Sirius Black was sitting and brooding as he watched the flames in the fire flicker. Dumbledore had informed him that the Weasley's would be arriving the following day, in all honesty he hadn't fancied having company but having made Dumbledore the secret keeper of his family house didn't leave him with much of a say.

He sighed, it wasn't like he had any choice in the matter, being a wanted man made him useless in the fight against Voldemort. All he could do was provide a safe house for the resistance led by Albus Dumbledore. The thought of sitting on the sidelines killed him, his best friend James was dead and so was his godson, Harry. He sighed once more, pouring himself yet another glass of firewhisky. Henry, Frank's godson, was a sweet boy but he hadn't been able to really connect with him.

Downing yet another glass he let his eyes droop, falling off to sleep dreaming of James and Harry.

A month had passed exceedingly slowly for Sirius' liking. Molly Weasley and her brood had all but taken over his house, not that he cared, seeing how he wouldn't mind if they somehow managed to burn the infernal house down. No, what bothered him was finding himself constantly locked up as he tried to constantly avoid her.

But today there was a spring in his step, Henry Potter would be arriving at number 12 Grimmauld place. A sad smile was plastered to his face, he couldn't help but think if things would have turned out differently if Henry had ended up in his care, but he knew it was a futile thought, even if he hadn't been arrested he had no link to Henry especially with Harry gone, no one would have allowed him to keep the younger Potter.

Remus found himself lost in his own thoughts as he awaited for the group that was tasked to fetch Henry to assemble. Henry Potter was a well mannered quiet boy, Remus knew that he was extremely intelligent but he lacked the drive to prove himself. He still remembered when he first met the boys at St Mungo's hospital, he had been a bit late but he'd arrived just in time to see Sirius fawning over a bundle in his arms.

James and Lily had immediately beamed at him with James promptly informing him that he was to be Henry's godfather. He'd been deeply touched by the gesture but had immediately declined, proclaiming the position of honorary uncle instead for both boys. He knew that no matter how much his friends loved him, the law would never allow him to fulfill his duties as godfather.

Lucky for James, Frank had waltzed into the room informing him that he'd be Neville's godfather, honored, James had immediately named him Henry's godfather.

He was pulled out from his musings as he heard Moody call out for the group that had volunteered to get Henry.

In Privet Drive, Henry found himself once again lost in thought as he sat looking at his most prized possession, a photo album, in his bedroom. He'd been upset that none of his friends had really written to him and the daily prophet wasn't really reporting anything on Voldemort's attacks leaving him completely frustrated.

He still remembered the day he was introduced to the wizarding world by Hagrid who'd been surprised at his lack of knowledge about his heritage. It had pained him greatly to find out that he had a twin brother who'd died along with his family on the night that a dark wizard, Voldemort, had attacked his family home.

Hagrid had found him with a bleeding scar on his forehead in the shape of a thunder bolt making him a hero in the wizarding world.

Life in general had been good, he knew that he had an uncle who Petunia and Vernon were terrified of but he didn't visit as he was sick. It had been a surprise for him to find out during his third year that his Defence against the dark arts Professor was said uncle, being a werewolf he hadn't been able to look after Henry but he'd made sure to let the Dursley's know that he was looking out for him. They'd agreed to keep the boy as long as his kind didn't make it a habit to show up at their house, grudgingly he'd agreed to keep his distance.

He'd mostly learned to live a quiet life, the Dursley's had spent his life ignoring his existence. He, in turn, had learnt to live an invisible life, never really doing anything that put him in the spotlight. Of course things changed when he went to Hogwarts, where he was constantly pushed into the limelight and now with the return of Voldemort he once again found himself questioning everything.

Just two days ago he'd relived his worst nightmare when the Dementors attacked his cousin and him. He heard his father shout telling his mother to get the boys and run, he heard his mother beg the cloaked figure for mercy, to take her life and spare her sons and then he saw the brightest green orbs look right at him before pushing him. A sharp pain erupted on his forehead as he saw his mother fall and then a bright green light enveloped the room before he lost all consciousness.

He wondered how things would have turned out had his brother not pushed him, a tear fell on the photo album as he traced a finger on the photo of two messy haired boys with bright green eyes laughing as Padfoot and Prongs played in the backyard. The sound of a doorknob clicking got his attention pulling him out of his musings.

Sirius smiled as he watched the raven haired boy with emerald green eyes enter "welcome to my home Henry." He said walking over to give him a quick hug only to be pushed aside by Molly who started fussing over him before ushering him upstairs.

Sirius rolled his eyes and watched the boy fondly as he made his way up, he made sure to ruffle the curtains covering his mothers portrait just as Molly was passing by it. Wulberga gave Molly an earful before she managed to cover the portrait once more, throwing Sirius a glare that made Remus chuckle.

They both nodded to each other before heading down yet to another boring Order meeting. Both of them thinking back to their own private meeting after the events that unfolded during the third task.

"He's back, Albus asked me to get in touch with the old crowd."

"But you are a wanted man…"

"Maybe he still doesn't want me around, he most probably hoped that I'd get myself arrested in my worried state."

Remus growled "I'd told him that it was a bad idea to make Henry the face of Voldemort's downfall. But according to him the wizarding world needed hope and Henry would be that hope…"

"I know and that's what worries me. You've seen him Remus, he doesn't have what it takes. I'm afraid that the pressure of being the chosen one might just push him over the edge… so far he's been lucky but now Voldemort's back."

"Well, he did learn the Patronus charm and for his age a corporeal patronus is quite an incredible feat."

"Yes, I don't doubt that he's capable but he has received no training."

"Dumbledore wanted him to have a normal childhood…" Remus cut in looking strained making Sirius scoff.

"We both know Dumbledore wanted a pawn but I won't let him use Henry. We will train him, so that he's ready just in case. But in all likelihood I'm taking that self proclaimed lord down with me."

"What about his friends?"

"The boy abandoned him at the beginning of the tournament, Henry doesn't have much self worth but I cannot forgive him and the girl… Well, both of you have told me she's great at research but she's blinded by her faith in authority figures. No, we need to concentrate on Henry, as soon as he comes to Grimmauld place we'll start his training. It'll help me get back into shape as well."

Both of them had spent the month training away from prying eyes, Remus had even made a study schedule for Henry.

Sirius tried not to yawn as yet another useless meeting came to an end. He simply wanted to talk to Henry, all the training had stopped him from writing letters to the boy but now that he was here he'd make sure to spend some quality time with him.

He saw Remus smirking as Molly started bustling around the kitchen barking orders "he's given them a piece of his mind" the werewolf whispered. He'd been busy eavesdropping on the kids whilst Dumbledore was rambling on about the same thing.

Dinner had been strange to say the least, Sirius had been surprised at Henry's lack of interest about the Order, so he decided to bring it up. Of course that only provoked Molly into asserting her position as the boss.

He was going to give her a piece of his mind when the kitchen door exploded open with a boom. Tonks was the first to react, spinning around with her wand at the ready only for it to be pulled out of her hand, several wands clattered to the floor at the man's feet.

"Don't be foolish, girl! I would have expected better from Andromeda's spawn, I suppose the mundane bastard tainted the line more than I'd anticipated." A baritone voice rang through the room. The magic surrounding him was suffocating, everyone felt vulnerable in his presence, Moony, the wolf in Remus, even let out a soft whimper.

An elderly man stood at the doorway, his silk dress-robes lined in silver matching the silver cane only highlighted the impressive figure that he painted. His grey hair was tied back in an elegant knot. He walked into the kitchen with a sense of authority that only nobility could possess.

Sirius looked at the slightly wrinkled face with piercing grey eyes and swallowed audibly "grandfather?" He squeaked.

"Still a disappointment I see. Get out." He barked at the rest of the group.

"You're alive? How?" Sirius said in a whisper, still shocked. Even Tonks looked slightly cowed.

Molly immediately bristled, finding her voice again "and who are you to walk in here giving orders?"

The man simply looked at her unperturbed before turning to look at Arthur "Arthur Weasley, caput domum, I suggest you stop your wife from disgracing the Weasley house any further. This is the property of the most ancient and most noble house of Black, we have graciously accepted to house blood traitors but disobedience will not be tolerated."

Molly opened her mouth again "ENOUGH!" Every head turned to look at the livid expression that now marred the Weasley patriarch's face "you will learn obedience Molly, I will not have you embarrass me and our family any further."

If Henry found himself shocked it was nothing to what the Weasley children and Molly were feeling. None of them had ever seen Arthur raise his voice leave alone talk so callously to anyone. The once docile man marched his brood out of the kitchen, dragging Hermione along.

Molly tried to take Henry but was stopped by the man. He turned to glare at Remus forcing Sirius out of his stupor "Remus is family. He stays."

The man was pleased to see that Sirius could fight his power but he didn't show his pride. "That will be for me to decide, boy, once I've approved of him. For now, he leaves."

Sirius was silenced as Remus shook his head imploring him not to push it.

Tonks cleared her throat "it's an honor to meet you grandfather." She stuttered looking surprised at her own reaction. The man simply glanced at her but didn't reply instead he turned to look at the kitchen door.

Henry simply gawked at the door, even Tonks tripping over her own feet and Sirius falling off his chair didn't distract him. There framed in the doorway was a raven haired boy with sparkling green eyes, he was a few inches taller than Henry and his face looked like it was carved out of stone. He, like the man, wore his hair in a knot but unlike the man whose skin was pale, the boy had a healthy tan.

"Harry." He heard Sirius gasp.

He walked in and stood next to the man, the door closing behind him. Unlike the man whose expression was hard enough to have the craziest of death eaters running for the hills, he wore an easy smile and carried himself in a more relaxed manner.

"If you fools are done gawking we can get to business. I suppose you all recognize my great grandson Hadrian Black."

"What?" Sirius spluttered getting back on his feet "that's my godson! Harry Potter."

To everyone's surprise the man's expression softened "I knew there was a reason that I had found you worthy. You are powerful, a proper Black, but you lack discipline for that I blame Dorea." Sirius bristled but the man then turned to look at the Auror whose hair looked wilted and had turned a deep black that resembled Sirius' hair. "You are wondering why you feel so powerless in my presence?" She blushed under his gaze but weakly nodded "I am your Lord, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, Baron Arcturus Victoriol Black."

"B-but I'm not a Black." Tonks mumbled.

"Foolish girl. Just because my idiot son declared your mother an outcast doesn't mean that she stopped being a Black. You were the second metamorphmagus in my family, it is a black family trait, I still need to determine if my decision was correct."

An ancient elf popped into the kitchen, unlike Kreacher Henry noted, this elf was wearing a black uniform with a crest on its chest. It bowed deeply and without looking up it said "the east room is being ready, everyone's waiting master."

Arcturus nodded, Harry commanded the elf to clean up before dismissing him.

Harry followed Arcturus out leaving the three remaining occupants to hurry behind them, the three still in a daze gasped as they entered a living room. It looked warmer than Sirius remembered and it was impeccably clean, four people dropped their wands as they looked at the new arrivals.

Andromeda Black and Narcissa Malfoy immediately dropped to a low curtsy. Arcturus sneered at Draco who looked dumbfounded.

Much to Henry's surprise Narcissa's platinum blonde hair immediately turned to the deep blue black shade that set the Black's apart. Tonk's eyes widened as realization hit her.

"Grandfather…" They both greeted him in unison.

Draco was still staring at his nemesis 's, doppelgänger.

"I suggest you teach your spawn proper protocol. Now sit, we have much to discuss."

Narcissa glared at her son who wilted under his mother's stare and immediately sat down after bowing quickly.

"Ted Tonks." He said with slight distaste "what are your views on the wizarding world?"

Ted was surprised by the question but he cleared his throat and answered. "I believe that there are a lot of customs and traditions that are holding us back. I think that we can learn a lot from the muggles, in terms of advancing our own society. That being said, I do believe that we are better than muggles. We can do things that they can only dream of and it is important for us to promote unity…"

"Should muggle-borns be given more power?"

Henry was surprised at how easily Ted responded. "No. A muggle-born is given merit on their work but the Wizengamot is made up of the sacred 28. Allowing outsiders to be voted in would be like running an election for the monarchs. Like I said, we could incorporate Muggle advancements into our society but we should not allow outsiders to change our way of living."

Arcturus nodded looking satisfied "your name doesn't carry much weight in our world, even though you have come to make a place for yourself. As such I would like for Nymphadora to use Black before Tonks. Is that acceptable to you?"

"It would open up a lot more doors for her. I would be honored if my daughter could use her given name."

At this everyone raised their eyebrows at Andromeda who simply smirked "I married a muggle-born not a muggle fanatic. He knows the importance of heritage in our world, I just wasn't sure if Nymphadora could use it openly."

Narcissa gave her sister an appraising look.

He turned to Narcissa next. "You couldn't find yourself a man with integrity?" He barked, making her flush. "Never mind we'll sort Malfoy out soon enough. We still have time to teach his spawn what a proper house looks like." Draco flushed but was silenced by a look from his mother.

Henry imagined that his silence in part was due to Lord Black's influence and like himself he too was feeling the pressure that was stopping him from talking. Well, in truth, in his case it was the familiar green pools that had haunted his dreams that had his tongue tied.

Harry was curiously studying the people around him, he had obviously been shown pictures of each one and he'd been told about them, but seeing them all in person was quite simply overwhelming.

Two trays appeared on the table along with two elves. One tray had a few butterbeers and elvin wine that the elves served everyone. The other tray had a decanter with golden liquid, which the elves served to Harry and Arcturus.

"Babylonian elixir, which I only share with those I consider worthy of my company." He said at the curious looks that Tonks, Draco and Henry were giving the liquid.

"Now I'm sure you must all be curious as to what happened all those years ago." The group nodded unanimously.

He took a dramatic pause sipping on his drink, "it all started when James Potter decided to marry the wrong woman. Initially Charlus and Dorea had been ecstatic that James had found his future wife, we even had an argument when I'd reminded him how important blood was." Harry watched as Sirius and Henry looked troubled by the news.

"Of course, they got married and within a week Lily wanted to move out of Potter Manor. She, like most muggle-borns, had no regard for traditions. She didn't want to live with Lord and Lady Potter, wanting to be the boss of her own house. James not thinking from his head allowed his wife to dictate the terms of their marriage. Dorea had of course come to me devastated by the news, Charlus had handed over lordship to James when he graduated, with him leaving the Manor's defences weakened. I had implored them to move into Black Valley, but Charlus had always been too proud. It only took a couple of weeks for the death eaters to attack them."

Irate at the man's audacity Henry finally found his voice "my mother wasn't at fault. Purebloods aren't better than muggle-borns."

"Learn to listen boy, I never once said that her being a muggle-born was the problem. However, her having the ideologies of a muggle-born and wanting to force them onto the magical world was. Much like Hogwarts, our Manors are sentient, they are fueled with generations of blood magic. Had Sirius not opened the doors of this house to outsiders, this house would have turned against anyone who wasn't blood. The fool, Dumbledore, thought he could take control and yet the house recognized me, it's true master. Your mother did not understand the importance of blood in the magical world nor did she understand the duties of the lady of an ancient and Noble House."

Arcturus had kept his voice leveled but there was a certain fire in his eyes that stopped Henry from pushing him.

Ted cleared his throat, "actually, that's where the blood purity misunderstanding comes from. The magical world has always talked about the importance of blood, there are certain gifts like the metamorphmagus in the Black line which later was gifted with parseltongue when they joined their line to Slytherin. I think I even read about shadow magic being present when they married into the Lemaar family. Originally when someone talked about keeping a line pure they were referring to the gifts that families carry. I, like Lily, am a muggle-born, but I am a descendant of a squib that belonged to the Black line. Of course, said squib lived in 1412, but I carry Black blood in a manner of speaking, hence Nymphadora's gift."

Arcturus nodded before a solemn look marred his features "Charlus and Dorea's death hurt me deeply. Charlus had been my best friend and Dorea was my baby sister. Of course, the only thing I could do was avenge their demise. It took me a month to find out who all had been involved in the attack on Potter Manor, I lured them all to Black Valley and killed every single one. I was injured in the fight and was taken away by the elves. When the Aurors arrived they of course presumed me dead. Initially I had thought of proving them wrong but then James and Lily announced their news. I kept tabs on all of you…"

"It was you!" Sirius suddenly said "it was you who stopped that death eater from kidnapping Lily. That was the last order mission that James let her participate in."

Arcturus inclined his head "I saved your sorry asses more times than I care to remember. One of my elf's reported something interesting a few months later, a conversation that took place between the old goat and James. The house was kept under constant watch after that and that's how I knew when Voldemort attacked. I tried to get there as soon as possible but James and Lily were gone. I found Harry standing in his crib and saw that he'd pushed Henry out of it."

"How did you..."

"It's true, I remember Harry pushing me out." Henry cut across Dora.

"I placed Henry in the crib and took Harry, before I left I saw Sirius running towards the house and knew Henry would be safe."

"You took one and abandoned the other." Sirius spat out in irritation.

"If I had taken both then the old goat would have sent for a search party. With him distracted with his prize I could focus on Harry."

Henry's head was spinning with all the information.

"And I imagine that you then trained Harry and what does that have to do with them being here!" Sirius spat out looking at the Malfoys.

"Narcissa, like Andromeda and yourself, is a Black first. She may have been misguided in the past but she will put her blood first. Draconian may be a Malfoy by birth but he too has Black blood as such it is my duty to teach him how to be a proper Lord. His grandfather clearly lost his mind when he was forced to flee France, the stupidity seems to have leaked into the next generation. I'll be damned if I allow my blood to be tainted." Narcissa simply nodded, taking her son by surprise who was clearly seething but one look from Arcturus and the boy's anger turned to fear.

"So you show up now because You-Know-Who's back." Dora stated.

"No, I showed up now because Harry just turned 15 which means that he'll need to take his OWL's. Anyhow, it's getting late and I have much to do tomorrow. Narcissa, send the boy tomorrow; he'll spend the rest of his holidays here." With that he left the room, leaving behind a very confused audience.

Henry let out a shaky laugh "at least he's got a sense of humor, OWL's..."

Harry raised an eyebrow "he wasn't joking. As future Lords we must excel at everything."

"But you were born before me."

"And he's most probably decided to give you the Potter seat and take the Black seat." Sirius said with a grin. Henry could see the genuine joy that now filled the man, in all honesty it hurt a bit.

"No. The Black lordship will be yours after Arcturus. But yes, Henry will be Lord Potter, I already have other responsibilities. Though it would be nice to get to know you all, maybe we could have a family lunch tomorrow. I'm beat though, I think I'm going to call it a night as well." He said stifling a yawn and leaving through the same door that Arcturus had gone through moments before.

Narcissa left shortly after with Draco in tow followed by the Tonks family. Everyone clearly had a lot of thinking to do.

Henry suddenly felt exhausted himself, standing up he bade Sirius a goodnight and headed towards the bedroom that he was sharing with Ron only for an elf to pop in and inform him that his bedroom was ready in the east wing.

With drooping lids he followed the elf blindly to his new bedroom, not really bothering to take in his surroundings.