AN: I may or may not put a huge jump in time for next chapter (Harry being primary school/elementary school age) but not if people want me to continue with this a little more. Thanks for any opinions on this.

Chapter Eleven – Sirius Knows The Truth

11.1

Despite the fun morning he had had with Elizabeth, Sirius had asked her for some alone time with Harry and had taken a personal day from his job. He didn't know what to think. Harry was of course from a magical family but how magical he wasn't sure any longer. As he walked over to the toddler, he heaved him up into his arms.

"Hey," he said to the little boy and Harry laughed, hugging him back and Sirius couldn't help the smile that was on his face. He walked over to the armchair and sat there with Harry on his lap. The little boy clapped his hands innocently and Sirius watched him.

What spell did he use to kill them? Sirius thought to himself as he looked into Harry's wide eyes and let his finger go beside his scar. There had to be something in those moments of time that had either hit Harry or affected Harry or something, there was something that had happened because even if the spell had rebounded, the scar seemed too precise for that.

A lightning bolt scar. It seemed magical in itself and it was definitely not some birthmark that looked like a perfect map of the London Underground. No, it could have happened but for that to be the only scar on Harry's face. Sirius stared at the small boy. What are you not telling me? He thought to himself as he put his finger there.

Harry grabbed his finger with his fist and laughed as he brought it down and Sirius smiled at him. He couldn't explain magic to him but he could try to give him as good a life as possible. He would have to explain magic when he was older but was that strange as well. Most wizard families were running around with garden gnomes and pixies from the attic, they were experiencing their family on broomsticks, having dinner magically summoned on the table, they weren't pretending to be a normal Muggle.

"Siyus," Harry said as he tilted his head to the side and Sirius looked at him. He couldn't blame Harry for any of this. Harry hadn't lived a life long enough to do anything bad and he adored his godson. "What?" Harry asked as he looked at the older man confused.

"Nothing, okay?" Sirius replied to the two-year-old. He looked away and Harry hugged him and kissed him. He was trying his best with the boy but there were so many things he just didn't know. "Let's do something fun. Like, I'll get the ball and we can roll it," he said and Harry smiled.

Sirius looked at him before walking to the toy box. He shouldn't have just been staring at the kid, Harry was smart, he had proved that already. He had to know that something was different about this situation. He had to know that something was unique about the way that they were living. No. He was two. He didn't have any frame of reference for that yet.

Sirius was bringing back the ball when there was a knock on the door and he handed the toy to Harry. "See if you can bounce it," he said to him. "I'm going to go get the door." Harry nodded and looked up at him and Sirius went to the door. He looked through the peephole and felt a wash of relief as he noticed the wizard on the other side of the door. Dumbledore. He was someone who might have some answers for him.

"Hello," Sirius said as he tried to make himself not sound as if he were panicking because of the Parselmouth event. He felt Dumbledore read his mind and bowed his head. The most important thing to him was being Harry's godfather and raising the little boy. No one cared for Harry the way that he did and since he hadn't been accused of being one of You-Know-Who's circle, no wizards should be looking for him. "Nice to see you."

"It's good to see you too," Albus said before Sirius gestured for him to come into the home. Alus walked over to Harry who was sitting on the floor with the ball. He crouched down and laughed as he patted the boy's head. "Hello there, Harry."

"Hewwo," Harry smiled and grabbed to the ball he was playing with. Sirius stood behind Dumbledore with a paternal smile as he watched his godson. How could Harry ever be bad? How could anyone ever think that about him?

"I hear that congratulations should be given," Dumbledore said as he turned to Sirius. "Is the young lady of the house home by any chance?"

"Working," Sirius said before laughing weakly, "Can I get you something to eat? Something to drink?"

"Yes, perhaps it would be better if we talked later about the subject. It doesn't feel right to do it here," Dumbledore said and Sirius froze. He looked to Harry who was gazing up at Dumbledore with wonder. Yes, it was definitely something that shouldn't be said in front of the toddler. He must know about the snake incident? Dumbledore had people watching from every vantage point and this made Sirius worry how many wizards did know.

"I can make some sandwiches if you don't mind that the bread is a little dry," Sirius laughed as he attempted to change the subject.

"Yes, that will be splendid," Dumbledore smiled, "I do think that hard bread is a treat for more than the ducks," he said and Sirius signed at the peculiarity of those words. He walked over to Harry and picked him up.

"We'll play with the ball later, I promise," he told him affectionately as Dumbledore watched them. "Let's get you into your high chair. We're going to have something to eat," he said to the smiling child as he kissed him on the forehead again but this time stared at his scar for a little longer. It looked like a rip from a toy when they were sewn with a certain stitch. It was starting to look less like a lightning bolt and more as if someone had tried to enter by ripping out some threads.

No. He wasn't sleeping after the snake incident. He was losing his mind a little and thinking too hard on that.

"Exactly," Dumbledore said and Sirius froze, he turned back to look at the wizard with a perplexed expression. Was this a time that called for occlumency. Well, he could do that when he had been a wizard but now as a human he supposed he would just have to let Dumbledore read his mind without protecting his thoughts. "We do need to talk tonight once your fiancée is back."

Sirius nodded, "She'll be home around six," he told him, "Now I'll prepare those sandwiches."

11.2

"Are you sure that you want to take me here?" Sirius gestured to The Three Broomsticks. It had been a long time since he had been this close to Hogwarts or this near magic in general. He had fallen off the map before and now he could see familiar faces surprised at his existence. And still, it had been Dumbledore who had suggested the place.

"I take it that you haven't enjoyed one of these Butterbeers for ages," Dumbledore said and Sirius watched him and rolled his eyes. Maybe he would have been able to drink them if he wasn't pretending to be Muggle but now he didn't want alcohol, not the strong wizarding alcohol. He didn't want Lizzy to see him as a drunk and he didn't want Harry questioning his behavior.

"If I am allowed to," Sirius said, "I'll have a non-alcoholic one but if this is in exchange for my giving up Harry to someone else then forget it."

"I know your intentions are of keeping Harry with you and I still need to investigate more about him. I know that I won't be able to persuade you not to care for him so I think that telling you the truth about him is the right thing. I know that he has started to speak to serpents," Dumbledore commented and Sirius stared at him.

"You want to talk about Harry?" he asked him. "I don't need any incentive to talk about him. I'd like to do it right now," he said and Dumbledore hummed.

"I will say that you might regret not having something to loosen you up first, I know sobriety is important to parents but I think that you -"

Sirius looked at the wizard in front of him with a lot of respect but not a lot of patience. He felt his heart pounding in his chest as he looked Dumbledore over. "What is it? What? You know what I've lived through, you know who my friend is….what he is…"

"I think that you'd find Mr. Lupin's behavior tame with what I have to tell you and that is the reason I will ask you one final time if you would like something to drink," he said and Sirius nodded finally.

"Non alcoholic though," he said as he tried to calm himself down, "I'll wait there," he said as he pointed to a bench and looked down feeling as if he were an alien in a place that had held so many pleasant memories for him but maybe his mind was being caught over those many many memories. Memories of the deceased James and Lily. Memories of Remus who had always been too good and moral and noble for the life events that had befallen him. Memories of the backstabber Peter and how he had supposedly died or vanished but Sirius had a suspicion of where he was.

As Dumbledore exited, he handed Sirius the drink and then gestured for them to go to an area where they would have maximum privacy. "You were always such a smart lad," Dumbledore said as he looked at where the sun was setting and the moon was about to rise. "You and your group. You were rather interested to watch," he chuckled and Sirius took a sip of his drink and looked around.

"Harry. You said you had something to tell me about Harry," Sirius told him and Dumbledore stared at him.

"You and Mr. Potter spent a long time studying the magic of transforming into animals, didn't you?" he asked and Sirius frowned. He knew that he was an unlisted Animagus and that to truly be one you had to be registered or it was unlawful but he was barely a wizard these days. He nodded without saying anything. "Did you happen to learn what a Horcrux was?" he asked and Sirius nodded.

"Of course, with my family and the secret his-" he said before raising his head and looked at Dumbledore with his eyes widening in horror. He felt as if he were about to vomit. He kept seeing Harry's smiling face, the little kisses and hugs that he got. No. No. That -

Sirius felt himself throw up onto the ground. He stared at Dumbledore and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief Elizabeth had given him.

"I think that it might be better for Harry if he went to live with his au-" Dumbledore said and Sirius glared at him. He tried to steady his breaths before his anger showed.

"No," Sirius whispered with a dangerous anger. "He's my godson! He's staying with me! You'll have to kill me before I let you just relocate him."

"And if that part of him kills you first?" Dumbledore asked.

"Then I suppose you'll have an easier time going through my dead body to spirit him away," Sirius replied. He cared a lot about what he had just been made privy to but that didn't mean he was just going to roll over and obey commands like a dog. Harry was as good as his biological family. This only made Sirius want to protect him more, to prove to him how good and kind and strong love was.

End of Chapter Eleven

Thank you for reading

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Ten

GobletCharm74, Rori Potter