A bit longer than the others and in which Harry can't seem to shut up

Chapter 6

Mommy, I'm home!

A great black dog and a Siberian tiger were running towards the castle that had housed generations of Blacks, the rising sun at their backs. It promised to be a beautiful day. A woman stood fearlessly awaiting the fast approaching dangerous animals.

They stopped short of bounding her over. The tiger rubbed his body along her legs, flicking his tail at the woman's face, causing her to laugh. She rewarded the tiger with scratches under his chin and a kiss between its ears. The tiger chuffed in return while closing its eyes.

The big black dog was watching the unfolding scene. It grinned as if a plan had formed in its head. As the tiger moved off the dog approached the woman instead, its tongue lolling and the grin becoming wider.

"Don't you dare put your muddy paws on me, Sirius," the woman admonished.

The dog lowered its head and whined piteously, its plan discovered.

The woman petted the dog out of pity. "Time to come in, boys. It's time for breakfast."

Where the dog and tiger had been only moments before were now a man and a boy.

"Morning grandma, I'm starving" the boy said, giving the woman a hug and a kiss on her cheek.

"Good morning grandmother, I take it grandfather is awake then," the man greeted.

"He is."

The woman preceded the boy and the man to the breakfast room, paying attention to the conversation behind her. It warmed her heart to hear such light-hearted conversation.

"…Please tell me that you have a marauder nickname."

"Your counterpart insisted that I needed one when I was able to fully transform for the first time."

"—Don't tell me, I want to see if I can guess. What about… Kitty?—No, then how about whiskers?—Stripey perhaps?

"It's Stripes actually. The name is pretty self-explanatory, you know."

"Really that's a shame… Are you sure you don't want a new one? I really like Kitty."

"I'm sure you do," the boy deadpanned.

"What are the two of you going on about?" Arcturus cut in. he was seated at the head of the table.

"I was just saying that Kitty would be a great nickname for someone who can transform into a tiger. Don't you think so grandfather?"

"Children bother with nicknames. Grown men should be able to pronounce a name in its entirety."

Sirius seemed to shrink a little at his grandfather's rebuke.

Harry patted Sirius's hand in sympathy. "Grandpa doesn't like all this talk about animagus forms. It brings up rather embarrassing memories for him," Harry stage whispered.

It was clear that Arcturus knew where this was going, his back was ramrod straight and there was a pink hue on his cheeks. Faster than one could blink he had his wand was in his hand and a curse was flying towards Harry.

Harry was faster. He caught the sizzling grey stream of light with his hand, from where it dissipated into nothingness. Harry ignored Sirius's acclamations, smirking instead at Arcturus, sometimes it was needed to take the man down a peg.

"Our grandfather in a flight of whimsy, due to youth, decided that it would be an interesting learning experience to try his hand at becoming an animagus. Trusting in his own capabilities he set out on his path full of assurance that he would succeed, all the while wondering which animal would embody him. Of course it would have to be a predator of some kind, something big, strong, sneaky. These were the qualities that he saw for himself.

"He meditated to discover the secret within himself, even took the potion to aid him in his search. In the end he claimed being incapable to find his inner animal—That, however, was not the truth of the matter. Capable as he was it didn't take him long to discover which animal magic thought suited him best. He even took the potion to make sure what he found was wrong.

"What he found was a most fearsome creature. Not the biggest but they had a reputation of taking on much bigger opponents at a moment's notice. Even the temper they displayed fit Grandfather to a tee."

"—What? What was it?" Sirius cut in, bouncing on his chair like a kid in a candy shop.

"A chihuahua."

"A…muahahahaha." Sirius almost fell from his chair in laughter.

Harry joined him, Arcturus's surly look made it all the more hilarious.

Melania meanwhile spewed her breakfast tea all over the table before cackling right along with them.

It took a while for the three of them to recover with Arcturus muttering all the while about ungrateful brats.

"Oh dear, please promise me that you'll learn how to finish your transformation. I think you'll be the most adorable chihuahua of all." Melania pleaded.

The only reply she got was a glower and teeth grinding, which threw the others in renewed hysterics.

When they recovered again Melania took pity on her husband and changed the subject, letting him stew in silence. "What are your plans for today, boys?"

Sirius followed his grandmother's lead. "Orion and I had planned to visit Grimmauld Place, see what state it is in. After my mother's death it became mine. And if my goddaughter is to come live with me I need a bigger place than my apartment."

"You know that you're more than welcome to stay here dear. There is plenty of space for another person. You're little Rose is welcome here."

"Thank you grandmother, I'll keep that in mind," Sirius said politely, while he meant 'no way in hell'.

Harry and Sirius appeared in a secluded alley just off to Grimmauld Place and walked the last stretch to number 12.

"So how do we do this?" Sirius asked.

"Do you know where the central ward stone is?"

"In a secret room beneath the floor in the basement."

Harry nodded that he was correct. "It's all pretty straightforward. Your father never removed your access to the house so you can walk right in." Harry took out a knife with a blade made of flint stone, it's edge razor sharp, and handed it over. "Cut your hand with this and place it on the ward stone. You will notice an out of body experience as you take control of the ward scheme. The wards will also drain magic from you. It will feel like a punch in the gut. Take your hand off the stone when it becomes too much. Don't go all Gryffindor-like and let it go on to long, they will empty your core if you let them and we don't need them at full strength." Harry reached again in his pocket. "A pepper-up potion for when you're done. Then come find me and invite me in."

Harry took a seat on a bench in the small park, enjoying the morning sun, while Sirius did his thing.

He didn't need to be there to follow along with Sirius's actions. If you knew what to look for you could feel the magic changing and the wards charging.

Sirius's return was also noticeable long before he spoke.

"Sorry it took so long, my mother was there to greet me."

Harry rubbed the back of his head. "I probably should have warned you about that."

"That would have been nice."

"Sorry about that. I had actually forgotten about her… I always admired how she had woven her portrait in the fabric of the house. If you wanted to remove her portrait you would have to redo all the wards and just about every major enchantment on the house—Too much hassle for most."

"I would be very much tempted even if it involved all that work."

Harry laughed. "Your counterpart was of a similar mind. In the end we didn't go to all that trouble… Wizards and witches have the horrible habit of often overlooking obvious solutions and we made use of that habit."

They had reached the edge of the property.

"Now what?"

"Tell me I'm welcome to enter whenever I want."

Sirius echoed his words and Harry followed him through the front door. Sometimes magic was surprisingly easy and straightforward, while at others times every little detail needed to be done correctly.

Their welcome party existed of Kreacher and Walburga's shrieks about blood traitors and filth returning to darken the doorstep of the noble house of Black. Kreacher must have opened the curtains again in Sirius's short absence. Or Sirius had let his mother wail on just so he could ignore her.

They ignored Walburga's shouting and pulled the curtains closed before Harry performed the same solution to the problem as he had in his past. He conjured a box around the portrait and placed a two way silencing charm on it. He could make it more permanent in the future.

"Kreacher you're not to touch that box in any way or use magic on it," Harry said to the house elf.

Kreacher glared at him. "Who is this with mistress's blood traitor son, the great disappointment and bane to mistress's existence, that he can give orders to Kreacher?"

"Begone with you!" Sirius shouted.

Kreacher bowed low, his long nose touching the ground. "As blood traitor master orders."

Sirius was breathing heavily. "I hate that creature. Please tell me he was dead in your world."

"Would it surprise you when I told you that he became kind and very devoted to me."

"It would." Sirius looked at him as if he had suddenly sprouted another head.

Harry sighed. "How about we sit down and have a talk?"

He led Sirius to the formal drawing room, a quick cleaning made it safe to sit down. Harry grabbed a carafe from the corner. He needed a drink and Orion had had very good taste, at least when it concerned alcoholic drinks.

"People change Sirius..."

"—I know that."

"You say you know it but you don't truly understand it." Harry glared at Sirius to stop him from interrupting again. "We are simple creatures. We are shaped by our experiences. They influence how we feel, how we look at the world, how we interact with other people, how we expect others to behave. It becomes ingrained in you… We aren't rational. And I'm not asking you to change. I care for you and wish to see you happy. However you have the tendency to go with your first thought and decide that is how things are. I'm only asking that you try to understand where others come from.

"I know you hate to think about the past, hate to think at all to deeply about things, and yet you can't let it go. There's still that little boy inside you that desires more than anything to feel safe and loved by his mother and father. You never got that and you rebelled against everything they stood for. Your little brother on the other hand went the road of compliance and obedience. He settled for the little he was given."

Harry looked out the window watching the children play in the square. "When you look at Arcturus and Melania you see the bogeymen from your past. The constant critique you received, the beliefs to which your own are opposite. You understand that time has passed but you don't understand what that passed time has done with them. You spend a decade in Azkaban, time that you will never get back, with your most horrible memories and feelings a constant companion. They have spent those years in a prison of their own making…

"Arcturus was thirty years old when his great grandfather Cygnus died and he became Lord Black and head of the family. It became his life's mission to see to the prosperity and welfare of the Black family and like every lord he had his own ideas about how to go about that. In the war against Grindelwald Arcturus agreed with everything that he stood for and yet he brought the power of the Black family and all its allies to bear against Grindelwald for the simple reason that the dark lord expected him to bow down. There were losses, among them his little brother and sister. Those losses he felt directly responsible for and haunt him to this day."

"I never knew that"

"Of course you didn't. You are both to stubborn for your own good and neither wants to really talk or listen, better to bury things…When Voldemort rose he didn't make a decision for or against him. He kept the family on the side, although they sympathised, and he allowed family members to make contributions in their own name. As the war dragged on the death toll of purebloods kept rising, he became disillusioned. Then Dorea and Charles were killed, his baby sister, his last surviving sibling. Then your father came to him telling him that he had joined the death eaters and showing his dark mark as if Arcturus would be proud of it.

"His son joining the same people that had killed his sister, letting himself be branded like a slave in the process. They fought and duelled. Your father lost… Your grandfather killed his own son, your father. Melania…It nearly broke them. Not long afterwards Regulus disappeared as well. Voldemort was defeated, James killed, you and Bellatrix captured and thrown into Azkaban. Almost an entire generation of the Black family disappeared. He saw his life's work being destroyed before his very eyes. All the while his greatest support, the woman for whom he had threatened to leave everything behind, wasn't there to support him.

"They choose exile and seclusion. A quiet life away from everything, to grief, heal, and reflect. They stayed there and would have stayed there had I not turned up on their doorstep."

Sirius was deep in thought. Harry poured himself another drink and gave Sirius time to take in everything he had told. People were complicated and acted for a myriad of reasons. Harry hoped that telling Sirius this would help him see his grandfather in a different light.

"Thank you for telling me," Sirius said softly.

Harry looked at Sirius incessantly, debating with himself, should he share more information. He made up his mind. "There are two other things I want to share with you now that we're here. If you are up for it?"

"Go on." Sirius face was contemplative.

"It's more of a show and tell really"

"Lead the way then." Sirius got to his feet. "Where to?"

Harry made his way into the hallway and up the stairs. He stopped in front of the row of severed house elf heads. "Did you ever wonder why your parents lived in a muggle neighbourhood while everything they believed was so very anti muggle and not in one of the numerous other Black family properties?"

"Not really, I know it was inherited from a cousin before I was born. I always guessed they took some perverse pleasure from living here with none of the muggles the wiser. A way to be constantly reminded of their own superiority."

"I'm sure that played a role as well," Harry said laughing. "They got it from Phineas, brilliant healer, mad researcher, fascinated with muggles. Who got it from Iola, who was cast-out after marrying a muggle but still decided to leave her house to a member of the Black family.

"Your grandmother Irma told me this story. As a young girl your mother got lost in the forest around Castra Silva. It was a day and a night before your mother was found and brought back. During her ordeal she had come face to face with a wide variety of creatures, each of which was terrifying to a young girl. This developed in a lifelong fear off basically everything that wasn't human. The chance to meet any creatures, especially the magical kind, in muggle London are slim to none. She may have hated everything muggle but her fear was stronger than her hatred. I always suspected that her love for décor made out of death creatures stemmed from this fear. Why else would you have an umbrella stand made out of a troll leg? That thing reeks even when they are death—Ah we're here."

"My room?"

"And Regulus's room if you want to be precise but his doesn't stretch the imagination very far." Harry opened the door. "Notice anything about it?"

"It's…the same as when I still lived here."

Harry nodded enthusiastically. "And?"

"I don't know."

"Compared to the rest of the house?"

"Uhm…It's clean?"

"Ding-ding-ding we have a winner!" Harry clapped his arm around Sirius, the effect was a bit lost because of his small stature. "Regulus's room is the same. Your mother ordered Kreacher to keep these rooms ready at all times for her sons to come home. She ordered they be kept exactly as they were, muggle posters and all"

"—I fixed them with a permanent-sticking charm," Sirius argued.

"Your sticking charm doesn't work the same way as her portrait. A little flame and your posters would have burned to a crisp firmly fixed to the wall…While Kreacher has neglected the upkeep of the rest of the house, your and Regulus's rooms are ready to move back in at a moment's notice." Harry toyed with a model of a motorbike, his tone turned sympathetic. "I would never call Walburga a good mother. Horrible would probably be the word I would use. But she loved her sons in her own way and never stopped hoping that one day you would find your way back here.

Sirius turned away from him. He probably had some dust in his eye. Harry turned back to the model. Sirius's bike should still be in Hagrid's possession. Perhaps he should write to him and ask for it back. It would probably cheer Sirius up and he would love the fact that flying it around Castle Black would get a rise out of Arcturus and Melania.

"What made you decide to go back to the past?"

"Huh?"

"What made you decide to perform the ritual that send you the past?" Sirius asked. "You knew a version of me, of grandfather and grandmother, and everyone else. However we're all strangers to you, you know things about us but we don't know you. Why take on the burden to save everyone? Why not…"

"—Off myself?"

"Yeah, Sort off. If there was nothing left…" Sirius messed up his hair in frustration. "—I don't know… I understand the desire to return. I dreamt about it often enough. To be able to go back to when you-know-who killed James and lily, to wrap my hands around that rat's neck and watch life slowly drain away from him. Prevent it all from happening. But in reality… None of it would be the same. If I went back to when I was eleven would I still be friends with James? Would he and Lily end up together? –Rose would probably never have been born…Everything would change."

Harry's laugh was ironic. "The same thought had crossed my mind." He fell back on Sirius's bed, eyes settling on the bikini clad girl above it, detaching himself from his emotions. "It was never my intention to succeed. I had lost almost everyone, allies, friends, family. I had buried my loved ones…my children— I had ripped the families of my enemies apart. I was personally responsible for the death of millions. I had fought and won, and fought and won, and fought and won, and lost everything that mattered to me in the process.

"My only desire that remained was to join them in death. I had heard the whispers from beyond the veil. I had called forth their shades. However after all the sacrifices I couldn't bring myself to simply avada myself. Death didn't scare me but it had to have some purpose, I couldn't simply give up.

"I put in enough effort to fool myself that it had a chance to succeed while also making sure that it shouldn't succeed. The only question remained if my death would be swift and painless or long and excruciating, an idea I wasn't too bothered about, it felt like a fitting punishment for my crimes.

"When I performed the ritual I hadn't even bothered with removing my clothes or possessions. I still carried my wands for Merlin's sake along with a litany of magical artifacts." Harry balled his fists, bitterness in his voice "—It shouldn't have worked—I should have been reunited with my children, my wives, with you, with everyone." Harry rubbed the tear in his eye away, calming himself down, his tone becoming distant. "Magic is strange. It has a will of its own. You can do a spell a thousand times exactly the same way and nine hundred ninety nine times it will do the exact same thing and the thousandth time it will blow up in your face… Perhaps this is my punishment for everything I have done."

"What exactly happened?"

Harry laughed a hollow laugh. "War, of course—Total war to be exact, vengeful, bloody, and without mercy and purpose... Voldemort came back when I was fourteen, which the ministry denied. Immediately a conflict for allies started in the shadows. I had my own but it was divided in two camps and Voldemort's allies were united and far better positioned. I gathered new allies from abroad and the fight turned in our favour for a while but Voldemort did the same. Other countries got involved and simmering conflicts and feuds broke out in the open. The magical world became divided. And all we had accomplished with our new allies was expand a British conflict in a worldwide one.

" Eventually the war started turning in our favour again. Voldemort started losing allies left and right and he started getting cornered. He decided to make a desperate gamble to unite the wizarding world everywhere.

"During the entire conflict we had managed to keep up the statute of secrecy, although it was very hard at times. All the attacks on muggles were hard to keep quiet or keep making up excuses for. Cornered and driven to desperate measures, Voldemort decided to break the statute of secrecy and expand the war into one between the magical world and the muggle one. In front of the world wide media he executed the entirety of the Muggle parliament and part of the royal family at the state opening.

"There were plenty of muggleborns and halfbloods with divided loyalties that provided intelligence to the muggle governments. Their weapons production was geared up to the max and within months almost every muggle was armed. The conflict wasn't going well for the magical world. Many magicals advocated for peace but the muggles wouldn't have it. They were desperate and scared. They feared us. The tables started turning when I took charge of the magical war effort.

"Muggles can accomplish amazing things when they work together but it is all linked by a fragile chain. I understood what others didn't. We didn't need to fight the muggles. We only needed to destroy their logistics system that formed the links between all the amazing things they could accomplish and they would destroy themselves.

"Bridges, ships, airplanes, power plants, means of communication, we hit it all. It didn't take long for things to become desperate. Too little food reached the cities, there was no heating, no power, They were tearing themselves apart, fighting for their own survival. Millions were dying every day and I had become what I had been fighting against only a year earlier. The muggles who had thought themselves desperate before became really desperate now. It had become a battle for their own survival and everything they had at their disposal should be utilized.

"The muggles were clever. They have explosive weapons that can destroy entire cities but throwing them on the wards surrounding the great estates would be useless, they would simply vanish. Instead they threw those weapons along the edge of the wards, letting its destructive power overwhelm the wards and then destroy everything it protected. It was a coordinated strike among the muggle governments, in which they didn't spare their own populations. In one swoop they destroyed all the magical governments in the world along with a vast majority of the magical population and species.

"It didn't save themselves but they made sure that there was no victory to enjoy for us. After that everything became confused, constant conflict, people seeking protection from others, muggle and magical alike, rebuilding only to see it destroyed not soon after. So many that saw their chance for power… The only thing that seemed to thrive in this environment was nature. And for me…for me there was eventually nothing left, until all I did was long for death."

Sirius didn't speak for a long while. "And now?" Sirius said eventually"

Harry who had gathered himself again in the silence got up. "Now…Now I will continue dragging myself through life as best as I know." Harry clapped Sirius on the shoulder. "Come. I have one final thing to share with you. It concerns your little brother. It may help you take a kinder view of him." Harry once again led the way.

The locket was exactly where he remembered. He took it out of its display case.

"Sirius, can you call Kreacher? He can't come back if I call."

"Why?"

"Because you can hear this story straight from the source."

Sirius obliged and Kreacher arrived promptly with a pop. "Filthy blo—" Kreacher's bulbous eyes became even bigger when he noticed the locket in Harry's hand. "—What does the unknown master do with master regulus's locket?"

Harry smiled pleasantly. "I plan to destroy it of course. But first I would like you to tell the story of this locket to Sirius."

Kreacher was already twisting his own ears. "Is impossible. Kreacher tried everything. Is impossible to destroy the dark lord's locket. Hack it, whack it, burn it, vanish it, nothing worked. Nothing. Bad Kreacher. Bad, bad Kreacher. Kreacher couldn't fulfil master Regulus's order. Destroy the locket master said, but Kreacher couldn't."

"Kreacher, stop!" Harry commanded.

Kreacher let go of his ears.

"I know how to destroy the locket and will do so because it was Regulus's wish. But now I would like you to tell the story to Sirius."

After some more prompting Kreacher told his story. Harry meanwhile observed Sirius.

His dogfather had discovered these little family secrets over the span of a few years, not in the span of a few hours. It had unsettled and settled him at the same time. He understood his family better but there were also new regrets. A little brother he had dismissed as just another clone of his parents. A mother who he thought heartless had hoped to her death for his return. He learned to see that not everything was black and white. Harry hoped the same would be true for this Sirius.

Sirius was hanging on Kreacher's every word. Today's events made him at least willing to listen to a creature that he despised—That was good— How else everything would develop was unknown. Change was hard and healing from the past would take time. Sirius would have to decide for himself what this meant for him but Harry had given him a view on things from a different perspective.

"…Does the unknown master really know how to destroy the dark lord's locket? The dark lord is a great and powerful wizard and protects his treasures well"

"Orion—My name is Orion Corvinus Black and I am the son of Sirius. And yes I know of several methods to destroy the locket. Consider Regulus's last order as completed."

Kreacher bowed low. "Master Orion carries a noble name and must be a great wizard to destroy the dark lord's protections. Worthy of the noble name he carries… Can Kreacher do anything for master?"

"No thank you. Go rest. We will send over some other house elves to help in making this property habitable again."

Kreacher popped away

"So?"

"So…I can't believe my little brother betrayed the dark lord because of Kreacher." Sirius looked over at the locket. "So that's one of his horcruxes. It doesn't look too dangerous."

"It isn't but it will influence you and when you carry it too long it will possess you."

"Will we destroy it?"

"Not yet. It can be helpful in getting the horcrux extracted from Rose."

"Do we really have to wait five years before we can extract that soul piece from Rose's forehead? Can't you do something? Ask another necromancer for help?"

Harry shook his head. "Most people that claim to be proficient in necromancy are charlatan's and frauds or have, like me, too little skill. They could make everything far worse if they did an attempt. Most necromancers with enough skill have nefarious reasons for dabbling in that art and I wouldn't trust them.

"Arcturus has put out feelers but I have little confidence in that. Samuel is Rose's best hope. He is a singular individual with extraordinary skill. Finding him however is a challenge because he doesn't want to be found. And over five years I know where he is. At least if things don't change too much."

Harry looked Sirius over. "Now, I think, it's time to go back. We can both use something to eat and some time to our own thoughts. We can come back another day."