Chapter 1:

Surprise at King's Cross

Harry's head laid on the window, as the train began its approach into London. His mind was still racing at the events of the year. The Triwizard Tournament had been a challenge in itself, adding the death of a student to it had torn his mind every direction. The cherry on the top of the entire ordeal, Voldemort was back. Nobody was listening to him either. Officials were saying he was making things up. Luckily Harry knew Dumbledore was on his side.

He also kept thinking back to the fact that a Death Eater had earned his trust and tricked him. Barty Crouch Jr. had proven to be a good mentor, but for the mere purpose of leading him to the cemetery. It was hard to come to terms with. Still, at least he was almost back at Privet Dr. There he would just have to live with his thoughts.

Hermione and Ron were just talking away, about summer plans. He slowly lifted his head, as the train began to slow.

"Looks like we're almost there. You'll be alright won't you Harry?" Hermione asked, as she slowly put a book into her bag.

"Sure, I'll be just brilliant." Harry grumbled, looking at the window as the train pulled into the station. Oddly, his Uncle Vernon was standing near the track. That was very abnormal. Even stranger, it appeared his aunt and a witch were with him. The three were talking, and Vernon seemed thrilled about the entire situation.

"What's he up too?" Ron asked, looking out the window. "He looks like he just won Salesperson of the Year."

"Not sure, but he's up to something. We should say our goodbyes here." Harry replied, as he grabbed a few things, before heading out of the compartment. He rushed to his Uncle, he was letting his brain wonder exactly what had prompted this greeting party.

His Uncle rapidly approached him. "Ah Harry, there you are. Come come, you must come meet this woman." He grabbed Harry and began to drag him over.

"No need to rip his arm off." The woman complained.

Vernon immediately changed his demeanor. He carefully led him over to her. A smile still on his face.

"Sorry about that. Here he is, as promised."

She looked him over for a second, and then gave a small nod. "Very good. You did you part, I have some of your wife's blood here and you delivered Harry." She reached to a purse near her side and pulled out an envelope. "3,000...that was the agreed upon amount."

He quickly grabbed the envelope and counted out the money. Harry's eyes grew. Had his uncle just sold him to a stranger.

"He's your problem now. Harry, you now belong to her. Papers and all. Your things from our place were gotten by her. So off you go." Vernon grabbed Petunia by the arm and walked off, with almost a skip. Harry looked in their direction, and back to her. By this point Hermione and Ron had approached, Ron had his trunk and Hedwig with him.

"And you are?" Hermione asked the woman, almost having a stare off. She didn't like the fact this odd witch had just bought her best friend from his family.

"Not important to you, all that matters is that Harry is not going home with those strange people." She responded, as she looked at Hedwig a moment. "He did say you had an owl. Should be interesting, more birds in my house. At least this one is much smaller."

Harry kept an eye on her a moment, and then took his trunk and Hedwig. "Who? Who told you about my owl?" He asked, as he stepped closer to her.

"My cousin, he's waiting for you at my house. You, Harry, shall make a good present for him. Maybe he will stop wanting to start up a rock band." She laughed, carefully taking Hedwig's cage. "Let me help you with her."

Harry looked to Hermione a moment and then to Ron, at least she seemed nicer than his aunt and uncle. And they wouldn't let a killer take him...would they. He sighed, a deep sigh, and began to leave the station. "See you two in September." He said, as he walked with this new witch.

They walked out of the station together, and began down the streets. The walk was in silence, as they turned and got closer to a lovely park and a strip of houses.

"My family has always wanted to keep itself hidden. Luckily my home is not far from most of this city."

"You live here, in London?" He asked, as she stopped a moment, looking at a strip of homes. Harry looked where she was, and watched as another home began to emerge. It's brick was different in color, a bit darker.

"Yes, I live in our family home. Welcome to Grimmauld Place." She welcomed him, opening the door.

"Grimmauld Place?" He asked, stepping in. The home was older, but very nice. Larger than Privet Dr.

"That's right. Or, as my family prefers, the Noble House of Black." She mentioned as she set the owl dog.

Harry nodded a second, and then stopped. "Black? House of Black?" He was a tad excited now. "Who, may I ask, is your cousin?"

She smiled a bit at him, leaning into the kitchen. "Hey, I brought you a present." She told somebody. "Just picked him up from the train station."

He heard a chair move and quick foot steps. The excitement wasn't misplaced. Standing in the doorway, Sirius Black. He ran and hugged his godfather.

"I'm glad to see you, and after the year you've had." Sirius said, as he took a good look of Harry.

"I get to live with you?" Harry wanted to make sure, make sure this wasn't a dream.

"Yes, well kind of. My cousin here heard your story, about where you were living. She offered to bring you to her home, but the Wizarding Community couldn't know. So she adopted you through the Muggle System."

He turned and looked at the witch, blinking a bit. "Adopted?"

She just shrugged, as she went to the stove with a kettle. "It was the easiest way. I had to offer your Aunt and Uncle a reasonable way to take you. They were worried about me wanting things from them, adoption makes took away their responsibility. As I told Sirius, the home is plenty big for you to live here. We have that bloody Hippogriff upstairs."

"Buckbeak...wait, so you adopted me? Why would you go through all that trouble?"

"Because, you need a place where people care about you. Now you have seen a tragic event, and you need a home that can help you heal. Not to mention, you'll be safe here. Safe from Voldemort."

"So you believe me he's back." Harry felt at ease with her. She brought him to Sirius, and seemed to care about his safety.

"Harry, you must know something about my cousin..." Sirius began. Harry looked to his Godfather, focused. "She would be the first to know Voldemort is back, and all his movements."

"Sirius, no need for you to have to explain to him. I can tell him all he needs to know." She stopped him, and leaned on a counter, waiting for the water to boil. "See, I came here for safety many years ago. Regulus Black brought me here as a baby, pretending I was his. Walburga was thrilled, because that meant there was a new heir to the Black name and Sirius was completely hidden."

"Pretended?" Harry questioned.

"Yes, you see my mother wanted to kill me. I was a girl, not a boy. A failure in her mind. So Regulus saved me from her."

"Who was your mother?"

"Bellatrix." Was her single answer. Harry's eyes grew. "You see, I wasn't the right gender to take over Father's reign. Turns out, he didn't care...but she thought gender mattered." She approached him, slowly handing out her hand, "I am Seres Riddle, daughter to Tom Riddle. Or as most call him Voldemort."

Harry looked back to Sirius, his eyes big. "You are harboring..."

"Wait Harry, before you overreact. She is my cousin. Nothing like her family. She was raised here, by Kreacher. Seres is the one that found me, and brought me home. You will find she is much better than those she's related too. Like me, a rebel. I wouldn't let her near you otherwise."

Harry thought a moment, his eyes going back to her. "So his daughter?" He wanted to make sure.

She gave a nod, "Sadly, and sadly the one that may have given them the idea on how to bring him back. I was very mad and lonely. I just wanted some family back. I soon learned that was a mistake."

"You see, Harry, she's had a pretty bad year herself. She lost the man she loved..."

"Not sure how much love is there. He picked my father over me, show just shows he was wanting to make the snake man proud."

Harry tilted his head, watching as she poured a cup of tea.

"Who?"

"Oh, my arranged marriage. Now a soleless wonder."

"Barty? You were to marry Barty? He seems a bit older than you."

"Yes, but a mind to idolize. Something I desire. Not to mention, my father sent a mongrel after me. After that night, I did what I had to, to prevent certain things from happening."

"Who, who did he send after you?"

"A werewolf by the name of Fenrir Greyback. He is one of the most violent wolves in the world, and has a large pack. Father needs more for his army. I was near Hogwarts around Christmas, going to see Barty. We had grown close over the summer, and I knew he was probably running low on his Polyjuice mixture. Things happened, and I needed to find Barty afterwards...to make sure the future of my family wasn't mixed with Fenrir."

"So you don't like werewolves?" Harry asked, a little mad.

"Oh no, I love werewolves. They're usually good people. It's just I'm a female werewolf, and that's rare. Fenrir wants a werewolf child. They hardly every happen, and they never live past the first year. But, it was something to barter with."

Harry felt bad, suddenly, for his quick judgement. "So, you're having Barty's child?" He stated, a small smile on his face.

She carefully set her hand on her stomach and smiled back. "Yes, in all this darkness something positive. A new life. I wouldn't normally pick to have a child in a time like this, and I wouldn't normally pick to have a child in my condition, but if I was to have a child it was going to be a father of my choosing. No, I don't know if it is truly Barty's, but there is hope. He may have done a bad thing, in the end, but he was a brilliant man. A man that just wanted a family of his own. It went way to far though. That poor boy didn't deserve to die, and you didn't deserve to be tormented."

Harry had to think this all through a moment. She truly did seem a lot more like Sirius. He and her had also suffered a great deal, through this entire year. And she did extend a home to him, and his Godfather. He carefully walked to her and gave her a small hug. That seemed to confuse her more than anything.

"Thank you, for bringing me here." He said, "And none of what happened was your doing."

"Nor your doing." She responded. "You were a victim in their entire game."

Harry really did feel safe with her, and he had Sirius to protect him, if need be he had help.

"Harry, let me show you to your room. We have much to catch up on." Sirius suddenly exclaimed, grabbing his arm and pulling him up the stairs.

"She seems rather nice...considering."

"I owe a lot of gratitude to her. I was constantly on the run. She was the only one, that has always declared my innocence." He smirked a bit. "Heck, she even offered to let Remus come stay here. Sadly, he's gone off with one of my other cousins."

"Other cousins?" Harry laughed, as he looked at a room Sirius stopped near.

"Yeah, I have plenty of those. Our family never lacks more family. To be honest, I let Seres down years ago. I decided to go after Peter, not caring who would be left to tend to her. My brother left her in my care, if any thing happened to him. As of recently, I learned the sad story about his death." Sirius let his head hang low, as he opened the door. The room was rather large, a big bed and plenty of things to keep him busy.

"This is more than I could have imagined. You're sure she isn't just going to hand me over?"

"Yes, she figures that taking you in will irritate her father more than anything else she can do. That and she finds you interesting."

Harry laughed a bit, "Interesting? Well that's good. Any other surprises?"

"Well we will have more visitors coming through during the next few months. We are prepping for whatever battle will happen."

"Sounds exciting..." Harry pulled his trunk in, and set his owl cage down on the desk.

"Feel free to set her loose in the house. Plenty of room for her to fly, and she can go out whenever she likes. No need to hide her in her cage."

Harry happily opened the cage, allowing her to fly.

Sirius watched her fly, and smiled. "This will be a good summer." Sirius exclaimed.

Harry nodded, smiling as well, "Indeed..."