Chapter Thirteen

August 1991

The years flew by so fast. Padfoot could barely keep track of the days as they slid by in a haze of school for Harry and working on cars for Padfoot. The man had developed a passion for fixing up old cars and making them magical. He had made a pretty good little side business from it, too. When this whole Harry/Lord Voldemort thing was taken care of, Padfoot was thinking of hiring a few more guys on to help him with it all. He had his eye on Arthur Weasley. The man had modified his own car without the benefit of actually understanding how cars and engines worked. With a little training, the man could be a whiz. Sirius could just feel it.

Sirius couldn't believe that Harry would be heading off to Hogwarts in just a few days. It seemed like a lifetime ago that the young boy appeared out of nowhere in Padfoot's Azkaban cell. The boy had changed the man's life in that instant. He had set Sirius free from the guilt that kept him trapped in his own personal prison of self-recrimination. There was no time for wallowing in sadness with a toddler around. There was barely time for sleep!

Harry had grown into a fine young man. With his ever-present friend, Hermione, he was ready to take Hogwarts by storm.

Sirius was excited and anxious to take the trip to Hogwarts. Harry would come to school with both the travel trunk and a seven-compartment trunk Sirius had found for him in the room of lost things. There was no limit on how much luggage a Hogwarts student could bring and Harry was not, in fact, the record holder for the year. That honor went to a sixth year Ravenclaw named Maizi Willoughby, who couldn't bear to part with a single one of her books in a NEWT year. She had four trunks in her possession.

Harry and his crup would be in attendance as would Hermione and her smashed faced tabby cat Crookshanks. The girl had been so jealous of Harry's puppy that her parents had finally given in and bought the 10-year-old girl a kitten. Both animals were extremely intelligent and capable familiars to their owners.

Sirius intended to give Harry plenty of space while he attended Hogwarts. He would spend his days at the newly acquired shop he had purchased and turned into a garage in Diagon Alley. He got a good deal on a shop front at the corner of Knockturn and Diagon that no one else wanted. A little exorcism to clear out the poltergeist and the place was ready for business.

He would just spend a day here and there with the boy, checking out the teachers and the other students for dangers. He liked that he would be close by if Harry had an emergency. It also didn't hurt that they had plans to have dinner together with the Grangers every Friday night inside the travel trunk. The couple was grateful to have a way to see their precious, only daughter during the school year. Nookie would have no trouble popping the couple to the trunk anytime it was needed.

The days flew by in a flurry of packing and preparing. For Harry, Sirius, and Nookie, it was a bittersweet time. When Harry left Privet Drive, he would likely never return. They were going to clean out the shed and remove all traces of the modifications they had made. Nookie stayed behind to remove all traces of the magic that had been used at the residence. Sirius expected that no one would notice they were gone until "Harry Potter" didn't show up for school.

A letter addressed to Harry Potter had arrived at the Dursley home. It had terrified Petunia and Vernon Dursley, who had not seen hide nor hair of Petunia's nephew since the boy disappeared almost 10 years prior. They were so scared, they decided Vernon should accept a transfer to the New Zealand office, a change the couple had been considering but had almost decided not to accept. The wizarding world reaching out to them was enough to scare them away. The small family had moved two weeks prior for the island nation. By the time old Dumbledore arrived to start asking questions, there would be no trace left of the family that lived here, including the little boy who had supposedly lived in the home for a decade.

The neighbors would be able to say the same that was said by Arabella Figg, unbeknownst to Harry Potter or Sirius Black. Arabella often saw a fat, blonde boy with a woman and a smallish, dark haired boy with an auburn-haired man. Albus assumed the two boys were Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley. He assumed the two adults were Vernon and Petunia Dursley. He was right and he was wrong. Everything in the tales Albus would hear of from the neighbors would make him think he was right. If he had asked the right questions, he would have seen he was wrong. Too bad for Albus, but good news for Harry and Padfoot.

"Ready to go, pup?" Padfoot asked Harry as the boy ran through the house grabbing "just one more thing". Sirius and Snuffles stood by the front door with the trunks, waiting as patiently as possible.

The boy finally ran up and said he was ready. Sirius carried the things to his Jaguar and started loading them in. They would be meeting the Granger's for breakfast in London before the adults would drop off the kids and head for home. Of course, home for the Grangers still meant Hampstead while for Sirius it meant using his garage portkey to take himself and the car back to the trunk inside the train.

The ride to the station was peaceful with just the two menfolk and the dog inside the car. The family owl, a snowy named Hedwig, would meet Harry at the school. She liked to have a reason to stretch her wings a bit.

Breakfast was over all too quickly and before he knew it, Sirius was helping Harry put the trunks into an overhead compartment.

"You sprouts be good but not too good. A little fun from time to time helps studying go well, remember?" he said looking mostly at Hermione. The two children quickly agreed and they were off. The final stage of Sirius' grand plan was likely not far off.

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