AN: Hello everyone! I want to apologize to anyone reading this who read the first chapter when it was published. I didn't mean to go on a years hiatus it just sort of happened. I'm back now and trying to get myself to write fairly regularly. I have a bunch of ideas I've written up I want to make into full stories. But first I want to get at least five chapters in to this story and into my other current fic. I will say I go back to collage very soon so I might slow down for a bit there but currently I'm aiming to release a chapter for one of my fics at least every other day.
The first thing Harry became aware of was the piercing cries of gulls filling his ears and sending a spike of pain through his head. He grimaced as he reached up to shade his eyes as they slowly opened. I really need to stop waking up like this, Harry thought to himself as the world around him came slowly into view. The room he was in was surprisingly large for what he would assume was his prison cell. Perhaps around 12x12 and with a high ceiling. As he sat up he noticed that he was on a slightly raised dais with a thin pad underneath him as bedding. To his left was a heavy metal reinforced door with a barred window and a grate, to his right a wall with a barred window about 8 feet up. And most interestingly in front was someone else curled up on a dais across from his.
Harry slowly got up and began to cautiously approach the figure across from him. Upon reaching them he carefully reached down and pulled them over before recoiling in shock. It was Sirius but someone had horribly beat him, leaving bruises all over his face and neck. His shirt was gone and he was only wrapped in a thin blanket doing nothing to hide the lacerations and bruises all over his body. He would be lucky if none of his ribs had snapped and Harry would know from his time in the cupboard at the Dursleys.
Rolling him over had evidently woken him up as Sirius's eyes began to flutter open with a groan and pain filled cough. "I see you're finally awake huh Prongslet? I tried to wake you up when they threw you in here but whatever spells they cast on you knocked you out well and good. I hope you don't mind that I had a lay down to wait till you woke up." He joked with a hoarse hacking laugh.
"Merlin Sirius." Harry hissed out. He was used to seeing and dealing with his own injuries due to his caretakers and tendency to run into trouble at Hogwarts but seeing someone else who he cared for this injured made him feel sick.
Sirius sat up with a grunt. "Oh don't worry too much about me Pup. I've had worse from my loving parents when they wanted to punish me for the muggle posters I charmed up in my room. Old Lucy cursing me some in his attempt at a temper tantrum won't keep me down for too long. A couple weeks of internal magic and rest and I should be right as rain."
Harry cut him off here. "Whats internal magic Sirius, shouldn't you need a healer?"
Sirius looked at him inquisitively. "You're in your third year aren't you Harry? I'm surprised you don't already know." Upon Harry's blush Sirius laughed and ruffled his hair. "Hey I'm not making fun of you Pup just surprised is all. It might very well be something I learned as someone mage raised instead of muggle like you. Magic isn't just done by wands and cauldrons, our magic is a part of us which is what leads to kids having accidental magic. Well in some situations if we're desperate enough our magic will do things intuitively. For example if a magic user is injured their magic will try to heal them best it can internally. It isn't always enough to fully heal or to be efficient of course, which is why we have healing magic and potions. But it should kick in enough to help me recover from this faster than a muggle or squib would."
Harry nodded in understanding. "That makes sense to me. When I was younger and injured in my cupboard I would heal faster than I should have I suppose looking back on it. I never had to go to the hospital even if I should have to for dealing with broken bones. And when my Aunt cut my hair in a horrible fashion I hated it had all grown back to normal overnight."
Sirius gave Harry a serious look. "Well we're definitely going to have to have a conversation about you referring to a cupboard as yours as well as the broken bones. That sounds far too similar to my family for me to be comfortable with. But disregarding that, yes that sounds about right for internal magic. Though your hair might have been you having some Metamorphmagus blood from your Black blood."
"Hold on." Harry cut in. "We're actually blood related? I thought you were just my Godfather and my Dad's best friend."
"Well of course." Sirius said. "Didn't anyone tell you about your family history when you went to school? Your grandmother on your Fathers side was a Black. Of course most of the old families are related to some degree due to the nature of things. But we're technically cousins." He laughed. "Technically we're both related to Malfoy junior as well. How's that for family huh?"
Harry grimaced. "Well I wish I could go back to a minute ago when I didn't know I was related to him. But to answer your question no, no one ever told me very much about my family at all. The Durselys never told me anything but lies, and the only thing anyone else told me was how much I looked like my parents. I guess I should have looked into it but I just got dragged from one thing to the next and never really thought about it." "So." He looked around. "Do you have any idea where we are? Is this Azkaban? The last thing I knew Lucius was talking about framing me and locking me away as some sort of weapon for if Voldemort ever returned."
Sirius laughed. "No, not Azkaban. You'll notice there's no feeling of soul sucking misery or general unpleasantness. You'd know if you were there, trust me." He looked around. "Also it's not damp enough to be Azkaban. They kept my head bagged most of the way here so I didn't see much, but I saw enough to know where we are. We Pup, have the distinct dishonor of being locked in one of magical Britain's most unknown secrets. I doubt most of those outside the old families have even heard of it passing.
Sirius paused to look at Harry. "From what you've told me you don't know much of your family's history and that's something we'll have to fix. But one thing you should know is that the Potters are an old and powerful family with a complex history. Many of them were powerful magic users, Aurrors, Soldiers, Rune Masters, Battle Mages. The Potter family is filled with all of those and more, everyone of them dangerous in their own right. But there was only ever one Potter who went dark. And when I say dark I don't mean Albuses definition of someone who ever uses a lethal spell or even blood purists. I mean there was ever only one Potter who became a Dark Lord. And this whole prison was designed solely to hold that one Potter because of how dangerous they were. Officially this place doesn't even exist, the ministry doesn't want anyone to remember those times. So now best I can tell it exists as some sort of black site for people they want the world to forget about."
Harry sat there for a second in silence. He was rather taken aback by all this information at once. Extended family, War Mages, a prison built just to hold one of his ancestors. Honestly it was a whole lot to take in and process. Ever since he came to Wizarding Britain everyone always treated him like he was in some way someone special, be that in a positive or negative light. The boy who lived who was told about in fairy tales. They had all these preconceived notions about who he was, and how he should act. But to him he had always remained just Harry in his mind. Just Harry the boy in the cupboard. Just Harry the boy no one cared for. Just Harry the Freak. But now to know all these details about his family. It gave him something to hold on to, something to strive towards.
He turned to Sirius. "So I guess me being sent here was one final slap in the face from Lucius huh? Send the Potter to the prison built for Potters.
Sirius smiled grimly. "Yah I guess he wanted to give us both something to remember him by during our time in here. Me a beating and you a rather macabre joke. But." He paused to look up towards the window. "I know we both only woke up not that long ago but it's starting to dim and that window is our only source of light. I don't know what tomorrow has planned for us but I'm willing to guess we'll want our sleep one way or another."
Harry nodded at this, taking notice for the first time that the cell had indeed dimmed with only a few sun rays being seen coming in through the cell's window to dance in the dust. He made his way over to his pad to try to get comfortable and prepare for sleep as Sirius lay back down with a grunt of pain on his. It was difficult to relax and get comfortable but Harry did his best knowing Sirius was right and they didn't know what tomorrow would bring for them.
Just as the light was almost gone and Harry was beginning to drift off he heard Sirirus call out for him. "Hey Harry?"
Harry turned on his side to look across the cell to Sirius. "Yah Sirius?" He replied.
Serius's eyes glinted in the dying light as their gazes met. "You know that ancestor of yours I told you about? The Potter this place was built to hold?"
"What about him?" Harry asked.
A grim smile spread across Sirius's face. "It didn't hold him in the end. Despite all the effort the Ministry and the old families put into it to hold him. He escaped. Even without a wand this prison couldn't hold a Potter. In the end it was another Potter who finally defeated him in battle."
Harry chuckled. "That so huh? Thanks for telling me. Sleep well Sirius." He said before turning over.
"You too Pup, you too." Sirius replied.
Despite being in a prison just for him, Harry James Potter fell asleep that night with a smile on his face and hope in his heart.