like his mother?" She steps back, arms coming up in front if her. Sirius shrugs.

"Yes. I'm helping my godson smuggle illegal life giving stones into one of the most strict wizarding communities in the world to save a suspicious woman he cares about who looks like his mother. I don't want Harry to lose anyone else." He says solemnly. It sounds like one big prank when he says it like that. He holds out the stone.

"Now are you going to take it or not?" He asks.

The witch bites her lip, looking up at his face in uncertainty. She carefully lays a hand on the package and tightens her fingers around the rock inside.

"You won't mind if I check what it is now, will you?" She smiles a little, genially, "It's just that I've been tricked before and well- a girl's gotta be careful." Her eyes light up as she speaks.

"Um- sure. I've kind of got somewhere I need to be though so if you could..." Sirius trails off, eyeing the time on his phone.

The woman waits for no further encouragement, deftly unwrapping the stone. The rock glimmers a little in the late sun. She beams, closing her fist tightly around it.

"Thank you- thank you so much! How can I ever repay you?" She simpers in a way that reminds Sirius uncomfortably of his first girlfriend.

"You keep an eye on Harry and finish what you started." He says after a second, turning away and heading back towards Jodi's house. He catches the woman's nod out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh- I will! I'll teach him enough he could rule the world!" Her accent lengthens the rs and he finds himself smiling at the strange woman as he walks away.

"By the way it's the hair." He shouts over his shoulder, "His real mother was ginger too." He says. There is no reply.