Per usual, I don't own any of these characters despite all wishes to the contrary.
Harry was quiet.
That wasn't anything new, Harry was usually quiet during the last few days of term as he processed what happened during the yearly event. So far he'd almost died at the end of every school year, and each time it was a closer and closer call. Ron and Hermione were honestly worried (already) about what the next year's end-of-term had in store for their best friend.
This year, though, there was the added bonus of a potential new home being ripped away from him. Harry had confided in them in their first year that the Dursley's hated him, and that he would really rather not go back there, but the Headmaster said differently. Hermione wondered about that, but he was the Headmaster, he had to know what he was doing, right?
"Hey, Hermione?" Harry asked after Ron settled down from Sirius giving him a new owl. He was eyeing the permission slip for Hogsmeade with a frown.
"Hmm?" She looked up from her book.
"Dumbledore is the Chief Warlock and Supreme Mugwump, right? What exactly does that mean?" He asked.
"Well, Supreme Mugwump means he's the head of the ICW, that's the wizarding UN. And the Chief Warlock is the head of the Wizengamot. Kind of like the Leader of the House in Parliament."*
"So, he's got some political power, then." Harry said slowly.
"... Yes, I suppose." Hermione said curiously.
"Then why didn't he stop the Minister? Why didn't he demand that Sirius be at least questioned about his escape? Why send two underage, under-trained kids to rescue him? Why let Lucius Malfoy get his way in almost killing Buckbeak? He had to know that those charges of being dangerous were bogus, and yet he let Hagrid go through all that."
"I'm sure he knows what he's doing." Hermione said, but she didn't sound too sure of it herself. Laid out like that, she was having a hard time explaining it, even to herself.
"The Minister was going to kill Sirius. Without even questioning him about how he escaped. Wouldn't they want to know that information? That's a major security breach, and the Minister was just going to kill him. Dumbledore knew he was innocent, why didn't he try harder to talk the Minister around?" Ron asked this time, starting to think things through.
"You told me yourself that bad things happen to wizards who meddle with time. And yet the Headmaster told us to go back in time to save him from Dementors that he shouldn't have even been in danger from... if he'd been doing his job." Harry frowned.
"That may be, but Harry... if we hadn't done that, it wouldn't have mattered. You and Sirius were swarmed, there must have been nearly a hundred Dementors there." Hermione reminded him.
"The Dementor's wouldn't have been there at all if Dumbledore put his foot down and refused to allow them to be placed around the castle. He could have." Ron said. "He's the Headmaster, he has final say in what happens at Hogwarts, including if we get extra 'security'. The Ministry has no say in Hogwarts."
"They should have been removed anyway when it was obvious Sirius had already gotten past them. They were only hurting us." Harry grumbled.
There was a sudden knock on the door, and they looked up, startled, to find the Twins and Percy standing there. The Twins looked serious in a way that the Twins never did, while Percy looked like his usual disapproving self. Harry glanced at Ron and Hermione and realized that they'd forgotten to close the door all the way.
"I think you need to explain just what happened last week." Fred said grimly. The three had heard enough of the conversation to know that their brother and his friends had possibly aided in the escape of a wanted fugitive, who may not actually be guilty. Either way, if it was ever discovered by the wrong people, the three of them could be the ones in trouble. Big trouble, the kind that even the Twins were leery of getting into. The Twins stepped inside, closed the door, and hit it with locking and privacy charms so that nobody else overheard this conversation.
Ron looked at his two best friends, and made a decision. They were in over their heads this time, this wasn't just stuff going wrong at school, this was law and Minister's trying to kill people to cover things up and... if Harry was really going where he thought he was with his questions, they were going to need help. Who better to help them then his older brothers? So, he explained everything he knew, leaving Harry and Hermione to fill in the gaps of what happened during their jaunt through time.
When they were done, they still had a few hours until they arrived, and Percy was shaking his head. "That's not right, that the Minister just... there are laws. Procedure. He shouldn't have just called the Dementor's, he should have called for the Auror's to take him into custody." Ron was right, they would have needed to question him on how he escaped at least, that was a security breach at the prison housing their most dangerous criminals. And for the Headmaster to leave two third year students to deal with it, instead of using his own political power wasn't right, either. Percy had been wondering for a while if Dumbledore didn't have too much power in their world, but for him to not even use all that power on a man that he believed to be innocent...
"And you say that Black flew off on Buckbeak?" George clarified. The three nodded.
"He could be anywhere by now." Fred muttered. It would be difficult to get the man proper help (legal and possibly medical) if they didn't even know where he was.
"I think he's still fairly close by, if he was able to send Ron an owl to replace Scabbers." Percy pointed out. And that was something else he was having trouble wrapping his head around.
Scabbers was a person. Not a rat.
He slept in Percy's bed! He slept in Ron's bed! He slept in the same house as their little sister! And Percy shared everything with Scabbers. Everything that was bothering him, he told Scabbers things that he never shared with his parents or siblings. He pushed his revulsion down before he became sick, and focused on his brothers instead.
"I'm going to owl Bill, maybe he can take some vacation time and renew the wards around the Burrow." Fred glanced at Ron and Percy, glad that he and George refused to let Scabbers in their room (mostly because of the experiments they sometimes had laying around), he couldn't imagine how his brothers were feeling right now. Hopefully getting Animagus wards around the Burrow would help them.
"Yeah, that sounds good." Percy nodded. "You can use Hermes, Errol isn't going to be able to make the trip."
"Thanks." All five of his companions blinked at him. They all knew that he was very stringent about his siblings using Hermes to send letters. In fact, he refused every time anybody asked to borrow his owl, no matter if Errol was out of the house on another mail delivery or not.
"What about Sirius?" Harry asked.
"Treehouse?" Ron asked his brothers.
Percy nodded slowly. "Yes, it will give him somewhere warm and dry to stay, we can sneak him plenty of food... I can make him some potions. I think I still have that Healers manual, I can take a look through it. After twelve years in Azkaban and another year on the run, I doubt he's the healthiest person. We can decide how to handle mum and dad later." In other words, if they were going to tell them anything. Arthur, they could rely on to calmly listen. Molly... well, they would be lucky to stop her before she called the Aurors after the first words came out of their mouths.
"Didn't Bill and Charlie both get a few weeks off to visit at the same time this summer?" Fred asked. Their oldest brother had written them about the good news the week before.
"They both have training as medi-wizards." George chimed in. It was a requirement for their jobs, as dangerous as they were. Calling for a Healer, getting the Healer to the patient, or getting the patient to the Healer wasn't always possible in either the tombs or on the reserve.
Percy shrugged. "Until then, I'll do what I can." He said simply. He believed his brother about Peter Pettigrew, especially since the more he thought about it, Scabbers had lived an awfully long time, longer then a rat should, no matter how well Percy took care of him. And there was his missing toe, which was on the same hand of the finger that had been all anybody found of his body. And an explosion would have left more pieces behind then one finger.
He was very angry (and slightly betrayed) with Minister Fudge for dismissing his brother the way he did. He'd expected better of the man, he shouldn't have just brushed off the possibility like that, he should have had it investigated.
"What treehouse?" Harry asked, confused.
"Oh, I didn't show it to you when you were over?" Ron blinked, surprised. "Dad built Bill and Charlie a treehouse out on the edge of our orchards. It's still in good shape, we still use it sometimes. It's comfortable, warded against damage, just like any house would be. Sirius will be safe there." He assured Harry.
"I'll send him a letter now." Percy decided. "I'll give it to Hermes. Sorry, Hedwig, you're too noticeable, we don't want to draw attention to wherever he is." He apologized to the owl that hooted indignantly at being passed over when she was right there. She was only slightly mollified by his explanation.
Padfoot moved through the orchard carefully, alert for movement or noises. He trusted Harry's friend Ron (he'd seen Pettigrew for himself), but he wasn't too sure what to think of Ron's older brothers. He also couldn't be sure that Molly or Arthur hadn't found out about this.
Arthur, from what he remembered, was even tempered and would most likely hear his sons out before taking any action. Molly... well, he didn't remember her being the most level-headed or even-tempered person, especially if there was a possibility of a threat to somebody she cared about. (He'd heard enough about her from Fabian and Gideon to fill in the gaps of his knowledge about her.)
Unfortunately the possibility of being close to one of Harry's friends, who Harry would probably visit at some point this summer, and a safe place to stay with food had been too tempting to completely pass up. He'd hidden Buckbeak nearby, if this turned out to be safe he would need to figure something else out for the Hippogriff.
He whined softly and hid when he heard footsteps, but perked up when it was just Ron and two other red-headed boys- they must be the Twins. He barked softly, and Ron's head shot up, looking around before Padfoot carefully edged out of his hiding place, looking around warily.
"Sirius." Ron breathed. "Finally, I was starting to think you would never come!" He came up and started scratching the giant dog behind the ear, which made Sirius whine and close his eyes in pleasure.
"Come on, we already have the treehouse set up." Fred said, glancing towards the house.
They'd spent the past two weeks making the treehouse comfortable for somebody to live in. They'd set up a cooling cupboard with food and found a small pile of clothes from around the house, mostly some of Bill and Charlie's old things that were still wearable. Percy had already been brewing the potions he'd talked about and brushed up on some of the spells he thought might be needed from that Healers Manual. And, of course, they'd gotten a bed set up for him. Percy had even managed to enlarge the space some so he had more room, which was quite impressive as the space was already enlarged quite a bit.
Padfoot looked between the three boys, but followed them, anyway. He honestly wasn't too sure about a 'treehouse', but figured that a wizard like Arthur Weasley could make it much better then one of those Muggle ones he'd seen once.
"Dad's at work, and mom's making lunch. They don't really come out here, though." Ron told his best friend's godfather. "We would only have to worry about Ginny, but she doesn't spend much time out here anymore, either."
"Here we are." Fred said cheerfully.
"It's bigger then it looks." George supplied, correctly interpreting the dogs wary look at the structure. Understandable, it looked rather small for a treehouse, especially considering it was in one of the largest trees on the property.
Warily, Padfoot quickly transformed and followed the boys up the ladder. He had to admit, it was much better then he'd been envisioning. "Thank you for this." He said quietly, glancing at Ron. It looked like he recovered from his leg being broken, that was good. Not that he didn't think Madam Pomfrey could heal him, of course. But he felt bad for hurting him in the first place.
"Not a problem. At least now I can finally write back to Harry that you're here." Ron smirked briefly. He'd been getting almost daily letters from Harry, and he felt bad for having to tell his best friend that no, he hadn't shown up yet.
Sirius visibly perked up at the mention of his godson. "Could you send my letter with yours?" He asked, and pulled it out of his pocket.
"Sure." Ron shrugged and took it. "We'll let you settle in, we'll be back later with Percy. He wants to check you over, he's been studying this Healers' manual and a law book, I think he took hearing that an innocent man has been in prison as a personal insult." He confided in Sirius.
Sirius barked out a laugh. "Percy... I think I remember him. Bit stuffy and pompous?" He asked, and smirked at the shocked looks he got. "I babysat with Fabian and Gideon a few times." He shrugged. He'd liked Bill and Charlie, found the Twins to be hilarious (even at their young ages), but always found Percy to be a bit stuffy even then.
"I don't remember that." Fred blinked.
"I wouldn't expect you to, you were only, what? Two or three at the time?" Sirius asked, shrugging as he moved to inspect the clothes.
"Huh." The Twins looked at each other.
"Oh, we set up an area for a shower, just through here." Ron jumped to show Sirius where it was. It had taken the Twins some doing, but they'd figured out a Rune sequence that would draw water and set it up so that Sirius could use it to shower. They'd even connected it to another Rune sequence on the floor so that the extra water would be 'cleaned' and recycled back through the 'shower head'. They'd then closed that area of the tree house off so Sirius could have some privacy. They weren't quite sure what to do about a toilet though, short of sneaking him into the house, which was risky enough.
"Thank you." Sirius said, relieved. It had been ages since he'd had a decent shower.
"No problem." Ron smiled slightly and followed his brothers out.
"He looks awful." Fred said quietly once they were back on the ground.
"He was in Azkaban for twelve years. You know how dad is whenever he has to go there for something, and he's only ever there for an hour at a time." George pointed out.
"Yeah." Ron said quietly. "He still looks better now then he did a few weeks ago." He shuddered. Not being holed up in the Forbidden Forest seemed to have done some good. He was probably able to gather some actual food from places, although it clearly still wasn't enough.
"Percy!" They stopped at Percy's bedroom door and Ron pounded on it.
"What?" He jerked his door open, annoyed. He'd been reading through the job interview requests he'd received in the last several days, and was not pleased to have been interrupted by his brothers. Although, knowing what he did now, he wasn't so sure about the ones from the Ministry, knowing what he did now. He would have to talk to his dad about it after he finally talked to him about Sirius Black.
"Sirius just got here." Fred simply said.
"Really?" Percy's annoyance disappeared. His brothers nodded.
"Yeah, we left him to get cleaned up." Ron confirmed.
"Alright... I'll give him time for that before going to see him." Percy nodded and moved to get his things around. It was a good thing Harry sent money, otherwise he wouldn't have been able to afford the ingredients for the potions he needed. He hadn't been happy to get that money, his pride as a Weasley told him to send it back, but he reasoned that it was for the boys godfather, so it was alright.
"Alright." His brothers agreed and left him to do other things.
Harry paced his room, looking at the skies for Hedwig's return. He'd sent Hedwig with a letter to Ron earlier, asking again if Sirius had arrived yet, and was waiting for her to come back.
Finally, he saw her, and watched impatiently as she flew closer and landed on his windowsill. "Hey, girl." He greeted her, and barely remembered to make sure she had water and food before ripping open the letter from Ron, setting aside the second letter and package for now.
Harry,
He's here! Don't worry, he looks alright, a little rough, but better then a few weeks ago.
Percy's looking him over, and giving him potions, Bill and Charlie will probably know more when they get here in a few weeks, though. We haven't told dad about him yet, either.
Anyway, dad says that he might be able to get us tickets to the Quidditch World Cup later this summer! He said he can get one for you and Hermione, too, let me know if you want to go.
How is it with the Dursleys?
Ron
Harry grinned when he read it, pleased, and then opened the second letter.
Pup,
How are you doing? Are they treating you alright there? Just say the word, I'll figure out how to get you out of there.
I've made it to the Weasley's, and already been given Potions by Percy. I was right, he is the stuffy one, but he's a good sort. Ron has told me about the World Cup, if his dad can't get tickets, I'll buy them myself. My vaults were never frozen when I was locked up, it wouldn't be difficult to write to my account manager and arrange it.
This treehouse is surprisingly comfortable, so you can stop worrying about me, but I can't wait to see you again. I'll try to come visit sometime before you come to visit the Weasley's, if I can't then I will just have to see you then. I'm told Bill and Charlie are both certified medi-wizards, and I want them to take a look at you. You were far too thin a few weeks ago, don't think I didn't notice! Until then, I sent some food and something else I picked up since leaving Hogwarts. I hope you like it, and I hope we see each other soon.
Fred and George have already told me about the time they had to come rescue you a couple of years ago, the only thing keeping me away right now is knowing that Dumbledore is watching you, and using my name as a threat seems to be making them behave... assuming you told the truth in your last letters to Ron. If that changes, though, I will be right there.
Your godfather,
Sirius
"He's safe, girl!" He told Hedwig quietly, excited. She hooted and rubbed her head against his hand. "He's finally safe!"
Then he turned his attention to the package Sirius had sent. 'What could he have possibly gotten hold of while on the run?' He wondered. Opening it, he was confused by the letter on top that said to tap the items with his wand to unshrink them, and pulled out what looked like a miniature cabinet that wouldn't be out of place above a kitchen counter, a hotplate (most likely enchanted in some way), and a frying pan. Alongside them in the box was a pendant on a silver chain. Looking at the small note attached to it, he learned that the pendant was enchanted to protect him from most potions and poisons, especially ones that would affect his own mental control. He smiled slightly before putting it on and turning to the cabinet.
"What do you think?" He asked Hedwig, who gave her own version of a shrug and pecked at the note that said to tap it. "Alright." He said and tapped, enlarging it, and opened it. "Whoa." He muttered, eyes wide. It was full of food and drink. "And there's another note." He mumbled, removing it from the door.
This space is enlarged, there should be more than enough food in here to last you the next year if you're careful, hopefully you won't have to go more then a few more weeks, a month at the most before you can come visit the Weasley's. The inside is also carved with Runes to preserve the contents, so none of it will spoil, and only you can get into it, so you don't have to worry about your cousin eating it all. Sirius
Harry exchanged a look with Hedwig, who was looking inside the cabinet curiously. "Butterbeer- it's cold!" He said, amazed when he touched one of the bottles. "Eggs, cheese- everything I could need to make my own breakfasts. Snack items, steaks, sandwich meat, bread, owl treats, no more going hungry for us." He grinned at Hedwig. Granted, the Dursley's hadn't begrudged him any food since he threatened them with Sirius, but somehow he was still eating less then normal when here because of Dudley's stupid diet. "I love magic." Everything in the cabinet that should be cold, was cold. Everything that didn't need to be, wasn't. There were even a few tubs of ice-cream hiding behind the bags of pasta.
He hurried to find parchment so he could write back.
Ron,
I would love to go to the World Cup! Let me know if your dad needs money for those tickets, when is it? My relatives won't mind me leaving for it, I don't think.
Is he really ok? Be careful telling your dad. Please!
And I'm fine here... Dudley still isn't happy with his new diet, and I don't think Aunt Petunia is going about it the right way at all, but I'm coping. Sirius just sent me a cabinet full of food, he says it should be enough for a year, so don't worry about that!
I got a letter from Hermione, she's already trying to plan for our school shopping trip this year. Let me know when you guys will be available for that, too. Hey, maybe we can sneak Sirius into the Alley, I read a bit about magical disguises, or maybe I can pick up something Muggle he can use to disguise himself with.
See you soon!
Harry
Sirius,
Thank you for the food, but you didn't have to! Where did you even get it, and why didn't you get one earlier last year? You wouldn't have starved in the Forest if you had this!
I'm glad you're safe, and grateful for the pendant. I heard about love potions last year and I am not interested in finding out what it's like to be under one of those. That sounds disgusting, does the person under the potion have any free will or anything about it? Because if they don't... why are those things still legal?
I can't wait to see you, but you probably shouldn't visit here, people will probably still recognize you from the news last summer, I think they still put your face in the newspaper at least, I don't want you getting caught and sent back there, or worse! I'll see you when I come to Ron's, I should be able to for the Cup, and I'll be able to stay afterward, too. And I don't need to be looked at, I'm fine. I see Madam Pomfrey enough to know. Don't worry about the car incident, that was just a one time thing with the Dursley's, I'm fine here, they're actually being very tolerable this summer!
I hope to see you soon, too!
Harry
Harry scanned the letters and nodded, satisfied, before setting them to the side for Hedwig to take when she was done eating. She'd pulled a few sausages out of their packaging in the cabinet and was happily tearing them apart, leaving Harry to shake his head at the mangled plastic before wrapping them up more firmly and closing the door, pushing it against the wall beside his falling apart wardrobe.
"Alright, boys, what did you want to talk to me about?" Arthur asked, looking at his sons in worry. It was rare, anymore, for Percy to be this involved in his siblings. He usually holed himself up in his room with a book or something, if he wasn't walking around their small home village. He was even more busy lately sending out applications and sorting through the replies.
"It's about Scabbers." Ron said quietly, looking at his hands.
"Scabbers? What about him? I thought Hermione's cat ate him earlier this year?" Arthur said, mildly alarmed.
"We thought that, too. But turns out he faked his own death. Again."
"I'm sorry? Son, you might want to explain what you're talking about." Arthur was wondering if he should call somebody to get his son checked.
Percy cleared his throat. "Apparently, Scabbers wasn't a rat. He was an Animagus. Ron, Harry, and Hermione saw him transform at the end of the school year."
Arthur could only stare at them. "What?" He asked, deathly quiet. "Who?" He demanded, looking between his four sons with hard eyes.
"His name was Peter Pettigrew." Ron said, staring at his father.
"Peter Pettigrew was killed-" He started to automatically say, mind whirling with ideas.
"No he wasn't. All that was found of him was a finger, while the same explosion that supposedly tore him apart to only leave that, left twelve Muggles mostly intact or at least in much bigger pieces, but he was supposed to be the closest to it." Percy started, getting up to pace around the small room, agitated. "I got in to check the records, they are public, and there is no mention of Sirius Black being questioned, no mention of a trial, no mention of Priori Incantatem being cast on his wand! I saw the pictures of the scene, and there is no way that Peter Pettigrew died in that explosion! For one, there weren't enough pieces of him recovered!" He exclaimed, ranting.
"And then my baby brother tells me about seeing Pettigrew, hearing him confess, and then the Minister's response to it...!" His breathing was starting to come fast and haggard, eyes looking around wildly.
Arthur was getting more and more alarmed, reaching out he pulled Percy to a halt, and forced him to breathe before he went into another panic attack. He hadn't had one of those in years, not since Arthur called in a few favors and got him an instructor in Occlumency. "Breathe, Occlude. Breathe..." He instructed quietly, and rubbed the back of his sons neck until he calmed down and sagged slightly against his father. "Sit." He gently led Percy to sit on the bed, and sank down into the chair next to it. Percy must have been pushing all that aside until this moment, since he found out all that information, whenever that was.
He would take him out back later and let him just vent, but for now he wanted answers.
"Ron, why don't you explain in more detail what your brother is talking about." He said. Taking a deep breath, Ron started explaining. When he was done, Arthur sat back in shock.
"Sirius is innocent." He mumbled in shock. "And he's in our treehouse right now?" He questioned. The boys glanced at each other and nodded. He stood abruptly and left the room, intent on seeing and speaking with Sirius himself.
"Tell me we didn't just mess up." Fred groaned.
"Alright, we didn't just mess up." George obliged him, even though he was just as concerned. Their dad may be more level-headed, but he was just as, if not more protective of his children than their mother was. This could really go either way.
Sirius jumped and whirled around, wand in hand, when the door banged open. "Arthur." He said, warily. "It's been a while, your boys really grew up. You should be proud of them."
"I am." Arthur said shortly, eyeing him. "They just told me what happened at the end of the year." He revealed.
"I guessed." Sirius gave a small smile and gestured towards the door that was still swinging open.
"What are your intentions toward my family?" Arthur asked right away. He believed his boys, he did. But he'd spent the last thirteen years cursing this mans name, and the last year scared out of his mind for Harry because he thought this man was trying to kill him.
"I am not here to hurt anybody. Your sons offered me somewhere to stay while I recover and try to figure out how to clear my name, although I think most of it was so that Harry knew where I was and didn't worry." He gave a small smirk.
"Ron told me about his broken leg." Arthur leveled the Black with a Look.
Sirius winced. "That was not my intention. I saw the rat, and I will admit to not thinking things through. I truly apologize for that." He really did feel bad about that, and had already apologized to Ron enough for the teen to get annoyed and make sure he knew, in no uncertain terms, that it was fine and to not worry about that.
Arthur hummed and eyed him before finally sighing as he looked around the treehouse. "You can stay. I will help my sons keep my wife distracted, and will let you know when we are about to retrieve Harry from his relatives." He shook his head.
"Thank you." Sirius breathed. Arthur could have told him to get out, and he would have, if he did not approve of his sons actions.
Arthur nodded in acknowledgment, but didn't say anything else. Well, at least now he knew what had kept his boys so busy and out of the house for the last several weeks, he could tell that they'd put a lot of effort into making the old treehouse livable. They'd even provided Sirius with a change of clothes that clearly belonged to Bill at some point. "I might have some clothes that might fit better, or I can go to Diagon and pick up something for you." He offered, slightly embarrassed that those old clothes were the best they could offer. Especially since, as a Black, Sirius was used to much better quality clothes.
"Oh, no. This is more then fine, this is silk compared to those prison rags." Sirius shook his head. He didn't care about the quality, it was the fact they'd gone out of their way to find them in the first place. And he knew that the Weasley's didn't have much funds, either, so he didn't want to take what little they had with new clothes that they didn't need, and he wasn't about to insult Arthur's hospitality by offering to pay for them himself. "With the potions Percy has me on, I should grow into these just fine." He added. They were a little big on him, neither of the oldest Weasley boys were small, but he was still recovering.
"If you're sure." Arthur finally conceded. Sirius smiled and the two sat in silence for a while, until they heard Molly calling Arthur's name from the house. "It's time for dinner. You have enough food out here?" He asked.
"Yeah, your sons provided me with plenty." He promised, and he'd gotten himself a cabinet when he got the one for Harry. "They'll probably bring me more after they eat."
"Alright. I'll try to come out later tonight." Arthur said as he left. He would check the records in the morning for Sirius' trial transcripts before deciding what to do from here.
Sirius was getting healthier with regular meals and the potions Percy was able to brew, with Arthur's help after he was told. Percy was visibly pleased with himself whenever he saw it. He wasn't able to spend as much time with Sirius, though, because he started his new job in the Department of International Cooperation, and was really enjoying his time there despite knowing what Crouch had done to Sirius.
"I'm going to go see Harry tomorrow." He told Arthur that night.
"Are you sure? What if you're recognized?" Arthur asked, concerned.
"I'll wear a glamour." He held out a pendant he'd sent for from Gringotts. "This is enchanted with it, so I won't be using active magic around Harry, but will still keep me disguised." That way he didn't risk triggering the Trace and getting Harry in trouble. He'd already used it to go to Diagon and pick a few things up that he wanted to give Harry, as well as Muggle currency from Gringotts.
"Alright. Just be careful. Harry would not be pleased if you got caught." He warned the escapee.
Unknown to Sirius, he'd already spoken with Amelia Bones about the escaped convict hiding out in his children's treehouse, and she was not happy with hearing that the man had gone away without trial. He'd also shown her his memory of the conversation with his kids, and she was already working on trying to get him the trial he'd been denied twelve years ago. Whether he was guilty or not, she was withholding judgement until she was able to get Veritaserum in Sirius or see Sirius' memories of the events in question, but she had managed to get rid of the Kiss on Sight order.
She'd made it more then clear, however, that the only reason she wasn't arresting both Sirius and Arthur was because she trusted Arthur, and was at least happy to know where Sirius was. In the meantime, she was working on figuring things out. The Minister's stance on the whole 'Sirius Black situation' meant that Black was honestly safer where he was, as well. If she had him brought in before she was ready, though, she would never have the answers she needed.
That, and the Weasley's were still an Ancient House, despite their current state of affairs, which afforded Arthur some respect and certain liberties by the old laws. He'd used those laws to give Sirius Black sanctuary, meaning that she could not touch him while he was under the Weasley Families protection.
Arthur was determined that this man wouldn't have to hide out in his children's treehouse forever, eventually he would be able to move about as a free man again, and take care of Harry like they both deserved.
"I know, I will be." Sirius promised, huffing a bit. He didn't exactly want to go back to prison either, after all. "I can deliver any letters in person tomorrow, save Errol the trip." He offered.
"I'll let Ron know." Arthur let himself out.
Amelia frowned at the report from Arthur that said Sirius was planning on spending the day with his godson, and decided that potentially innocent or not, Sirius was still a wanted man and could not just be allowed to roam free unsupervised. Arthur had mentioned that he was only telling her to explain any reports of magic usage in Little Whinging, that way Harry didn't get blamed for it again.
She was still having Peter Pettigrew searched for (quietly and without her men knowing his name, which caused some frustration), but if Ron Weasley's testimony of events at the end of the year were to be believed, she didn't think they would find him. There were a lot of rats in the world, especially in a big city like London, let alone all the other cities in the United Kingdom.
So, she assigned one of her most trustworthy Aurors (who also had a small Animagus form that was perfect for this) to follow Harry Potter for the next day, with orders not to intervene unless there was trouble. She made sure to stress that, and made him swear an oath of silence before telling him the situation with Sirius. She just wanted him to watch, and keep tabs on Black.
Harry was sitting on a swing in the park, not paying attention to anything around him, which was why he didn't notice the man walking past the park, stop, study him for a few moments, and break out into a giant grin.
"Harry!" Sirius called, jogging over to see his godson, drinking in the sight of him. That night at Hogwarts had been too fueled by emotion, and then the escape (not to mention it was dark in the Shack), for him to get a good look at his godson, and he couldn't say that he was entirely pleased with what he was seeing. Harry obviously wasn't happy here, he was too thin, his clothes were rags, and did he mention that Harry clearly wasn't happy here? At least Harry was wearing the pendant.
Harry looked up, confused by who could be calling his name. Nobody in this neighborhood would be caught dead calling out to him, not even the other kids who were victimized wanted anything to do with him, purely because Dudley would hurt them more if they did. He blinked at the man coming towards him, there was something familiar about him, even if he didn't recognize him. "Yes? Can I help you?" He asked cautiously.
Sirius paused, hurt by the response from his godson, until he remembered that he was wearing a glamour. "It's me, Padfoot. I'm under a glamour, can't be too careful." He grinned again, stopping beside the boy, who lit up.
"Padfoot!" Harry jumped off the swing and let himself be swept up into a hug. It felt... safe, and warm. Not even Hermione's or Mrs. Weasley's hugs felt like this. "What are you doing here?" He pulled away and looked around the street frantically.
"Relax, nobody is going to recognize me." Sirius promised, and started leading him towards Number Four. "How have you been?" He asked, concerned.
"Good, they're too scared of you coming if I tell you that they did something." Harry said, satisfied.
"Not exactly what I asked." Sirius frowned. That did not bode well for Harry's life with his relatives. He hadn't liked hearing about it from Ron, and he did not like hearing about it from Harry.
Harry shrugged with a small grin. "That food cabinet is great, though! I can make my own meals and I'm not hungry all the time." He beamed.
"That's good, at least." Sirius relaxed a little, resolving to see things for himself before deciding he no longer cared for Albus Dumbledore's possible surveillance or opinion. "Have you heard from Remus at all?" He asked casually. He'd stayed with his werewolf friend for a few days after he left Hogwarts (to help him recover from the Full Moon), and they were still exchanging letters, and not once in those letters did Remus mention their pup.
"No." Harry shook his head.
"Really." Sirius growled lowly before shoving it out of his thoughts for now. He was here to enjoy a day out with his godson, not dwell on Remus' failings as an uncle. "Well, I thought we could go see a movie and have dinner somewhere, after we get you some new clothes." He informed Harry of his plans for the day. He'd already checked out the local cinema's to see what they were playing, and picked one that he thought both he and Harry could enjoy. They had time for him to get Harry a decent wardrobe before the movie started.
"Really?" Harry asked, excited. "Oh, I don't need clothes, though, I have some." He tried to deflect the offer, not wanting Sirius to spend money on him when he didn't have to.
"What you have are rags and school uniforms." Sirius said bluntly. "That's not a suitable wardrobe for anybody, let alone my only godson." He pulled Harry back into a side-hug, keeping him pinned to his side until they reached the Dursley's house. Harry turned a bright red at the blunt statement that he tried to avoid acknowledging, especially when he compared his clothes to his dorm-mates, even Ron had better clothes then he did, which was why he avoided wearing anything but his school clothes or the few articles of clothes he'd bought the year before while staying in the Leaky Cauldron.
"You really don't have to get me clothes." Harry protested again, opening the door to the house.
"Of course I do. Clearly the people you live with aren't going to do it, and I have twelve years worth of spoiling to do." Sirius gave Petunia a dark look when he said that.
"Who- who are you!" Petunia screeched, horrified that the Boy had just brought a stranger into her home.
"Sirius Black, Harry's godfather." Sirius said, and was satisfied with the way she paled. "Now, I'm going to take Harry out for the day, you know, spend some quality time with my godson. He'll be back around nine tonight." He informed her, then turned to Harry. "You need to get anything from your room before we go?" He asked, already heading back to the door, giving the cupboard a strange look at the smells he could detect coming from it.
"Nope." Harry shook his head quickly, eager to get out of the house again. He had his wand on him, and the only money he had in his trunk was wizarding, somehow he didn't think they were going to be in Muggle shops today.
"Alright, then." Sirius smiled softly at him, shot another glare at Petunia, and followed him out of the unnaturally clean house with another look at the cupboard.
"So how are things with the Weasleys? Ron's telling me that Percy has you on a strict Potions regimen and diet." Harry said, amused when Sirius made a face at the reminder.
"Don't remind me." He grumbled. "Bill and Charlie are supposed to come home tomorrow, too, they're actually certified medi-wizards, so they'll probably have more potions for me to take." He grumbled. Although his head felt much clearer after Percy found the potion for Dementor exposure in some obscure book he had from a second-hand store. And he felt better for putting some weight back on.
"As long as you're getting better." Harry smiled in relief.
"Don't think I've forgotten that I want them to look at you, too." Sirius warned. Harry made a face but didn't say anything about it. He'd never had a protective adult that cared like this, but he'd heard enough to know that he probably wasn't going to get Sirius to change his mind. "Ah, this should be good." He said, stopping by a bus stop a few streets over. If he timed it right... yes. Here was the bus he wanted.
"Er- I don't have a pass." Harry said carefully.
"That's alright, I have one for both of us." Sirius assured him. Pureblood he may be, but Lily made sure he could move around comfortably in the Muggle world. Things hadn't changed that much in the last twelve years that he couldn't work out any changes to the system. Harry looked unsure, but went with it. (Then again, his only exposure to a wizard in a Muggle area was Hagrid, who'd had no idea what to do with the public transportation methods.) Sure enough, they were let on the bus with no problems, although a few of the ladies from his street gave him odd looks.
"Excuse me, is there a problem?" Sirius asked them, seeing the looks they gave his godson.
"Oh, no, sir. Although I wonder if you know who that boy is that you're with." One of the ladies decided to warn the handsome young man of who he was with.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Yes, my godson. Circumstances kept me away from him before, but I am back in the picture and working on getting custody back. Why?" He asked pointedly.
The ladies looked at each other. "Well, he's the neighborhood troublemaker. I'm sure you've been told, but those poor Dursley's are just at their wits end with him, even sending him to a center for criminal boys doesn't seem to have helped." She gave Harry a nasty look.
"Center for criminal boys?" Sirius repeated, giving Harry a look, catching the grimace. "I'm not sure what you mean."
The ladies tittered amongst themselves for a moment. "Oh, he goes to school at St. Brutus's Secure Center for the Incurably Criminal. The Dursley's just don't know what else to do with him."
Sirius' eyebrows disappeared into his hairline while Harry sank down into his seat. "Let me assure you that Harry attends no such place." He said icily. "Harry attends the same school I and his parents attended, an elite school for the gifted in Scotland. Harry's family has attended there for generations." He informed the ladies of just how much they had been lied to. "His father was so proud and happy that he put Harry's name down for attendance and paid the tuition before Harry was even born!" Which was true, James and Lily had barely come back home from the visit to the hospital where they found out they were expecting before James was at Gringotts arranging for Harry's school tuition and trust vault.
The ladies looked at each other, unsure. Before anything else could be said, they arrived at the street Sirius had in mind for Harry's new clothes. "Come on, pup." Sirius urged Harry to his feet, shot the ladies another icy glare, and guided Harry off the bus, unaware of the gossip storm he had just unleashed on Privet Drive as the Dursley's lies became unraveled.
Harry couldn't help himself, a bus ride later and he was still laughing at his poor godfather, who couldn't help the smile at hearing his godson's laughter for the first time in twelve years, even if it was directed at himself.
Clothes shopping had been uneventful, with Sirius getting him a full wardrobe, including new shoes. Before even leaving the store (after paying, of course), he'd taken the tags off some of the new clothes before shooing Harry into the bathroom to change out of Dudley's old clothes. The sales clerk, a bubbly young woman who had agreed completely with Sirius' announcement that they were nothing but rags, had happily offered Harry the trashcan when he returned to throw his old things into. And, of course, as soon as they left the store, they'd ducked into an alley and put all the bags into a single bag tied to Sirius' belt that he had an Undetectable Extension charm on.
The movie Sirius chose, The Little Rascals, was good, too. He'd been laughing through half of it, mostly because Sirius was adding his own comments under his breath, not that the movie itself wasn't funny.
And dinner was great, if not a bit expensive. He'd tried to tell Sirius that it was too much, but the man was adamant that he was going to treat his godson. It was the waitresses reaction to the 'Black charm' that Harry was laughing about now.
Sirius had turned on the charm and was lightly flirting, which she'd responded to professionally. As they were leaving the restaurant, she'd stopped them and said, 'by the way, not that you're not cute, but I'm engaged. And you just don't cut it.'
Sirius had clearly never been turned down like that before. (Not that he'd been looking to really start anything, but still!)
"Ok, ok, you've had your fun." Sirius finally rolled his eyes, tugging Harry back into a side-hug. Harry grinned at him again before yawning. "Did you enjoy yourself today?" He asked, content. Harry nodded with a wide grin. "Good."
"Did you mean what you said, that you're trying to get custody back?" Harry asked after a moment, almost tentative.
"Of course." Sirius said simply. "Well, since I never had a trial, I was never convicted, which meant that legally, I never lost custody of you. As your godfather, I became your guardian the moment Lily was-" He stopped and cleared his throat. "That's an automatic process. I am trying to figure out how to clear my name, which will mean I can finally give you the home you should have always had." He sighed. "It all amounts to the same thing, really." He said quietly.
"But with the Minister denying everything I told him-" Harry started.
"I know. That makes it more difficult, but not impossible." Sirius gave him a quick smile. Especially if he decided it would be worth it to use his family name to force things. He didn't want to do that, though, because he'd worked so hard to be more then his name, and he didn't want there to be any doubt that he got cleared because he was truly innocent, and not because of his name and money.
Harry hummed, then sighed when they stopped outside Number Four. "Are you coming in?" He asked Sirius.
"Yeah, I want to have a word with Petunia." He said darkly, then smiled reassuringly when Harry looked worried. He also needed to give Harry the things he'd gotten from Diagon and see his room, make sure it was suitable. "Come on." He urged Harry towards the door, and opened it.
"You!" They were greeted with a screech. "How dare you! Do you have any idea how many neighbors questioned me today about the boys' schooling?" She was furious that this man had exposed their lies about where her nephew went to school.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Did I tell them anything false? No. Harry goes to an elite school in Scotland." He shrugged, not caring that her feelings were hurt.
"We took him out of the kindness of our hearts, he should be grateful!" Vernon spat, glaring with his fists clenched in an effort to not charge blindly at the fully grown and trained wizard, who was also a convicted murderer (he thought).
Sirius gave him a dry look. "It's not my problem that you are a liar. Lies have a way of coming back to haunt us." He said simply, and urged Harry up the stairs, uncaring about the sputtering and yelling that came from the two animal-like people in the entry-hall. How his godson turned out to be the kind young man that he was after being raised by people like that, he wasn't sure. But he was glad for it.
He frowned when he looked around Harry's room. "This is it?" He asked. He'd seen an empty room just across the hall that was much nicer then this. This was filled with broken furniture and toys, and was barely large enough for Harry to move around in properly (only partially because of the clutter from the broken toys). He frowned at the cat flap on the door and all the locks, but didn't comment. Yet. Hedwig barked softly in greeting before she went back to preening her wing feathers.
"Yeah, it's fine, I'm only here for the summers, anyway." Harry shrugged, not too bothered with it. It was better then the cupboard, at least. Sirius hummed, frowning, but started taking their shopping bags out so Harry could start putting his new clothes away. He tossed his old clothes in a pile, which Sirius made a mental note to take with him. Harry could have the pleasure of burning them with Ron when he came to visit the Weasley's. Once the clothes were put away, he pulled out the other things he'd gotten.
"Here, put this on." He pulled Harry's wrist towards him, pushed up his jacket sleeve, and started to strap on the wand holster he'd gotten him. "Pockets are not safe places to carry your wand in." He gave him a grin. "Things have been known to happen, your wand falls out, somebody sees it poking out and gets sticky fingers, there have even been reports of it going off and blowing off body parts." He said seriously. "Dragon hide. Durable and spell resistant, which means that your wand can't be summoned or destroyed while stowed away, and is much safer for you." He said as Harry examined the wand holster now strapped to his forearm. He put his wand inside and practiced drawing it a few times. "It's also quicker to draw your wand in an emergency, instead of fumbling for it in your pockets." He snorted when Harry colored slightly.
"Dragon-hide boots, comfortable, durable, and much warmer in Scottish winters." He pulled out the boots in question, and then hesitated slightly. "Here, you should already be wearing it, I'm not sure why nobody gave it to you sooner." He frowned and handed over the ring box.
"What is this?" Harry asked quietly, opening the box. The ring stone was red, and had an image of a shield with a Griffin holding two crossed wands.
"That is the Potter family Heir ring. When you turn seventeen you can take up the Lordship. Normally it's twenty-one, but the age is lowered for those who are the last of their lines. You should have been given this when you turned eleven, and I will be finding out why you weren't, but- anyway. Not only is this a symbol of your status, but it's also enchanted with all kinds of protections, and doubles as an emergency port-key. In case of emergency, it will take you straight to Potters Keep, your ancestral home."
"Potters Keep?" Harry asked, confused.
"You don't even know about that." Sirius stated, leaning back and shoving a hand through his hair. "Of course you don't." He was angry. Angry with the goblins, angry with Dumbledore, angry with himself. Why was Harry so ignorant about his heritage?! "Ok, I don't have time to go into too much detail tonight. I'll send you some books about it and go into more detail when you get to the Weasley's." He promised. It was getting late, Harry should get to bed soon. He pulled another ring box out. "This is the Black Heir Ring. When you were born, and I was made your godfather, I made you my heir, that still holds true today." This one had a black stone, and the animal was some kind of skeletal horse looking thing with Toujours Pur inscribed along the bottom.
"Go on." He urged Harry to put them on, and smiled when he felt the magic in them accept Harry, not that he'd had any doubt. "The Black one is another port-key, just not for emergencies. It's multi-use, with several locations 'programmed' with their own passwords. The password for Black Castle is this," he pointed at the inscription and made sure Harry could pronounce it correctly, "of course you have to be pushing magic into it for it to work, otherwise you would port-key there every time it was said." He snorted and rolled his eyes. Considering it was the Black family motto, that would have gotten annoying very fast. "To go to Gringotts, the password is simply 'money'. There are a few others, but those are the important locations that you need to know right now." He smiled when Harry threw his arms around his neck.
"Thank you." Harry said quietly.
"No problem, pup." After a few moments, he reluctantly pulled away. "I should get going. You be careful with those Dursley's, and write to me if they do anything to you." He instructed, waited for Harry's promise before he kissed the top of his head and left, barely remembering to leave behind the letter from Ron, along with some Muggle currency. When Harry tried to protest, he merely called it part of twelve years worth of allowance and refused to take it back.
Harry spent a few moments admiring the rings, ignored the yelling and screeching coming from downstairs, changed into something to sleep in, used the bathroom, and fell into bed exhausted.
Today was the most fun he'd had in a long time, and he'd loved every minute of it. He had gotten to know his godfather better, they spent time together, he'd forgotten about his problems for a while, and some of the Dursley's lies had been revealed.
It was a good day.
Grey Johnson sighed in relief as Sirius Black left Number Four Privet Drive and started walking toward a safe spot to Apparate from. For a few minutes there, he'd thought he was going to have to intervene on the Dursley's behalf, especially when Sirius casually opened the small cupboard under the stairs and froze with a look of such rage on his face, the Auror just knew that it wasn't good.
When Amelia first told him that Sirius Black was spending the day with his godson, and he was not to interfere, he'd thought she was crazy, or Imperioused or something.
Then she told him about the lack of trial, and Ron Weasley's claims to have seen Peter Pettigrew, and Pettigrew's confession to Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and a girl named Hermione Granger. And, of course, the Minister's response according to Ron Weasley. Naturally Black was now under the protection of House Weasley.
His fears had proven false, though, having followed Black and Harry all day, and seen nothing concerning outside of the neighbors apparent hostility towards the boy. The relatives' claims that he went to a school for young criminal boys (did such a thing even exist?) was worrying. His reactions to Black insisting on buying him clothes (he agreed that the boys current clothes were little more then rags), were concerning as well. He was amazed by the movie the two went to see, promising himself to learn more about this and bring his family.
The Dursley's response when Black took the boy back was even more concerning, as was the state of the boys room compared to the rest of the house.
He whole-heartedly agreed with Black's assessment that he wanted the oldest Weasley boys to take a look at Harry, especially when Black mentioned that they were medi-wizards. Which made sense when he remembered what they did for a living. That boy was way too thin when compared to the other males he lived with, even compared to his aunt, and she was rail-thin to the point of unhealthy looking as it was.
With Black now gone, presumably back to the Burrow, he felt it was safe to check out the cupboard for himself; he wanted to see what had angered Sirius Black so much.
"Well?" Amelia asked as soon as he walked in the door.
"I had my doubts, I'll admit, but watching them for a day, Sirius Black holds absolutely no ill-will towards Harry Potter." He said first. "He flat out told some neighborhood gossips that he intends on getting custody back. Then he explained to Potter that legally he never lost custody since he never had a trial and all that." Which was going to open another can of worms, such as how Albus Dumbledore was now Harry Potter's guardian if the title was never taken away from Sirius Black. Amelia frowned.
"They went shopping for clothes, the boy seriously needed them, went to a Muggle thing called a 'movie', and then went to dinner before he took the boy back to his relatives." He reported. It was a typical father-child day out that he'd had with his own children many times.
"Good. I didn't expect trouble, but one can never be too careful with the current most wanted man in the country." Amelia sighed.
"The only concerns I have is with Harry Potter's home life." Johnson said bluntly.
"What do you mean?" She asked, worried now.
"See for yourself." He took the memories and dumped them in the Pensieve that was hastily found and deposited in the middle of the desk.
A despondent child was sitting on a swing, he almost passed over the child completely thinking it wasn't his target until "Harry!" When the child looked up, he was shocked to see clear green eyes, and a lightning bolt scar. This was Harry Potter? Dressed in rags and looking far too thin as to be healthy?
The memory changed to on the bus.
"Excuse me, is there a problem?" Sirius asked them, seeing the looks they gave his godson.
"Oh, no, sir. Although I wonder if you know who that boy is that you're with." One of the ladies decided to warn the handsome young man of who he was with.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Yes, my godson. Circumstances kept me away from him before, but I am back in the picture and working on getting custody back. Why?" He asked pointedly.
The ladies looked at each other. "Well, he's the neighborhood troublemaker. I'm sure you've been told, but those poor Dursley's are just at their wits end with him, even sending him to a center for criminal boys doesn't seem to have helped." She gave Harry a nasty look.
"Center for criminal boys?" Sirius repeated, giving Harry a look, catching the grimace. "I'm not sure what you mean."
The ladies tittered amongst themselves for a moment. "Oh, he goes to school at St. Brutus's Secure Center for the Incurably Criminal. The Dursley's just don't know what else to do with him." Grey made a mental note to check out this 'St. Brutus' for himself.
Beside him in the Pensieve, Amelia frowned and studied Harry while the conversation went on, and she did not like what she saw.
"Hello. Can I help you find anything?" A young woman greeted them at the door when Sirius steered Harry inside.
"Yes, as you can see, we need a complete new wardrobe." Sirius smiled charmingly while wrapping an arm around Harry's shoulders.
The woman looked Harry up and down and completely agreed. Despite his protests, Harry walked out of the store with bags of new clothes, including the ones now on his back while the woman took the trash can out back and threw the old ones in a dumpster.
"He looks much better with clothes that fit." Amelia commented. When she'd first seen him in the memories, she'd first thought that it was some Muggle fashion. Seeing him now, and hearing another Muggle call the old clothes rags, she knew that was not the case.
"Indeed."
Flashes of the movie and the pair laughing along with the more comedic scenes, followed by Sirius' attempts at flirting in the restaurant, and the let down when he went to pay their bill.
"Here's the good part." Grey said when the next memory started.
"You!" They were greeted with a screech. "How dare you! Do you have any idea how many neighbors questioned me today about the boys' schooling?" She was furious that this man had exposed their lies about where her nephew went to school.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Did I tell them anything false? No. Harry goes to an elite school in Scotland." He shrugged, not caring that her feelings were hurt.
"We took him out of the kindness of our hearts, he should be grateful!" Vernon spat, glaring with his fists clenched in an effort to not charge blindly at the fully grown and trained wizard, who was also a convicted murderer (he thought).
Sirius gave him a dry look. "It's not my problem that you are a liar. Lies have a way of coming back to haunt us." He said simply, and urged Harry up the stairs, uncaring about the sputtering and yelling that came from the two animal-like people in the entry-hall. How his godson turned out to be the kind young man that he was after being raised by people like that, he wasn't sure. But he was glad for it.
He frowned when he looked around Harry's room. "This is it?" He asked. He'd seen an empty room just across the hall that was much nicer then this. This was filled with broken furniture and toys, and was barely large enough for Harry to move around in properly (only partially because of the clutter from the broken toys). He frowned at the cat flap on the door and all the locks, but didn't comment. Yet. Hedwig barked softly in greeting before she went back to preening her wing feathers.
"Oh Merlin." Amelia breathed at the difference in living spaces. While Harry's room was shabby and filled with broken things, his cousin's room was full of toys and nicely decorated with new clothes clearly visible in the closet. The Dursley's room was similarly nicely decorated, as was the empty room right across the hall. This, combined with the Dursley's obvious disdain for their nephew and the lies spread about his schooling that painted him as a criminal, did not paint a good picture.
"It gets worse." Grey cautioned as the second to last memory came up. She shot him a look, clearly not sure how to take that.
"What is this?" Harry asked quietly, opening the box. The ring stone was red, and had an image of a shield with a Griffin holding two crossed wands.
"That is the Potter family Heir ring. When you turn seventeen you can take up the Lordship. Normally it's twenty-one, but the age is lowered for those who are the last of their lines. You should have been given this when you turned eleven, and I will be finding out why you weren't, but- anyway. Not only is this a symbol of your status, but it's also enchanted with all kinds of protections, and doubles as an emergency port-key. In case of emergency, it will take you straight to Potters Keep, your ancestral home."
"Potters Keep?" Harry asked, confused.
"You don't even know about that." Sirius stated, leaning back and shoving a hand through his hair. "Of course you don't." He was angry. Angry with the goblins, angry with Dumbledore, angry with himself. Why was Harry so ignorant about his heritage?! "Ok, I don't have time to go into too much detail tonight. I'll send you some books about it and go into more detail when you get to the Weasley's." He promised. It was getting late, Harry should get to bed soon. He pulled another ring box out. "This is the Black Heir Ring. When you were born, and I was made your godfather, I made you my heir, that still holds true today." This one had a black stone, and the animal was some kind of skeletal horse looking thing with Toujours Pur inscribed along the bottom.
"He doesn't even know about his heritage?" Amelia demanded, rounding on her Auror, who took a step back.
"Apparently not." He said grimly. "Here is the one I really wanted you to see." He said, directing her attention back to the memories.
Grey watched Sirius Apparate away, presumably back to the Burrow, before going back to the Dursley's house. The family was still in the living room, discussing (loudly complaining about and making threats against) Sirius Black. A quick check upstairs revealed Harry to just be getting into bed, a smile still on his face from the day with his godfather. Going back downstairs, he stopped at the cupboard he'd seen Sirius look inside of, and checked to see if the Dursley's were still arguing. They were, so he quickly changed back and activated a rune-sequence Notice-Me-Not so they wouldn't notice him if their argument ended before he left.
Opening the cupboard, he swallowed when he saw what was inside. Clearly the Dursley's never bothered to clean it out or use it for anything else, because the mattress was still in place. The drawings were still on the wall. The sign declaring this to be 'Harry's Room' was still there. He could still smell the faint trace of blood and urine despite how long it must have been since Harry had been forced to sleep here.
The memory stopped there, letting Amelia stare blankly at what she saw. "Go back to the Dursley's. Get Harry out of that house, take him to the Weasley's, he's stayed there before and that is where his godfather is. I want a thorough investigation into these people and Harry's home life. I want to know how Harry Potter came to be there, and how legal it was. I want to know whose bright idea it was, and I want to know why not a single professor at Hogwarts noticed that something was wrong after three years of teaching the boy." She instructed, sickened by what she saw.
"Yes, ma'am." Johnson agreed and left the Pensieve immediately, going straight to the squad room where he carefully selected a small team to go with him to begin the investigation and ensure the removal of Harry went smoothly. Amelia stayed in the Pensieve for a few more minutes staring at the cheerful looking sign on the wall before she finally left it and went to the Burrow.
"Who in Merlin's name- don't they know what time it is?" Arthur grumbled as he stumbled out of bed at the insistent knocks on the door.
"Arthur?" Molly asked sleepily, stirring.
"It's probably nothing, dear. Go back to sleep." He said quietly, kissing her temple. He knew, though, that now that she was up she wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep.
"Amelia." He said, surprised when he opened the door to see his boss. "Um, come in. Tea? Or- Um, how can I help you at midnight?" He asked, silently rebuking her for interrupting his sleep.
"Sorry, I know it's late. I had an Auror following Harry and his guest yesterday, just as a precaution, he didn't find anything wrong with their interactions or how they spent the day, but the neighbors and Dursley's reactions to Harry worried him. As did his living conditions. After showing me the memories, I've ordered Harry's immediate removal from that house. I hope it's alright that I've ordered Harry be brought here. I know he's stayed here before." Amelia cut right to the chase.
"Oh, is it really so bad there? Albus assured me that he was keeping a close eye on things, and he hasn't seen anything to warrant Harry's removal." Molly said, concerned. She'd heard enough of the conversation to know Harry was coming here, but nothing else.
"Albus?" Amelia questioned, getting a bad feeling. "Well, I assure you that the little I saw in the memories was truly that bad." She told the mother of seven.
"We told you about the bars on his window a couple of summers ago." Fred frowned at his mother, having been woken up by the knocking on the door along with his parents. George was still sleeping like a log, though, along with his other siblings.
"Bars?" Amelia asked.
Fred nodded. "We got worried that Harry wasn't answering any of our letters, so me, George and Ron took the car to check on him. There were bars on the window and a cat flap on the door, he was locked in and there were a few cans on the floor. He was also thinner then when we last saw him." He revealed. Amelia pursed her lips. Clearly it was worse then she thought. "His stuff was also locked in the cupboard under the stairs, so we had to go get it. There was even a mattress in there for some reason." He got a cup, filled it with water, and wandered back to his room.
While the significance of that escaped the Weasley Twins (at the time), it didn't escape Arthur and Molly. Amelia nodded grimly. "There will be a full investigation. We should be able to use this to get Black's case pushed through as well." She sighed. And was about to ask why Molly didn't do anything if her sons told her about the bars, when Molly interrupted. (She had a feeling the answer would involve Albus Dumbledore, anyway.)
"Black? Sirius Black? What does he have to do with this?" Molly asked, looking between them, confused.
At Arthur's grimace, Amelia realized that Molly didn't know about the prison escapee hiding out on her property. "Your sons brought forth information that means Black may be innocent of all charges, and we can't find any record of a trial or even an interrogation." Amelia sighed. "He's currently being held in a safe house while I get everything straightened out and deal with Fudge, who upon Black's capture at the school a few weeks ago, refuses to believe Harry, your son, and their friend Hermione when they claimed to have seen Pettigrew alive and attempted to have Black Kissed, anyway. He didn't even call me to tell me that Black had been captured." Amelia was still annoyed about that, especially when she confronted Cornelius about just that fact and was given a weak answer full of excuses and redirects.
"Oh, my." Molly swallowed, horrified. "Wait, how did all this come to light about Harry's home life?" She asked.
"Black wanted to spend time with his godson, so he was allowed to, under discreet escort. My Auror saw enough interaction between Harry and the people of that neighborhood to grow concerned, so when Black left to return to his safe house, he stayed behind and did some looking around the house, where he found the cupboard in question." Amelia said, leaving out just where this 'safe house' was. She didn't want to be anywhere near Mt. Molly when Arthur revealed that he'd been helping hide an escape fugitive.
"Here they are now." Arthur said, standing by the window, looking out and seeing two figures walking up the lane.
Harry was abruptly woken up by his uncle's shouting about inconsiderate people and times of night. Under all that shouting, he heard knocking at the front door. He rolled his eyes and rolled over to try and go back to sleep, even though he knew it wouldn't be possible until the people were gone and Uncle Vernon was back to snoring away. He was startled when he heard his uncle start shouting about freaks and normal people, rolling back over, he stared at his door apprehensively, wondering if he should go down and see what was happening.
"Stupefy!" He heard instead, and sat up in alarm. Whipping his wand out of his new holster, he scrambled to a spot where he wouldn't easily be spotted from the door. A quick check showed Hedwig to be out, most likely hunting.
"Vernon!" Petunia screeched, and then Dudley started yelling after thundering down the stairs to find out what was going on.
"Stupefy!" "Stupefy!" He identified two different voices. So, there were at least three attackers.
"He's upstairs. I'll go get him, you, keep an eye on them. You two, start documenting everything." A fourth voice ordered. Harry sucked in a breath and readied his wand, crouching down. After listening for the footsteps coming up the stairs, he saw the shadow under his door before it slowly opened. The person didn't come in, though, instead they stayed in the doorway, just out of Harry's sight.
"Harry? I'm Auror Grey Johnson with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. I have orders to take you to the Weasley's for your own safety." Grey said upon seeing that Harry wasn't in bed and his blankets looked like they'd been thrown off in a hurry. He'd probably heard the commotion and was standing in the corner where he couldn't be seen from the door. Smart. Slowly, he unclipped his badge and held it out, facing the corner he assumed Harry to be standing in so the badge was visible. "See?"
He heard shuffling before the badge was taken from his hand, almost too fast for him to really see the hand dart out of the shadows. He almost smiled, but didn't want the teenaged boy to get offended by it.
Harry slowly came out, badge in hand. "What are Auror's doing here?" He asked cautiously. Did they find out Sirius was here? Did the Dursley's call the police after all? No, if they had then surely a police officer would have come, and it wouldn't have taken the Aurors so long to get here?
"It came to light that you aren't being treated well here, so I am here to take you to stay with the Weasley's while we investigate." Grey said, not mentioning Black as he didn't want the boy to panic or get the wrong idea.
"I'm fine here." Harry said automatically.
Grey smiled sadly. "Harry, I saw the cupboard. The difference between this room and the other three up here is... quite frankly disgusting for a family that's obviously as financially stable as this one. I saw the way the neighbors treat you and the things the Dursley's said about you. You are not treated the way you should be in this house." He said gently. Harry just looked away, hands now playing with the badge in his hands, wand still out. Grey waved his own wand and Harry's trunk opened before his brand-new clothes started packing themselves into it at the same time that the accumulated trash of three years came out and the books and school supplies still inside reorganized themselves.
After the trunk was full, he looked around. "Anything else?" He asked, wanting to make sure he didn't miss anything. Harry hesitated before scrambling under his bed. When Grey leaned down to see, he snorted when he saw Harry pulling up a loose floorboard and pulling things out, clearly his most valuable belongings that he kept hidden just in case the Dursley's decided to destroy some of his things. Harry then moved a cabinet over that Grey was curious about, but didn't ask. Instead he shrunk it, the owl cage, and Harry's trunk before leading Harry out of the room.
"Wait, what about Hedwig?" Harry stopped, glancing at his window.
"I'm sure she will find you at the Weasley's. Owls are very intelligent. Just in case I will tell my men to keep an eye out for her." Grey assured the young man. Harry bit his lip and followed.
Downstairs, Harry was not surprised to see the Dursley's stunned and left on the living room floor. He was embarrassed to see an Auror crouching beside his open cupboard, taking pictures, while another one was dictating what he saw to an enchanted quill as he walked through the house. One of the comments Harry heard him make was that there were pictures all over the place, but not one of them had Harry in it. As Harry watched, he started up the stairs to the bedrooms. Harry was sure that the one with a camera would be taking pictures of everything the one with the quill mentioned.
"Come on." Grey said, coming back to Harry after having a quick word with his team.
"Why the Weasley's?" Harry asked as they walked away. The yelling earlier had gathered the interest of some of his neighbors, who were currently peeking out of their windows, and Harry could hear sirens in the distance, coming closer.
"Because it is well known that you are friends with the youngest son, and that you stayed there before." Grey raised an eyebrow at him. What did he think they were going to do, wake him up at midnight just to deposit him in a complete stranger's house?
"Oh. Right." Harry fell silent while he followed the Auror to the Apparation point.
"Now, this is going to feel uncomfortable." Grey warned the boy who was being far too compliant and quiet about this whole thing. "Hold onto my arm, it might help if you take a deep breath and hold it, and close your eyes." He instructed, and waited for Harry to do what he suggested before Apparating the two of them to the Burrow. "Alright?" He asked the boy, patting him on the back while he leaned over and coughed. There was a green tinge to his face, but he didn't throw up, so that was something.
Harry nodded, and looked up, a smile immediately coming to his face when he saw the crazy looking Burrow. There was a light on in the kitchen, and he eagerly started walking towards it. Before he even reached it, the door was flung open and Molly Weasley bustled out to wrap him in a hug. "Oh, Harry! It's good to see you, a bit peaky, but not as bad as expected." She said, holding him at arms length so she could have a good look at him.
"Hi, Mrs. Weasley." Harry smiled slightly at her.
"Harry! Good to see you again." Arthur said, coming up behind her and clapping Harry on the shoulder carefully before wrapping his arm around the thin shoulders and steering him into the house where Molly had returned to pour the tea she'd made while they talked to Amelia.
"I'll show you where the treehouse is in the morning, Harry." Arthur said quietly. "Or the boys will." He shrugged. Harry smiled in thanks.
"Mr. Potter, pleasure to meet you. I am Amelia Bones, Head of the DMLE." Amelia introduced herself. "And you never answered, it is alright that we brought him here?" She directed at the Weasley parents.
"Oh, of course. We're happy to have him. I'm afraid it's a little late tonight, but you can stay in Bill and Charlie's old room tonight and we can move the cot back into Ron's room later." Molly thought out loud. The last time Harry stayed, her oldest boys room had been a store room. She'd meant to clean it out for Harry to use while he stayed there, but it just never happened and Harry had said he was perfectly alright with sharing Ron's room. But with her sons set to come home until after September 1, she'd cleaned their room out for them to stay in. She doubted that they would mind Harry using one of their beds for one night.
"I can stay on the cou-" Harry tried to protest, not wanting to take somebodies bed from them.
"Nonsense. Bill and Charlie aren't supposed to be back home until later today, they won't mind." Molly shot down his attempts. Arthur snorted and merely took charge of Harry's things from the amused Auror Johnson, who held out the shrunken items. With that, Harry was hustled up the stairs and out of sight while Arthur discussed a few more things with Amelia and Grey went back to the Dursley's house.
"I'll have to tell Sirius after this that I told you." Arthur sighed. "I am going to have Bill and Charlie examine him in a few days, I will get you that report." He added. He'd already shown her the diagnostic reports Percy had done, but he wasn't certified like his older brothers were, so it wouldn't hold up much.
"Thank you." Amelia said, finished her tea, and left to sort through the latest mess.
"I don't understand, we were being followed by an Auror?" Sirius asked after Harry went out to play Quidditch with the Weasley horde. They'd just finished explaining how Harry came to be at the Burrow earlier then expected, and Sirius had been thrilled to have Harry out of that house, but was apprehensive about being followed by the Aurors and Harry possibly being in trouble for it. The Auror that followed them would have had to have been stupid, blind, and deaf to have not realized who Sirius was, Harry said his name often enough during their outing and he'd introduced himself to those ladies as Harry's godfather. Harry only had one of those.
Arthur grimaced. He'd known this was going to come up. "I let Amelia know you were here." He admitted.
"Wha-" Sirius immediately started searching the trees for the Aurors coming to arrest him. He felt more then a little betrayed right now, and the look on his face told Arthur as such.
"She's not going to come arrest you. I told her everything my boys told me, she's looking into the matter. Until then, you are officially under the protection of the Ancient House of Weasley, and she knows it." Arthur said quickly. "You and Harry deserve more then you being on the run for crimes you didn't commit, for being failed so spectacularly." He said firmly. "I'm working with her to clear your name, with Fudge being the way he is, that might take longer then we would like, but we are working on it. In fact, the investigation into the Dursley's might help your own case." He sighed.
Sirius slowly sat back down, mind spinning. "You know, I honestly forgot that the Weasley's were an Ancient House." He said after a moment. "You don't act like the rest of that lot, and you don't live like it, either." Although he was sure that his mother blasting Cedrella Weasley nee Black off the family didn't help, either. Or Walburga taking back her dowry.
Arthur chuckled bitterly. "Yeah, well." He shrugged. "Hard to do that when there is no money and you have a Blood Feud with one of the more influential families out there." He looked away. He was fairly sure Lucius had something to do with his extremely low pay despite his position and years of employment. He should be getting paid at least three times as much as he did, but whenever he'd brought it up in the past, he'd instead seen his paycheck reduced. It was illegal, but he knew that there was no point complaining, not with the likes of Lucius Malfoy and Delores Umbridge in charge.
"The Malfoy's right?" Sirius asked thoughtfully, trying to remember. Arthur nodded. Sirius hummed, but didn't say anything else. Well, that was another reason to take up his Lordship himself instead of leaving it until Harry was old enough to decide what to do with it. He could restore Cedrella (and her line) to the family and give her dowry back to her son. And last he knew, a lot of the Malfoy influence came from their money, which was largely supplied by the dowry from marrying into the Black family, namely Narcissa's marriage to Lucius.
Unfortunately that part might have to wait until he was cleared.
"Anyway. Amelia does want to question you under Veritaserum and have your memories of the night you switched Secret Keepers, as well as when you approached Pettigrew in that street." Arthur said.
Sirius nodded slowly. "I can do that." He promised. Arthur looked at him, but didn't say anything, instead preferring to watch his children through the trees.
"Nice save, Ron!" He called a moment later as his son barely blocked a throw from Ginny while Harry dodged the human Bludgers otherwise known as his twin sons.
"There's talk going around the Ministry that they're bringing back the Tri-Wizard Tournament this year." He said quietly after a moment. "It's going to be at Hogwarts."
Sirius looked at him in alarm. "Are they insane?" He hissed. "That was stopped for a reason!" The death toll was in the hundreds, and not all of the dead were even Champions! The tournament had proven itself to be just as deadly for spectators as it was for those competing.
Arthur huffed. "Tell me about it." He muttered. "The only good thing is that they've imposed an age restriction. You have to be seventeen or older to participate." And none of his children at Hogwarts were seventeen yet, or wouldn't be at the time the Champions were chosen.
"That hardly makes it any better." Sirius scoffed. Knowing Harry's luck, he would find himself involved somehow. He was going to have to speak with Amelia or Albus it seemed, he was not going to let anything happen to Harry without doing everything he could to stop it. "Whose bright idea was this?" He demanded.
"Well, there are only three people it could be, as the request originated from Britain and not France or whatever country Durmstrang is in." Arthur sighed. "Our idiot of a Minister, Bagman as the Head of the Sports and Games Department, or Dumbledore as the Headmaster. Although I suppose he could have also done it as the Supreme Mugwump." He honestly couldn't see Crouch doing this, even though he was in charge of their international relations.
"All three are idiots." Sirius shook his head. "Speaking of games, The World Cup is soon. Did you manage to get those tickets?" He asked.
"Oh! Yes, I did. And I've already spoken with Hermione's parents, they've agreed to let her come. So that's my group, Harry and Hermione. I got an extra if you want to come under disguise." He suggested, knowing Sirius would want to be with his godson for an event like that. He was glad, and ashamed to have not thought about it himself, that Sirius had suggested speaking with Hermione's parents in person instead of Ron just owling her and asking. Lily had often commented on how disconnected she felt from her parents as she got older, especially since the wizard adults in Lily's life never stopped to consider if maybe her parents should be consulted about something before Lily was allowed to do it.
By asking Hermione's parents, it let them still have some say in what happened to their daughter and gave them some relief to have met one of the adults that she was spending time with. To be honest, he'd never really considered what the parents of Muggleborn went through to have their children disappear into this world that they couldn't follow them to.
"I'm not sure..." Sirius started. He really wanted to go, especially since it would mean spending the day with Harry, and when Harry was born one of the things he and James had looked forward to doing with him was taking him to see Quidditch. But would it be safe enough? Even under disguise?
"Sirius. You will be disguised, I will be there, I'm sure Amelia will have Auror Johnson discretely tailing you again. Come with us and spend time with your godson. There may be other World Cup's in future, but I highly doubt that England will be hosting it again in our lifetimes." Arthur said seriously. He'd been informed that Auror Johnson was officially Sirius's shadow any time he left the Weasley family property, and that Arthur was to notify her when he would be needed. Otherwise he was in charge of the investigation into the Dursleys'.
Sirius studied him for a moment before glancing up at Harry, who had stopped playing and was currently just enjoying being in the air. "Alright." He said softly, smiling. Arthur nodded in satisfaction.
"Boys! Lun- Sirius. Wha-?" Molly started to ask before looking at her guilty looking husband and realized just where the 'safe house' was that Sirius was staying in while his case was sorted out. "I see." She glared at her husband before deciding to deal with it later and instead called everybody to lunch again, including Sirius. He was far too thin.
"This is a mess." Grey groaned, looking at the piles of parchment in front of him. "How did this happen?" He shook his head.
"I know those were chaotic times, but come on!" Another member of his team whimpered.
"Can we charge them with kidnapping? There is nothing here giving them custody or authority to act as guardians or anything of the sort."
"There isn't even any parchmentwork naming the Headmaster as guardian in any way! And yet somehow he's claimed the spot."
"When is the Dursley's trial?"
"In a week."
Everything they found on the Dursley's had been handed over to a squib on the Muggle police force, who had taken it to a magic-aware judge. Because it was a DMLE case, the trial was being expedited as much as possible with Muggle laws still being followed. Everybody aware of magic in the Muggle justice system would ensure that nobody was present in the trial who wasn't aware, that way magic could be spoken of freely, the transcripts of the trial as well as the physical evidence would be filed away secretly in a special area of the courthouse, and if found guilty (which none of them doubted would happen) the Dursley's would go to a normal Muggle prison with spells to ensure they could not speak of magic. The Muggle authorities were still deciding if Dudley should be put in a Juvenile detention facility and assigned a psychological counselor or a foster home, and still assigned a counselor.
Either way he was getting counseling.
His aunt had come forward and tried to claim him, but a short interrogation and investigation into her showed her to be unsuitable, especially if Dudley had any hope of being a grounded, productive member of society someday.
According to the squib officer, the Muggle media had heard about the story, and somehow snuck into Number Four and taken pictures of the cupboard before any of it was removed as evidence.
They were surprised Rita Skeeter hadn't already heard of it, to be honest. Grey was even more surprised that Albus Dumbledore hadn't heard about it and intervened yet.
... He should probably ensure the Muggles and Squibs on this case had pendants or some form of protection from being Compulsed or Obliviated. He honestly wouldn't put it past the Headmaster at this point.
"I'm going to take this to the Goblins, make sure that everything is in order with Harry's accounts." Grey's partner decided, and gathered up the relevant parchment before going straight to the Apparation point within the squad room and going straight to the steps of Gringotts.
Grey cursed. He hadn't even thought of that.
The reason Albus Dumbledore had yet to interfere was because he was currently locked inside his tower at Hogwarts, unable to get out or communicate with the outside.
As soon as she'd left the Weasley's after Auror Johnson delivered Harry, Amelia had gone straight to Hogwarts to ensure the old man didn't poke his nose where it wasn't wanted or needed. A quick discussion with Minerva, and she activated a seldom used protocol in the Hogwarts wards that the Founders had come up with to ensure that if the Headmaster was found to be abusing his power, there was a way to contain him and ensure he could not do any more damage to the students under his care.
As of now, he was cut off from the wards completely and could not leave his quarters, not even to go to his office.
He was too busy trying to figure out how it had happened and how to get out of his rooms to even think of anything that might be happening outside the castle.
He would be surprised when he was finally let out and learned everything that had been happening.
Rita Skeeter was similarly occupied, having been surprised at her home by Amelia who was determined to keep her poisoned quill out of this. Unlike Albus Dumbledore, however, she was confined to a cell after attempting to transform in an effort to escape, only to find that Amelia had anticipated this.
She decided that if Sirius Black could be an unknown Animagus, why couldn't the most irritating and inflammatory reporter of the century? After all, she got her stories somehow despite nobody seeing her nearby or claiming responsibility (even under Veritaserum) for revealing the highly classified information.
Needless to say, the reporters involved in her arrest had been delighted with the chance to arrest her.
Luckily as long as nobody questioned her, they could hold her for up to seventy-two hours before they had to let her see her lawyer or release her. Until then, they were holding her in isolation with carefully prepared meals and a Healer monitoring her. With potions like compulsions, loyalty, the antiVeritaserum, and Polyjuice around, one could never be too careful.
Or so Amelia told anybody who might care.
Knock. Knock.
"Who could that be?" Arthur grumbled. He'd been given a few days off to help get Harry settled in (unofficially, officially he was doing something else for Amelia), and he'd been enjoying the time with his family, well, most of his family. Ginny was at a friend's for a few nights and Percy was currently at work. "Amelia. We weren't expecting company." He said, letting her in.
"I just wanted to keep you informed." She assured him, and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Sirius Black at the table with the rest of the Weasley family and Harry. "And while I am here, I might as well get your interrogation out of the way." She told Sirius, who grimaced. "I would appreciate memories from Harry and Ronald, as well, of the night Pettigrew is reported to have escaped." She looked at the two boys.
"Memories?" Harry asked, confused.
"Yes. We can remove copies of memories and view them in an object called a Pensieve." Amelia said. "I can talk you through it, it's harmless." She promised. Looking around, she could tell that Bill and Charlie hadn't arrived yet, so she would have to wait to get that Healers report for both Harry and Sirius.
"Alright." Harry nodded slowly.
"Why don't you get all that out of the way now, and then you can tell us what you've found?" Arthur suggested, nodding at his son encouragingly.
Ten minutes and an interrogation under Veritaserum later, and Amelia had her confirmation that Sirius Black was innocent. The memories she took were only a confirmation at this point of Pettigrew being alive.
"Alright, now that that is dealt with, the investigation is going well. Their trial is set for one week, nobody will be in the courtroom who is unaware of magic, and last I heard Grey's team was speaking with Gringotts to make sure everything is as it should be there, since Albus Dumbledore just declared himself to be your guardian, but there is no parchmentwork to that effect. As such, the goblins shouldn't have let him on your accounts, but he is slippery and good at getting what he wants, one way or another." Amelia filled them in. "At this point, we don't foresee you needing to testify." She assured Harry.
Sirius visibly sagged in relief. Walking away from Privet Drive the night before after seeing that cupboard had been the hardest thing he'd ever done. He'd wanted nothing more then to kill them then and there before taking Harry away from there. He forced himself to remember that going to prison again was not going to help Harry in getting away from them, that he could do more to help Harry by staying free and on the run. His name was keeping the Dursley's in line. Hearing now that they had been arrested was possibly the best thing he'd been told since James announced that he was the godfather.
(They hadn't announced the pregnancy yet, the jerk. James just came up and told him to start planning on how to spoil his new godson in seven months.)
The last thing he wanted right now was for Harry to have to see them again, even at their trial.
"What will happen to them?" Harry asked, unsure of what was going on. He didn't really see the Dursley's as having been abusive. They just smacked him around a bit and, honestly, his cupboard was a safe haven where they couldn't reach him most of the time (especially Vernon with his size) and mostly forgot about him once he was inside. And it wasn't like they ever wanted him anyway, he was a burden to them.
"They are going to go to prison for a very long time, at least fifteen years each." Amelia said simply. "In looking through how you came to be with them, we've found out that there is no parchmentwork putting you in their care, and there's no parchmentwork putting you in Dumbledore's care. According to all of our records, Sirius remains your magical and legal guardian. I'm going to use that to force things with the Minister." It would be glorious to finally shut him up.
Sirius smiled and wrapped an arm around his godson, who leaned into his side gratefully.
"Mom! Dad! We're- oh, sorry. I didn't know we had company." Bill stopped in the kitchen doorway, having wondered why his mother hadn't met them outside. Charlie stopped behind him and merely raised an eyebrow at Sirius Black sitting at their table enjoying lunch with their family.
"Bill, right? Amelia Bones, Director of the DMLE." Amelia offered a hand to shake.
"Hi. My brother, Charlie." Bill pointed out the beefy, burned man behind him. Charlie nodded with a friendly smile and took her hand.
"I'll let Arthur explain, but first, I understand that you two are certified Medi-wizards." Amelia might as well get those Healers reports now while she was here.
"Um, yeah. Yeah, we had to get certified as part of our job training requirements." Bill was really confused, not that he let it show too much.
"And we have to keep up to date on it or we lose our jobs." Charlie muttered. Well, more like suspended until it was taken care of. But that wasn't too much of a worry since Gringotts and the Reserve both took care of providing the training in the first place.
"Good, good. I need a Healers report on both Mr. Potter and Mr. Black. Due to the nature of Mr. Black's circumstances, his presence here needs to be kept as quiet as possible." Amelia said, making sure they knew that one of them was going to have to do it because of this.
Both their eyebrows shot up. "I'll take Mr. Black, you handle Harry's?" Bill suggested. Charlie nodded his agreement and immediately took Harry to the living room.
"Mr. Black? Since when do you call me 'mister'?" Sirius demanded of the oldest Weasley boy, scowling. "Don't forget who taught you, er- you-know-what." He cut himself off with a glance towards Molly, who was already glaring. Nobody saw Charlie's grin and head shake in the other room as they listened to the conversation.
"I knew letting you babysit my sons was a bad idea." She muttered, shaking her head after a moment.
Bill laughed. "Sorry, Sirius." He apologized with a grin. "Hold still." The grin disappeared and was replaced with a slightly more professional attitude.
"Well, a lot of the nutrition problems seem to be in the process of being dealt with, especially in the last two weeks. You do have parasites and some old wounds that don't seem to have healed properly... Although whoever brewed this scar-reducer did an excellent job." He praised. "As well as whoever brewed the potion for long-term Dementor exposure."
"That was Percy. He started reading anything medical he could get his hands on, and Harry sent money for the ingredients he needed." Ron supplied.
"Wait, what? I didn't know that." Sirius said, startled. He'd been planning on paying them back for that when he was freed. Well, he could still find some way to repay them for everything they were doing, but still.
Bill nodded in approval and started writing out a list of potions that he wanted Sirius to take, as well as adjusting the dosage of what he was already taking from Percy. "Percy did a good job. I don't know what book he found, but it must not have had the spell in it for diagnosing the parasites." He reasoned. He would have been surprised if Percy had dealt with them, in fact. It wasn't normally something that was checked for, Bill only checked because of the year Sirius Black had spent on the run and because of everything he'd heard about Azkaban. He quickly handed a copy of the report to Amelia, with all the official seals, and put the original away to be placed in Sirius' master file at St. Mungoes at a later date.
"Here you go." Charlie handed a similar report to Amelia, looking angry even though his hand on Harry's shoulder was gentle. He had a prescription list of his own written up for Harry to take. He shook his head at Bill's questioning look, he would explain later. For now he would respect Harry's wishes on not telling everybody that didn't need to know, which he seemed to include the Weasley parents in. "Bill, I got a strange reading that I think you need to look at as a Curse-Breaker." He said quietly, making Bill frown and go find Harry. He didn't know what it was that he saw, but was fairly sure that Bill could.
This was already shaping up to be an interesting vacation.
That was proven correct when Bill dragged Harry through the Floo yelling something in Goblin language as he went.
"So... what's going on?" Harry asked the Goblins around him as they scanned him, and muttered to each other. All Bill had said was that there was something in his scar that wasn't supposed to be, and he needed his results verified.
Bill sighed as all of his findings were confirmed one by one. He waited until the Goblins left the room to speak with Harry.
"I found a dark presence in your scar. When I scanned it, it registered as soul magic, which is extremely dangerous."
"Soul magic? I have somebodies soul in my scar?" Harry asked, horrified.
"Yes, or at least part of it." Bill sighed again. "They can remove it easily, although it would have been easier if you had been brought in when it happened, which is probably that Halloween. The magic signature of the soul shard is that of Tom Riddle, who the Goblins know to be Voldemort." Bill had brought Sirius while the goblins examined Harry, the Gringotts Head Healer was speaking with him now.
"What, what does that mean for me?" Harry asked, scared.
"Nothing, it just means that you have to go through a ritual, and will probably be a little sore for a few days. You might also have some problems for a few weeks in controlling your magic as it settles from the loss of the soul piece. Your magic will have gotten used to it being there, and has been feeding it for years. A few days of rest and you will be fine." Bill smiled reassuringly.
"Harry!" Sirius burst into the room, the team of Curse-Breakers and Healers following. "Are you alright?" He asked his godson, pulling him into his arms.
"Fine." Harry smiled slightly, basking in the clear worry shown by an adult.
Sirius gave him a look before turning to the Goblins around them. "This ritual, it won't hurt him?" He asked, afraid and not wanting his godson to be hurt.
"At the very least, there will be some discomfort. However, there is no previously documented case of this ever happening before, so we cannot be completely sure. If he'd been brought in as a baby, then there would be no discomfort or pain at all. But now that his body and magic are used to it being there..." The Goblin grimaced and shook his head. "It is not causing him much pain or discomfort now, but that could change."
Sirius nodded. There was really no question that he was going to allow this ritual, they had to get that shard out of his godson. He was only hesitant because they had no precedent for something like this. "Alright, get this thing out of him." He said, determined. Harry nodded his agreement. He could take any pain this caused as long as that piece of his parents' killer was out of his body.
They were led to a stone ritual room, where the walls were covered in Ancient Runes, and Harry was instructed to lay down on the floor in the middle, where the Curse-Breakers quickly set to drawing more Runes around him.
"We ask that the young Heir take an Inheritance Test after this, there are some irregularities with his accounts and we would like to ensure nothing was done to him." The Potter account manager, Sharpaxe, told Sirius quietly.
"Why am I not surprised?" Sirius muttered, shaking his head with a sigh. "We'll be up after they're done." He promised, then turned his attention back to Harry. The ritual took an hour, and he started pacing restlessly when Harry was clearly in pain from it, but he was held back from going to him by wards around the area he and the Healers were standing in.
He recoiled when a cloud of black smoke rose from his pup's scar with a horrible scream nearly an hour into the ritual. "Harry!" He called, worried, and took steps towards his godson before he hit the barrier and was kept in place.
"Don't distract them. This is a critical part of the ritual. If it gets free before they put the soul piece in another object to be destroyed, it could go right back into your godson or possess somebody else in the room." Sharpaxe said quietly beside him, watching with sharp eyes. Sirius went back to pacing in worry through the few minutes it took for the Curse-Breaking team to fight with the screaming soul shard.
Finally, it was gone, sucked into a stone being held by one of the Elder's with dragon-hide gloves. After a few moments of silence, one of the humans on the team collapsed to the ground with a groan.
"It's safe!" Bill called, and took down the ward keeping Sirius away while Healers flooded the area to check on everybody.
"Pup?" Sirius asked, kneeling beside the figure on the floor. "Harry, are you alright?"
"Ow." Harry groaned, clutching at his scar. It was currently bleeding, with a black tar-like substance mixed in. It looked like when he'd seen an infected wound once while a Healer had to let the infection drain out on its own before they could clean it out or heal it. "That hurt."
"It's over now, Heir Potter. It's gone, we're already reading rising magic levels, and you should be able to see better from now on, as well." The Healer sounded surprised by that. Unfortunately they boy would still need glasses.
"Great." Harry tried to sound enthusiastic, but the yawn gave it away. Now that he'd been given pain potions, he was too tired.
"I would like to keep him over-night, just to be sure because this is so unprecedented." The Healer informed Sirius, who looked pained, but nodded his agreement.
"We can do the Inheritance Test in the Infirmary." Sharpaxe said, and followed them out.
The Weasley's were concerned about Harry. The last thing any of them expected from a simple health exam was for the oldest son to drag him off to Gringotts. Then for Bill to return with a small contingent of Goblins fifteen minutes later to take Sirius to the bank, too...
"Oh, dear." Amelia murmured, sounding like she didn't know quite what to do with all this new information. All she did know was that she was going to be extremely busy in the coming days.
"Do you think Harry's alright?" Ron asked his father, who sighed and shook his head.
"He will be, I'm sure. Bill knows what he's doing." He assured his family. "What exactly did you find?" He asked Charlie curiously.
"Some kind of residue around his scar." Charlie shrugged. "I didn't know what it could be, my training mostly centered around physical injuries, not curse injuries." He could handle them, of course, but they didn't deal with a lot of curses on the reserve.
"I need to return to the office." Amelia sighed, gathering up her parchments and reports from where she'd been going over them while waiting for Harry to return. She thought it was clear right now, though, that Harry probably wasn't going to be returning to the Burrow today, not if Sirius had to go to the bank as well. She was going to get things started on their cases. She didn't necessarily need to speak with Harry again, anyway. She'd already gotten everything she needed from him before his exam.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" Sirius asked, looking at his godson anxiously as the boy woke up. As soon as they'd gotten the tests for Sharpaxe done, Harry had been whisked away to another ritual chamber and had all the blocks and potions removed from his system. The process of having his magic unblocked had knocked him out, along with all the Curse-breakers and Goblins in the room.
"Where did the Hippogriff go?" Harry grumbled. Then he paused for a moment as a thought hit him. "Hey, what happened to Buckbeak?" He asked, blinking while carefully stretching his aching muscles.
Sirius snorted. "I found a herd for him to stay with after I got to the Weasley's." He said. "Sore?" He asked, handing over the glass of water beside him.
"Yeah." Harry blinked in surprise when a gnarled hand appeared in his field of vision, glancing over he saw one of the Goblin Healers beside him.
"Everything was removed successfully, the soreness in your muscles is from you straining during the ritual and a mild case of magical exhaustion." The Healer reported. "Sleep and food. That's all you need now." She smiled slightly and left the two humans alone.
"I will help you learn how to control your new magical levels." Sirius said, trying to distract himself from what had happened to his godson while he was in prison.
"I'm not going to hurt anybody, am I?" Harry asked, worried. He'd been at Hogwarts for three years, he'd heard plenty of horror stories about someone's accidental magic going out of control and hurting somebody.
"Not if you're careful and let us help." Sirius said. He already felt better then he had when they got here, since one of the Healers had taken him aside and started him on Bill's suggested potions regimen while he was within the Healer's territory. They'd even suggested a few other potions that Bill hadn't known about or thought of since a Medi-wizards training wasn't as detailed as a Healers.
Harry bit his lip, but didn't say anything. He merely nodded, slowly and carefully. "Here you go. As soon as you eat that, you are free to go." The Healer came back and handed over a tray of delicious smelling food to each wizard.
"Thank you." They said, and dug in as she walked away, waving her hand and summoning back Harry's clothes from when he'd had to take them off for the rituals. She was sure that he would prefer not to return to the Weasley's wearing a thin ritual robe, after all.
They talked about nothing important while they ate, and when they were done Bill showed up to escort them back to the Burrow, relieved that his brother's best friend was ok now and that they had caught the soul piece. Gringotts could hunt them down now, and destroy Voldemort before he ever had a chance to come back. They'd already found one within the bank, and Ron had told him about Ginny's first year and she'd been treated for the possession.
Bill snorted. "You know, mom is probably going to try to force more food on you." He said, amused.
"I couldn't eat any more!" Harry and Sirius both groaned. The meals provided by the Healers had been rather large, they'd barely been able to finish three-quarters of their plates combined.
"I'll try to keep her off you." He promised. "Excited for the World Cup next week, Harry?" He asked as he led them out.
"Yeah! I bet it's going to be awesome!" He was looking forward to seeing it, especially the Seekers. He was actually wanting to see if he would be able to spot the Snitch before them, even if he wouldn't be able to catch it since he wasn't playing. It should be even easier since the Goblins repaired some of his eyesight and got him new glasses.
"I hear that Viktor Krumis playing." Bill said.
"Who?" Harry asked, confused. Being at his relatives for the summer and busy with school during the rest of the year didn't really help him with keeping up with the Quidditch leagues or their players.
"He's currently rated as the top Seeker in the world." Bill informed the current Gryffindor Seeker.
"Really? Cool!" Harry said, excited to see him fly. He wondered how many Quidditch moves he might be able to learn by watching.
"Oh, I remember that look. Charlie got it once when our Uncles took us to a Quidditch match, he almost gave mom a heart attack when he tried some of the moves he saw the players performing in the air, especially the Seeker's dives." Bill shook his head, almost feeling sorry for his mother.
"I think I remember Gideon telling me about that." Sirius grinned. Bill laughed. "Let's not learn too much at the game though, alright pup? I already almost had a heart attack when I watched your practices last year." Sirius shuddered. Although thankfully he'd left the first game before the Dementors came, or he really would have had a heart attack watching his godson fall from his broom. He'd panicked enough as it was when he overheard some students talking about it a few days later.
"Sorry." Harry grinned cheekily, not actually sorry. He enjoyed flying, and he enjoyed pushing himself and his broom to the limit at times. He was a good judge of when he should pull out of a maneuver, though, so he wasn't too worried about crashing or anything.
Sirius heard how unapologetic he really was and huffed, rolling his eyes while muttering about grey hairs. Bill just laughed all the way to the Floo room.
"Harry!" He heard, and barely turned around before he got a mouthful of bushy brown hair.
"Umph!" He grunted.
"Let him breathe, Hermione!" He heard Ron say with a small laugh. The figure attached to him disappeared and he heard Ron grunt too.
"*cough* Hey, Hermione. How has your summer been so far?" He asked, grinning.
"It's been good. We just got back from our trip to France, I have to show you something I found later! I thought you would be with your aunt and uncle still?" She asked Harry, realizing that Harry shouldn't necessarily be here yet.
"I was removed from them. Madam Bones has Sirius under 'discreet escort' whenever he leaves the Burrow, so when he took me out for the day, the Auror following us saw enough to warrant getting me out of there." Harry explained quickly. "Their trial is today, actually." Thankfully he wasn't required to be there, his memories and health report were going to be enough, along with all the photographic evidence and financial reports.
"Madam Bones knows he's here?" Hermione asked, mildly alarmed. She knew who Madam Bones was, she'd overheard Susan mention that her aunt was the head of law enforcement.
"Yeah, he's been granted Sanctuary with the Ancient House of Weasley." Ron said proudly. "My dad let her know everything we told him, and she's investigating. Until then, the Ministry cannot touch him as long as he is on Weasley property, with a Weasley, or the Head of House Weasley knows where he is." Arthur had sat his boys down to explain just what Sanctuary meant after Harry arrived, to make sure they knew what to do if an Auror tried to arrest Sirius while he was with them for whatever reason and Arthur or Molly were not around.
"Wow." Hermione said, surprised. "Ancient House? What does that mean?" She tilted her head.
"It means we are really old and would have a lot of political influence if things were different and certain people did not have the influence that they have." Fred cut into their conversation, wrapping an arm around Hermione's shoulders.
"Not as old and influential as the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter, of course." George said, bowing to Harry as he came up beside the boy.
"Or the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black." Percy pointed out, motioning towards Sirius.
"Huh." Hermione said, staring at them wide-eyed.
Sirius laughed at the look on her face. "I'll get you a book on it and you can join in with Harry's lessons on the matter if you like." He offered.
"Oh, yes please!" She almost squealed in excitement. "Wait, just how bad was it that an Auror took one look and removed you?" Hermione remembered, and turned to Harr, worried. She'd known that things at the Dursley's weren't exactly... ideal, but for him to be removed so quickly...
"Bad enough." Sirius said, and warned her with his eyes to drop it. "You excited for the game?" He asked her before she could say anything else.
She huffed a little. "Not really. It will be fascinating to see, but Quidditch isn't really my thing." She confessed. "I only go to the games at school because Harry's playing." She shrugged.
"Ah, you don't have to enjoy Quidditch to be able to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience like this." Sirius said wisely, not bothering to argue with her knowing that Lily had been the same way. She could fly if she needed to, but she much preferred to keep her feet on the ground and considered Quidditch too dangerous. Arguing with Lily about it was something he'd only done once, and never again.
"I'm sure I'll still have fun." Hermione assured him and her friends, not wanting them to feel guilty for dragging her along. "It's just not really my thing."
"And there is nothing wrong with that." Percy sent his youngest brother a sharp look. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have a report to finish." He said, and started towards his room.
"Yeah, on cauldron bottoms." The Twins made a face.
"It may seem ridiculous, but shoddily made cauldron's are highly dangerous!" Percy warned him. "Too thin and the cauldron will melt all over you with no warning, too thick and the potion won't heat up properly. There needs to be some form of standard from importing companies or we will have too many poorly made cauldrons on the shelves which could do more harm then good." Sure, it wasn't the most glamorous of reports to be writing, but he was the new guy and it was still important work.
"Ok, sorry." Fred said, eyes wide, having never even thought of that before. He really should have, though, because he and George made their own potions all the time. (In fact, just last week they'd had to sneak all their current stock out to the treehouse where Sirius had helped them hide it before their mother could find and destroy it. She'd started going off on them about their grades again). Percy frowned at him and went upstairs.
"He works hard." Sirius noted. "Shame he took the job with Crouch, though, I don't see him being allowed to climb the ladder very far."
"He'll get wherever he wants to go." Arthur said softly, fully confident in his sons ability. Crouch may not be the one to let him go far, but Percy was smart and his blind faith in the Ministry had been severely shaken with how Sirius was being handled, so he wasn't slavishly devoted to his boss, which meant that he wouldn't turn down better opportunities in the future. Unfortunately he himself would never get those opportunities.
"Anyway! Weren't you kids going to play Quidditch?" Sirius hinted at the Weasley boys and Harry, who perked up and raced out the door, Hermione following with an eye-roll and a book in hand. (Where had that come from, she wasn't holding a book a few minutes ago...)
"That'll keep them busy for a bit." Arthur laughed.
"I wanted to talk to you... while we were at Gringotts the other day, I got some Family business taken care of." Sirius said, making Arthur look at him in confusion. Family business wasn't something to talk to other people about. "I restored Cedrella to the Family and restored her Dowry."
Arthur stared at him in shock. "You- but..."
"My mother almost made a sport of blasting people off the family tree and disowning their family lines. I need to do some research into everybody she disowned, but I know for a fact that the only reason she disowned your mother was because she considered your parents' marriage to be beneath a member of House Black. That compounded with the argument she and Cedrella had about something else..." Sirius shook his head. "The point is, you should never have been disowned from the Black family."
Arthur swallowed. "I don't- thank you." He breathed, unable to say much else on the topic without sobbing all over the man.
Sirius smiled gently. "I'm just fixing a situation that never should have happened." He said honestly. He understood exactly what he'd done for the father of seven, but he didn't want to make a big deal out of it. He just did what needed to be done. "My account manager is expecting you to finalize paperwork." He said and moved to watch the kids play Quidditch.
"Good news!" Amelia said, coming into the Burrow the day before they left for the World Cup Final.
They had originally been planning to go to the campsite the day of and camp for the one night. But Arthur could afford now to make a bit more of a trip out of it, so they were going a few days earlier to enjoy a bit of camping and some of the pre-game events that were being held.
Percy would have to come and go, of course, because he was the new guy at work and he'd only been able to get the original two days off because he'd requested it from the very beginning. He hadn't been able to get the extra few days, even though his boss would be at the site of the World Cup most of the time dealing with International relations associated with an event like this.
Arthur, being a senior member of the Ministry staff, despite the lack of respect he got, was able to get the extra time off. Especially with all the overtime he'd been pulling lately.
"What?" They all asked eagerly, wondering what the Director had to tell them that was so good.
"The Dursley's have been convicted. Twenty years each." She grinned at the cheers that went around the room. Sirius wrapped his godson in a giant bear hug, laughing in relief while Harry seemed to be in a state of disbelief.
"What about Dudley?" He had to ask.
"He has been placed in a juvenile detention facility, he has a sentence of one year, with counseling. Then he will be placed into a foster family and closely watched. Originally he was going to just be placed with a family, but after learning of his activities with his... friends-" She shrugged.
Harry snorted. "You mean beating up anybody who annoys him, stealing from the neighbors, vandalizing their property and the local parks, and just being a spoiled brat in general?" He asked dryly. He couldn't bring himself to be disappointed by that, too.
"Yes." Amelia shook her head. She found it amazing how many parents of Privet Drive were surprised to learn that their children had been telling them the truth about who was hurting them. They'd honestly believed the lies about Harry.
Harry shook his head and pushed thoughts of Dudley out of his mind and made up his mind to enjoy the celebrations with the rest of them about his Aunt and Uncle's fate.
Mostly, though, he was just relieved that he would never have to see them again.
Now for Sirius' name to be cleared.
They were already on their way to doing that, they just had to get it done.
He couldn't imagine what might have happened if Ron's brothers hadn't heard their conversation and offered up their treehouse for Sirius.
*I am not British, nor am I an expert in politics or governmental structure. I apologize if I get those roles wrong.
And about Dudley's diet... eating right is only part of a healthy weight-loss 'program'. I'm no expert, but exercising and such is also involved, and the way it was written in the books, it sounded like Petunia's version of eating right was to practically starve him and Vernon, that's not much better then overfeeding them like she usually did. So yeah, she wasn't handling it right at all.