SIRIUS BLACK FOUND INNOCENT, REAL OFFENDER BEHIND BARS

There was quite the uproar in the Wizarding community when the renowned white sheep of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, Sirius Black, was taken into custody for the murder of 12 muggles and former Hogwarts classmate Peter Pettigrew, on the night of All Hallows Eve following the most celebrated defeat of you-know-who.

However, it has recently come to light that Black was in fact framed, the mastermind behind the plot being Pettigrew, who staged his death by cutting his little finger and disappearing by transforming into a rat Animagus, an ability he kept illegally hidden, which prevented the Ministry from being able to find the veracity of the matter, which would've been possible if not for the missing information.

Following the apprehension of Pettigrew by a Ministry Official, the wizard was given a dose of Veritasium to confirm the events that lead to the massacre for which Black was condemned, and all were shocked to find the truth, which absolved Black of all crimes and placed Pettigrew as the sole perpetrator. The man in question is now in the custody of the Aurors and will be facing a trial in the upcoming weeks.

This morning, Black was escorted from the Azkaban cell he had been in ever since his arrest and was given a trial to clear him of all previous charges, leaving him a free man.

This turn of events if quite shocking, but we couldn't be more glad that the truth has its way of coming out, and that the Ministry valiantly did not rest until all facts were presented.

Gardenia wanted to laugh at the poorly veiled excuses for the Ministry's actions, disguised in praises that were not truthful, but she managed to control herself, and simply smiled at the copy of the Daily Prophet she managed to get her hands on.

It didn't take long for the news of Sirius' innocence to be publicly announced, his crimes and arrest had all been very broadly broadcasted, which Gardenia could've guessed by the fact that when he escaped in 1993, everyone except Harry seemed to know the extent of his crimes. She was glad he was being publicly exonerated, that was the least he deserved after spending a couple of months in Azkaban.

She would like to keep tabs on his situation, especially where it concerned Harry Potter, but she knew that her family wasn't involved with him on a personal basis, only that her father was put in charge of clearing his name due to having brought Pettigrew in.

Gardenia wasn't sure that Sirius would manage to have custody of Harry with Dumbledore pulling the strings to keep the boy in the blood ward, but she could hope. She always found ridiculous that Harry had to endure years of abuse for protection she had suspicions could be replaced with some other type of powerful ward if Grimmauld Place was anything to go by. Maybe Sirius free to do as he pleases will succeed to change that, she might never have personally met him, but Gardenia suspects he won't go down quietly if he's refused guardianship of his godson, especially once he finds out the circumstances in which he has been in.

But it's out of her hands, much to her displeasure. Gardenia was learning an awful lot about herself with this situation of powerlessness that had been forced upon her, and it seems she's a bit of a control freak.

To balance things out, she was glad to find that patience wasn't that hard for her, which was wonderful news when considering her best friends were a handful, and a short fuse when dealing with them would drive her nuts before she ever managed to set foot in Hogwarts.

Hearing a crash in the kitchen, she sighed and put the newspaper back where she had found it, hoping that neither of them had broken any bones this time.


Life could be incredibly boring when you had the body of a five-year-old but could not be entertained by the simple things that usually did the trick for children that age. Gardenia had found reprieve of her never-ending boredom by means of the two boys she considered her friends, but it wasn't like she could see them every day.

She had already taken up reading, but it took a lot of persuasion on her part to be allowed to read things that were not just fairytales or children specific stories. Gardenia decided that her mother was the easiest path to achieving such a goal, appealing to her knowledge craving side that played a part in her Hogwarts house placement. With some pleas to learn more about her ability to see into the future, Gardenia was granted permission to read some books on Divination, much to her delight.

But it didn't take long for her to go through the volumes her mother owned on the subject, and if she was being honest variety was key in dealing with tediousness.

So, one day where she accompanied her mother to her work, as it was becoming custom the more she grew up, Gardenia struck a deal with her mother.

She was perusing the books on the shelves of Flourish and Botts, her mother had allowed her to go from her flower and herbology shop situated not far from the bookstore, as long as she was back within the hour. An hour was not nearly enough, but she had already been lucky enough to get permission to buy three books of her choice, so she was not going to push it. Oh, how she loved that her mother's weakness was the power of learning, it made things so much easier.

She had already picked up one of her intended reads for the foreseeable future, another volume of Divination, but this time not about Seers, like those that her mother owned, but other methods to predict the future that did not necessarily rely on the Inner Eye. She didn't know yet how trustworthy the practice was, but Gardenia wasn't going to throw the possibility of actually being able to predict the future to some extent just because of a preconceived notion that it was a sham.

Making her way to another section, one about magical creatures and beasts, for even if you understood that you were now born in a world of magic, some parts like unicorns and centaurs were hard to conciliate with her previous notions of the world. She really wanted to take Care of Magical Creatures once she reached Hogwarts, but that was so far away, and it would only be possible in Third year to make things worse.

She was trying to find that dammed book that Hagrid used when he started teaching, the one that you had to pet to open, it had always amused her that a book like that could exist, but she wasn't having any luck, maybe they kept it hidden in case someone lost their hand to it.

"Are you lost?" A voice came from above, as it usually did when Gardenia was dealing with adults. She was a child, but she was also a short one, given her mother's own petite stature. She did not need to be a Seer to know that her future holds a lot of conversations with people taller than her.

"No, but I can't find the book I'm looking for." She hadn't bothered to look up to see who addressed her, more interested in looking for her book. One hour went by fast, and she wasn't nearly close to done.

"Where are your parents? Surely you didn't come to Diagon Alley alone." Finally looking at the man, she noticed his fair hair and pale skin, a few noticeable scars in his face, but kind amber eyes that transmitted worry for the small child he found wandering alone in a bookstore.

"I didn't, my mum has a shop and let me come here to buy books." She frowned, adjusting the hold in the book that was a little bit big when compared to her size. "But I'm not supposed to talk to strangers."

The man chuckled, making his features soften even more. "I'm glad, your parents are right. It's just a small child alone gives me anxiety, now that I have one to take care of myself, I always end up thinking the worse."

Gardenia nodded and then frowned again when she realized that the second choice in her book lost regarding magical creatures would be on a shelf that was about three times her size in terms of height. "Hey Mister, do you mind seeing if you can find Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them? It seems they put it in a shelf a little out of my reach."

"No problem, are you buying books for your mother as well?"

"No, just me."

His eyebrows rose, and he glanced at her. "Aren't you a little young for this type of reading material? At your age, the most I read was probably Tales of Beedle and the Bard."

"Been there, done that. I've read those more times than I can count, it got boring."

He laughed at her explanation, before taking a book off the shelf and giving it to her. With the volume now in her arms, she smiled at the man, thanked him, and went on her way. She still had to find a book about Potions, she wasn't sure how her mother would react to that one, but she wanted to be prepared for her future classes with a certain Professor, and she did always like chemistry, and Potions seemed to share attributes with it.

As for the man that helped her, he stayed in that corridor a while longer, baffled by the child he'd just interacted with. She reminded him a bit of Lily in her first year, but she'd been eleven, not five. A natural-born Ravenclaw, perhaps?

"Hey Moony, did you find that book on parenting that Andromeda recommended?" He was brought out of his thoughts by his best friend's voice, the dark-haired wizard had his hands filled with bags from the previous stores they had gone into, mostly containing child-related things.

"Not yet, got a bit distracted." Sirius shook his head as if he already expected this outcome.

"Should've known better than to let you loose on a bookstore and not expect you to get distracted." Remus smiled, it was nice to have this back, this part of his life that he thought would be gone forever after that fateful night. "Let's go find that book then, Andy swears by it."

Remus thought that the book was just a way for his friend's cousin to get them off her case about how to raise a child, but it seemed to placate Sirius to have some sort of guide as to how to raise his godson, after such a hard battle to get to have him, the man wanted to do his best, both for Harry and for his late parents. So Remus went along with it, even if he thought that a book would not exactly be helpful.


Gardenia did not realize she could fangirl about the characters that she began to perceive as real people until she met Sirius Black.

She wanted to knock her head repeatedly against a wall for forgetting the relation between her Auntie Andy and the ex-con, but she didn't even notice when she stopped thinking about the people around her as names on a page and family relations to other people, but to her, Andromeda Tonks was just her aunt, not really the outcast of the Black family who was related to Sirius. But the reality of that situation came crashing around her one Sunday morning when she and her parents went to have lunch at the Tonks' residence.

"Look how much you've grown! You'll soon be reaching my height!" It was nice of her uncle to say that, but it was the furthest thing from the truth. Gardenia was small for her age, and she doubted she'd be passing Ted Tonks height anytime soon, if ever.

"It's ok Uncle Ted, I know I'll be like my mum and have trouble reaching the top shelf." She commented, making her uncle chuckle.

"Well, Lucy held out hope up until her last year at Hogwarts."

She shrugged. "Mum's a dreamer." Her uncle laughed, picking her up and giving her a view she would probably only have in ridiculously high heels.

Her cousin, Nymphadora, was sitting in one of the couches in the living room, and promptly got up and snatched Gardenia out of her father's arms as soon as she saw them, hugging the tiny blond to her chest. Gardenia and Nymphadora, who would probably not be very happy to be referred to as such, even if only in her cousin's thoughts, were considerably close, especially when taking into account the age difference. Six years apart, but perhaps the fact they were both only children had something to do with it.

Sitting back down with now Gardenia on her lap, Nymphadora promptly filled the girl on the new things that have happened since they last saw each other.

The Sunday lunches at either the Fawley or Tonks residence was common occurrence ever since the war ended, and although not much actually happened in a week's time, the metamorphmagus always seemed to have something to tell her.

"And I got this on Wednesday! My birthday was a few weeks ago, but I wasn't worried about not being magical, obviously." She snorted as if the simple notion was funny. Which it was, of course, considering the question of whether or not Nymphadora would have magic was answered as soon as she was out of the womb. "I'm so excited! I can't wait to go to Diagon Alley, I'll finally have a wand!"

She was beaming, a winning smile on her face as she held the piece of paper of which she was so proud of. She handed it to Gardenia, knowing the younger girl would like to have a look at it. The letter was not much at first glance, the parchment was standard, and the words were written in very neat calligraphy that was probably not handwritten, otherwise, Gardenia was very sorry for Minerva McGonagall, it would be a pain when considering the number of letters to be sent. What was most special about the letter was the content, for even if only a short message and a shopping list, its meaning was great. Even after finishing reading it, she still held it, a look of wonder in her eyes.

"You'll get yours too, and then we'll have one year at Hogwarts together." Came the assurance and Gardenia smiled at her cousin. It was logical that to everyone else she'd be magical, she was a Seer in their eyes after all. But she was well aware that there was every possibility of her being as magical as she was in her previous life.

"I'll miss you during the year." She decided to say, still a truth, but not the one that was biggest in her mind.

The look on Nymphadora's face was as if her heart had just melted. "Oh Nia, I'll miss you too." Being hugged like a teddy bear took some getting used to, but by now Gardenia quite liked the hugs.

The sound of voices coming from the front of the house was strange, her mother and uncle were in the kitchen, as usual, the two siblings being the ones with culinary ability out of their respective marriages, their pure blood partners being able to burn water, as impossible as that seems. Her father was in the kitchen with them, if she remembered correctly, her aunt was unaccounted for, but even then, that did not explain the situation. It did not take long for her curiosity to be stated, even if the appearance of her aunt with two strangers and a toddler wasn't what she was expecting.

"That would be Nymphadora, my daughter, and Gardenia, my niece." She heard Andromeda say.

"Don't call me that mum!"

"Told you that name would cause trouble when she grew up." An amused voice sounded, coming from one of the two-man that had arrived.

"Oh hush Sirius, you just said that because you wanted me to name her after you."

Gardenia's eyes widened as she put two and two together, coming to analyze the newcomers in a different light. The man that had spoken, his darks hair reaching his shoulders being as black as night and quite lustrous, and grey eyes that seemed older than his outward appearance was standing next to Andromeda, in his arms a child no older three years. He himself looked not much older than mid-twenties, and if she had heard correctly, his name was Sirius Black.

Now, Gardenia had never much thought of her personal feelings regarding the information she had, after years of becoming used to her new reality, she rarely thought of anyone as a character, it seemed rude to do so, especially when she took into account that two of her favorite people didn't exist in that written work. But she did remember that her favorite character used to be the Marauder now standing in front of her, and although she hadn't given much thought to that while planning his freedom, the fact that he now stood in front of her was a different story. Because one of her favorite characters was real, and Gardenia did not know how to react to that without seeming insane.

Apparently, her silence and possibly spooked expression made the people around her think she was alarmed, which she was, but not in the way they though.

"Girls, this is Sirius Black, my cousin. He's family, as is this little lad here. His name's Harry, and he's Sirius's godson."

"Nymphadora I know, even held her when she was a baby, changed diapers and all that nasty stuff." His smile was charming, and by the way, it increased at seeing his cousin's frown at being called by her full name, he'd done it on purpose. Gardenia cracked a smile at that, and Sirius took notice of it. "You must be Gardenia, Jacob and Lucy's kid, right? Nice to meet you." She gave a little wave in return, not trusting her voice, and slightly curling herself up in Nymphadora's lap.

It was then that the other person in the room came into view, and Gardenia recognized him. It was the man from the bookshop, it's been a little over a week since then, and he looked exactly the same, if not a bit more tired. She frowned at him, confused as to who he was. Andromeda introduced him as well, and if Gardenia didn't want to hit her head on a wall before, she did now. She had met Remus Lupin and been none the wiser. It was probably for the best, second favorite character, and all that, her reaction to meeting him might've been a tad weird if she knew his identity.

The three adults settled in the couches around them, Remus smiling at her as if he remembered her, which he probably did. One of the nice things about being a child was that people did not expect her to join in conversations, and any quietness could always be chalked up to be shyness. So Gardenia decided to stay quiet, wrapped up in her cousin's arms, listening to the conversation absentmindedly, while her mind came to terms with the situation.

Her attention was caught by the other young child in the room, even younger than herself. Harry was now being held by Andromeda, and he looked quite content. Gardenia smiled, pleased to know her gamble paid off, and that Sirius managed to get custody. She would've hated to know that Harry was growing up unloved and mistreated, so seeing him for herself was good.

It didn't take long for lunch to be ready, and they all seated themselves at the dining table, Harry using the high chair that was once Nymphadora's since Gardenia could manage with just a cushion being placed on her seat.

Conversation flowed, her parents seeming to be familiar with Sirius and Remus, and everything was a more lively than usual due to the additions to the table.

After the meal, the adults moved to the living room to talk while the children were given the chance to play, which meant Nymphadora using her metamorphmagus abilities to entertain little Harry. Gardenia was not nearly as amused by the activity, it was interesting to see, but it had lost its sense of wonder a while ago, given how often she was in her cousin's presence.

"You don't look impressed." She heard a voice, turning around to look at Remus.

"Dora's hair is cool, but I'm used to it by now." She shrugged. If old her would've heard her, she probably

"Did you start on any of those books you bought yet?"

She nodded. "I really like the Fantastic Beasts one, it's so fun to read about all the different creatures. And to imagine that Mr. Scamander actually met most of them!"

Remus chuckled, her excitement regarding the book clear. "Seems like you'll be wanting to take Care of Magical Creatures when you reach Hogwarts."

"Dad told me about those, he said the Professor was missing some marbles."

Laughing, Remus nodded in agreement to the comment. "He's not wrong, but it's still a very fun class, and maybe by your third year they'll have replaced the Professor."

Gardenia knew that such a change would be a little bit after that, but maybe there was a way to get Hagrid as a teacher earlier? She didn't know the details of Kettleburn's retirement, but apparently he had some missing limbs and an increasing lack of interest in actual teaching.

"What animal did you like the best?"

"Nifflers sound cool unless they steal your things." She mentioned. The illustrations that accompanied the creatures were also adorable, which was a big reason why she liked them quite so much. "But I think so far the one I like the most is the Zouwu."

"It's a Chinese creature, no?" At her nod, he frowned. "If I'm not mistaken, it's a large feline-like beast, the approximate size of an elephant."

"Yes."

"And why is it your favorite?"

"It's a very big cat. What's not to like?"

He laughed, the corner of his eyes crinkling. "I suppose that's reason enough."

"I also really like werewolves." She decided to say, without thinking it through too much. Given the way Remus stilled and looked, you would've thought she said that her favorite pastime was cannibalism.

"Those are dangerous beasts, why on earth would you like them?" To anyone else, the question might not seem anything out of the ordinary, simply a person that tough the creature to be a dangerous expressing concern, but due to her knowledge, Gardenia could hear the self-deprecation in the phrase.

Wanting to give a detailed speech about how werewolves didn't choose what befell them, and even with the loss of control during full moons, were still deserving of respect and rights, Gardenia had to hold her tongue since that would be a little extreme of an opinion for a child to have. So she settled for the next best thing. "They're like big dogs, of course I like them."

It was a simple answer one might expect from a kid, and for the time being, was all she could say on the topic. But in the future, she would most definitely be making some arguments on that front that relied more on facts and opinions and less on liking dogs. Remus seemed to take her answer as a just a child-like manner, of course, she would like werewolves because they're like dogs. So he smiled, laughed, and ruffled her hair. In his mind, lectures about how some creatures were dangerous would just have to wait until she was older so they'd be more effective, none the wiser to the reality of her also planning a future conversation on the topic.

But it was also nice that someone didn't think him a monster, no matter how misguided that notion seemed to him, and a selfish part of him wanted that to last a while longer.

Unbeknown to him, the child in front of him would never think him so, and as time went on, she would also be adding his name to an ever-growing list of people whose lives she was going to do her damn best to save.


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Hey guys, I'm sorry for the time it took to update, all this chaos in the world messed up my life quite a bit, I basically had to move back to my home country and figure out another plan for university, since it would've been impossible to stay where I was with what's going on :/

This has been the longest chapter so far in this story, and I'm hoping to keep this length as the pattern. I hope you guys liked this chapter, it was mostly to settle what happened on the previous one and introduce some of the characters into the storyline.

I'll not be going into much detail about Harry's life other than things that Gardenia will take notice of, but he will be raised by Sirius and Remus. That will affect his personality a bit, but not in an unrecognizable way.

Thank you so much for your review HPuni101, the Pettigrew situation was explained to Arthur as it was, he is aware of Gardenia's so-called ability because of the involvement of his wife and her brothers in one of her first "visions".

The next chapter will feature quite the time jump as we'll be entering her Hogwarts years since I didn't want to focus too much on her childhood. I'd like to know your guesses concerning which house she'll be sorted into, that was one of the first things I decided about her character, but I'm curious to know what you all think!

Thank you for reading sz