Harry whispered, shocked about what Sirius said "Potter Regent… Heir Potter… Most Ancient… and Noble House of Potter? What's all that?"

Sirius immediately swiveled his head to look at Harry, stunned at the questions he was asking.

"You don't know?!"

"About what? I've never heard anyone mention those words before! I don't understand what they mean."

Dumbledore blushed a scarlet red at Harry's words, looking sheepishly at Sirius while Madam Bones instantly looked up with rapt attention, concerned about what the conversation was revealing. Minister Fudge sat still, seemingly unconcerned and uninterested in the conversation. Hermione had a look of interest on her face, though it was marred with worry for Harry.

"Dumbledore, have you not told Harry about his family?" Sirius exclaimed, angered by the knowledge that the last of a family could know so little about his family.

"I… I thought it would be better for Harry not to know as I did not want to burden him with the knowledge at his young age. Besides, he already has many other things troubling him and I wanted to give him as much of a childhood as I possibly could."

"Heirs have always started official training to learn about their families when they are five, and they start following the Lord of their family to the Wizengamot when they are eleven! In fact, heirs start learning about their family history, wizarding etiquette, and many other important things from the time they are born! But Harry has never been taught any of those things. How will he be able to properly sit on the Potter seat when he turns fourteen this summer?"

"I was… going to tell him when he turned seventeen. He'll only be an adult and be able to take over from me at that time anyways."

"You were going to let him deal with the Wizengamot without any training? The other lords will demolish him, he will be an embarrassment to the Potter name! Besides, he is the last of his family, so he will be able to be emancipated and take on the title of Lord Potter when he turns fourteen and instead of needing to wait until he is seventeen! And what are you doing sitting on the Potter seat? You're not a Potter, and you aren't his magical guardian!"

"The Wizengamot appointed me as his magical guardian since there was no one else able to be his magical guardian."

"What about Frank and Alice Longbottom? Alice was his magical godmother. They would have been able to be his magical guardians"

"They are still in St. Mungos since the Lestranges Attack a few days after Voldemort killed James and Lily."

"The Dowager Longbottom?"

"I did not want to burden her with another young child as she already had Neville to take care of."

"What about the many others listed in James and Lily's wills? Remus, Andromeda, and several more people."

"Remus is a werewolf, the wizarding public would have kicked up a fuss about it."

At this point, Madam Bones interrupted with a cough, having had enough, saying "James and Lily's will was sealed by the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Professor Dumbledore. The Wizengamot then voted to have Professor Dumbledore appointed as Harry's magical guardian."

Hearing this, Sirius glared at Dumbledore, annoyed that he would disrespect James and Lily's final wishes.

"Did you seal it just so you could have the Potter seat on the Wizengamot?"

"No, of course not, I would never do that."

Mentally sighing, Sirius decided that it would be better to continue the conversation with Dumbledore after Fudge left and decided to focus his attention back on the matter of the Black and Potter seats and find out who was occupying the Black seat on the Wizengamot.

"Has the Black seat been unoccupied since my Grandfather passed away?"

At this, Minister Fudge stuttered "No…"

"Who has been sitting on it? Although there are still many who have descended from the Black Line, only the Tonks and the Malfoys would be close enough to it to be able to sit on the seat."

Andromeda never wanted anything much to do with the Wizengamot other than when she had to appear as a lawyer during a trial so she wouldn't have wanted to sit on the Black seat. That means… the Malfoys are occupying the seat? How? That can't be possible! Grandfather hated the Malfoys and he would've rather let the seat be left empty than write in his will that in the absence of a Black who could sit on the Black seat, the Malfoys could occupy it. Besides, he should have left Harry as the heir to the seat in his will since I couldn't occupy it.

"Lord Malfoy is sitting on it."

"As in Lucius Malfoy? Since when was the Malfoy family a Noble and Ancient family, allowing Lucius Malfoy to be called Lord Malfoy? And who allowed him to occupy the Black seat?"

"Since he started occupying the Black seat, he has been called Lord Malfoy. I allowed him to occupy the Black seat as he has done so much for the wizarding society and Draco would've been Lord Black since you were in Azkaban."

"He wouldn't have been Lord Black. I was Heir Black and I appointed Harry as my heir, since I was his magical godfather, in my will. I had also told my grandfather that I had assigned Harry as my magical heir and he had approved as Dorea had been his sister, providing Harry with a blood connection as well. He likely would have appointed Harry as Lord Black, in the event I was unable to, in his will. Please inform Mr Malfoy (referring to Lucius) that I will be sitting on the Black seat myself from now on."

Malfoy on the Black seat… He must have used it to control all the dark families and some neutral families in the Black Alliance to force them to vote for more pro-pureblood laws. Exactly the opposite of what Grandfather would have wanted! I must correct it as soon as possible.

"O...okay"

"Now, I would like to speak with Harry alone. Madam Bones and Professor Dumbledore could you stay behind for this conversation. Minister Fudge, I will see you next Monday at the Wizengamot meeting?"

"Uh… yes… yes of course. I will take my leave now."

Bowing to Sirius, Professor Dumbledore, and Madam Bones, Fudge hurriedly threw in a handful of floo powder and flooed back to the Ministry of Magic.

Through the conversation, Harry had shrunk further and further into his seat, willing himself to be invisible. He did not understand why Sirius and Professor Dumbledore were fighting about him and hoped that they would not notice him and start shouting at him instead of each other for not knowing everything that they were talking about.

Once Fudge left Dumbledore's office, Sirius turned to Harry, wanting to find out more about his childhood with the Dursleys and whether he wanted to stay with him so that he could teach Harry more about matters relating to the Wizengamot so he would at least be able to seat on the Potter seat himself by the time he turned seventeen. He was also concerned about Harry's height and stature for he was much too short and much too thin for his age and the fact that Dumbledore seemed to be trying to hide Harry's family history from him.

"Harry, would you like to stay with me during the summer?"

"Yes," Harry muttered.

"If you want we can arrange for you to stay for part of the summer instead of the whole summer."

At this, Harry froze, looking up at Sirius.

Does he not want me to stay with him permanently? Is it because a horrible boy like me will be too much trouble for him? I hope I can stay with him the whole summer, I don't want to go back to the Dursleys.

"I... I want to stay with you the whole summer. I'll keep out of the way. I just don't want to return to the Dursleys."

"Harry, you have to return to the Dursleys for at least a month to renew your mother's blood protection," Dumbledore remarked, smiling genially at Harry.

Harry's face fell and he looked down at the floor. Seeing Harry's obviously upset mood, Sirius asked "Why don't you want to stay with the Dursleys? Aren't they your Aunt and Uncle? Do they not treat you well?"

Harry startled, not wanting to reveal about being abused by his Aunt and Uncle but having no choice if he wanted to be able to stay with Sirius the whole summer and avoid going back to stay with his Aunt and Uncle.

"They… they don't treat me well," he mumbled.

"What! What do they do to you? Do they ignore you? Do… do they hit you?" Sirius asked in horror.

Seeing Harry silently nod in response, Sirius ran over, hugging Harry, as if wanting to make up for all his mistreatment with the Dursleys. Hermione let out a loud gasp, tightening her hold on Harry's hand, looking pitifully at him.

Sirius turned to Dumbledore, glaring at him and asked "Why did you let them take care of Harry if they were abusing him!"

"Now now Sirius, I'm sure they were just disciplining him when he was misbehaving. You know how young boys are."

Hearing this, Sirius glared angrily at Dumbledore, opening his mouth to respond in retaliation. He knew that Harry was telling the truth, judging by the physical signs of abuse Harry had.

However, before he could say anything, Madam Bones said "I can run some scans over Harry to determine if he was hit or starved, and how often it happened."

Sirius nodded, looking at Harry, asking him if he would be willing for Madam Bones to run those scans on him. Seeing his nod, Madam Bones waved her wand, running the scans over him.

The results of the scan revealed that Harry had been hit at least once a week, up till the time he had gone to Hogwarts, and during the summers when he had returned to live with the Dursleys. In fact, he had several broken bones that had healed themselves without external medical care, particularly in his arms and legs. Additionally, he had often been starved for a day or two, with the scan noting that the longest he had gone without food was for five days when he was seven.

Upon seeing the results, Madam Bones looked angrily at Dumbledore, stating "Harry was being abused by the Dursleys, he will not be returning there. He can stay with Sirius if Sirius is willing to let Harry live with him."

"He needs to return to the Dursleys for at least a month for his safety."

"He can stay with me instead. He will be safe with me."

"I must insist Sirius, it is only for his own safety."

"What is the point of protecting him from the outside if we can't protect him from the inside?"

At this point, Madam Bones interrupted, saying "I cannot in good conscience allow Harry to return there. In fact, Sirius, I would be glad to help you investigate the matter of the Dursleys abusing Harry."

Dumbledore gave in, knowing that there was no choice but to let Sirius have his way, especially since he had gained the support of Madam Bones. However, Sirius still had one last thing to discuss.

"Dumbledore, why did you seal James and Lily's will? There was important information in it that would have allowed Harry to stay with a magical family, to allow him to learn more about his heritage."

"I did not want Harry's guardianship to be discussed in the Wizengamot. I was worried that it would allow the darker families to be able to take guardianship of Harry."

At this, Sirius raised his eyebrows sceptically. Dumbledore had been one of the witnesses of the will along with him and Remus so he would have known that James and Lily had listed a long list of possible guardians, some of which were allies of the Potter family and were neutral in the Wizengamot, such as the Greengrasses or the Abbots. They would have likely held enough sway in the Wizengamot for the darker families to be unable to interfere with Harry's guardianship.

"Well, it doesn't matter, I'll be able to be Harry's magical guardian now since I'm his magical godfather."

"Of course."

"Well, the hour is getting late. I think it's best that Harry and Hermione go to bed." Sirius said, smiling slightly at Harry.

"I will take my leave now as well. Sirius, I'll see you at the Ministry tomorrow?"

"Yes, thank you. I'll be there in the afternoon. I would like to talk to Harry before looking into the matter of the Dursleys."

With this, Madam Bones bade her goodbye, curtsying before flooing out of Dumbledore's office.

Sirius hugged Harry before bidding him goodbye and sending him and Hermione on their way while he remained in Dumbledore's office for a while more to discuss several more things with him.

As Harry and Hermione walked back to the Gryffindor common room hand in hand, they discussed the things that had been revealed in Dumbledore's office.

"I'm worried Hermione, Sirius makes it seem like I should know many things I don't know."

"I'm sure it will be fine. Sirius did say he would teach you whatever is necessary over the summer holidays."

"What if he gives up on me because I'm not smart enough and I know too little?"

"I'm sure he won't. He's your godfather after all."

As Harry contemplated the matter, they reached the common room. Right before heading to their respective dormitories, Hermione turned to Harry, engulfing him in a huge hug and whispering into his ear.

"Don't worry, I'll research about your family and pureblood stuff for you so you'll at least know a little about it."

Having said that, she kissed his cheek and walked away, up the stairs and into the girls' dormitories, leaving behind a stunned Harry, with his hand on his cheek, staring into the space Hermione had previously occupied.