AN: I am really bad at keeping to a schedule, huh? I'll be posting a few more chapters today to make up for that... and also to just get the thing posted. I hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 6

Harry woke the next morning, stretching himself out fully on the bed, and blinking a few times when he realised he could see perfectly well without his glasses. His trip to Gringotts filtered into his memories as he woke up properly, assaulting him with perfect clarity just how much he had been betrayed.

He sat up slowly, pausing to look out of the window, shocked to see the sun shining high in the sky through his curtains. He must have been seriously tired.

After taking time to take a shower and get dressed, he padded into the living room where Alex and Sirius were already awake, both reading the Prophet as they nursed their morning coffee.

"Good morning Harry, how are you feeling today?" Alex asked, folding his paper. Sirius followed suit and scrutinised Harry closely, obviously trying to find a sign of how his Godson was feeling.

"Strange. I can almost feel magic coursing through me, although of course I know that isn't possible. I'm going to spend the day trying out my new found abilities if you have nothing more pressing I need to be doing."

"Actually Harry, I have a few things for us to deal with today. Of course if you are not feeling up to anything just yet, I completely understand, they can be postponed for a few days."

"No, it's fine. What do we need to do?" Harry asked as he began to eat the breakfast Dobby had just flashed to the table for the three of them.

"We need to get the Black Family Business dealt with as soon as possible." Alex replied. Harry looked at Sirius with a raised eyebrow.

"Andromeda and Tonks need reinstating. Narcissa has also requested a meeting at your earliest convenience, I think she is going to request sanctuary for herself and her son," Sirius replied, looking thoughtful. "Depending on her attitude towards you, I think you should grant it. You will be able to reclaim the dowry paid to the House of Malfoy for her, and it will more or less bankrupt dear old Lucius."

"Wouldn't that be a tragedy!" Harry muttered. He nodded, more to himself than anyone else. "Alright, Alex, if you want to arrange the meetings through today, I have no problem with it. I will need to go and get some clothes beforehand though. I assume turning up in Dudley's cast offs is a no-go for a meeting when I'm the supposed Head of the Family."

Alex nodded and quickly left the room for his office to arrange the meetings. He would also place a quick floo call with Madam Malkin.

"So how are you really handling things Harry?" Sirius asked when Alex had left the room.

"I feel okay, though very wary on who to trust now. Just how far does Dumbledore's manipulation run? I don't know Sirius, I don't feel like I can trust anyone but you and Alex and that doesn't feel very good. Other than that, I'll live. I've been through worse."

"I know, though that isn't a good reason to be okay with all of this. We will get him back for this Harry, it's just going to take some time."

Harry nodded again. "I know that. I guess I just wish we could take off to an unplottable island somewhere and leave them all to hang themselves."

"We are going to find out who you can trust. I promise you that."

Two hours later, Harry and Alex sat in a meeting room in Gringotts once again. Harry was tapping his fingers against the table impatiently. He had just come back up from his family vault, where he had found a wealth of journals from his ancestors and he was itching to start reading them.

Andromeda and Nymphadora Tonks were shown into the room, both looking fairly nervous as they took seats facing Harry.

"Good morning. I'm very pleased to meet you, Mrs Tonks," Harry said, holding his hand out to Andromeda. She took it, smiling at Harry at the same time.

"Please Lord Black, call me Andromeda."

"Then call me Harry. Tonks, how are you?"

"I'm good Harry, relieved to see you are okay, I admit. You realise Dumbledore has the whole Order out looking for you?"

"We're not here to talk about the Headmaster, although I trust you aren't going to tell him you've seen me?"

"Of course I won't, not if you don't want me too."

"Good." Harry nodded, and smiled at Tonks. He hoped she was trustworthy, he really did like her. Taking a deep breath, he carried on speaking.

"We're here at the request of Sirius's will. He made me his heir, so it's up to me to carry out his orders. He wanted you two, and your husband, of course, reinstated to the family at the first opportunity. I'm unsure if this is something you desire, and so I asked you here to offer the decision to you."

Andromeda's eyes brimmed with tears.

"I'd love to be reinstated to the family." she replied with a wobbly voice.

Tonks grinned. "If it's what Sirius wanted, I'm up for it."

Harry smiled at them both.

"I Harry James Potter Black Gryffindor, Head of House Black, hereby reinstate Andromeda Tonks and Nymphadora Tonks to the Ancient and Noble House Of Black. So mote it be."

"Thank you," Andromeda whispered as a blue flash appeared between them.

"You're very welcome. Before you leave, Bludaxe, my account manager, has some forms for you to sign. For the time being, Tonks, I'm making you the heir to the Black fortune, should anything happen to me. There is also an account waiting for you to take control of Andromeda.

"I'd also like to make an offer of sanctuary for you both and Mr Tonks, should the need become necessary. I understand if you choose not to become involved in the coming war, and wish to make sure you are all safe. You will be offered a house with full protection, including Fidelius, with myself as the secret keeper."

This, apparently, was too much for Andromeda as she came around the table to grip Harry in a hug as she wept on his shoulder. When she got a hold on her emotions, she released him, thanking him all the while.

"We must go and tell Ted. We'll be in touch Harry, is there an easy way to reach you?"

"At the moment, send a message through Bludaxe and it will reach me quickly. I will find a way for you to contact me easier as soon as I can."

They exchanged goodbyes and the two witches left, both far happier when they left than they had been when they arrived.

Sirius took off the invisibility cloak as he walked to the table. He had been hidden in the corner so he could see what was happening and also run some basic charms on Tonks.

"Tonks is completely clear of compulsion charms and the like, and she didn't seem to be lying when she said she wouldn't tell Dumbledore where you are."

Harry and Alex both nodded and Alex crossed the top line out on his list of things to do. Just then Bludaxe came into the room.

"Narcissa Malfoy and her son are here to see you."

Harry groaned before straightening himself out. "Send them in please Bludaxe, Sirius get back under the cloak."

Once Sirius was hidden, Bludaxe left the room again to get their next appointment.

"Remember, for this meeting, you need to act like a pure-blood. These two won't be as pleasant to deal with as Andromeda and her daughter were," Alex reminded Harry who nodded.

He stood politely as the door opened and Bludaxe showed Narcissa and Draco into the room. Alex stayed seated, apparently reading through his notes, although Harry was sure he was concentrating intently on what was happening in the room as the door closed behind the newcomers.

Narcissa Malfoy paled slightly when she saw who was waiting for them, before her face fell back into a neutral expression again. Draco followed his mother and sneered when he saw Harry.

"Lady Malfoy, Mr Malfoy, thank you for coming on such short notice. I hope you are both well?"

"As well as can be expected, given recent circumstances," Narcissa replied stiffly with a slight nod of her head.

"I'm sure we both know the reason for this meeting, so forgive me, shall we skip the pleasantries and get on with it?" Harry asked, gesturing them both to the seats facing his own and Alex's.

"This is my solicitor, Alex Jackson," Harry introduced them. Alex merely nodded at them before returning to his papers. Harry smirked internally at the very intentional snub.

Narcissa inclined her head to him, but Draco, either not understanding, or simply wanting to engage in an argument, sneered at him.

"I don't know what game you're playing Potter, but we're here to meet Lord Black, so why don't you—"

"Draco, use your head," Narcissa snapped. "Mr Potter is the new Lord Black."

Draco's naturally pale skin paled futher and he glowered at Harry. "When my father—"

Harry cut him off, quickly but politely. "Given your father currently resides in Azkaban, and wouldn't have a say in my family business even if he wasn't a convicted criminal, let's not mention him. I'm not here to carry on a rivalry, but rather at the behest of your mother, so if you could stow the tantrums, I'm sure this will be much pleasanter all around."

He turned back to Narcissa with a tight smile. "What can I do for you today, Lady Malfoy?"

She straightened in her seat. "I requested to meet with you Lord Black because my current marriage had become an untenable situation for me, and I was hoping that, as the Head of my Family, you'd agree to declare the marriage null and void."

Harry nodded and glanced at Alex, who slid a piece of parchment across the table to him. He glanced down at it.

Dissolve the marriage, offer sanctuary in exchange for a simple Loyalty Oath.

"Given the current political climate, you'll understand if I don't just take you at your word," Harry said softly. "I'll dissolve the marriage contract between the Black and Malfoy houses, of course, it is your right to request that, and I'd hate to see anyone stuck in a marriage they don't want to be in.

"Do you have any plans for when the marriage is dissolved?"

Narcissa bit her lip and shook her head. Alex and Sirius had explained to Harry that for a lot of Pureblood women, they often had no autonomy at all in their lives. They grew up being owned by their fathers, only to be signed over to being owned by their husbands, with little choices of their own. As much as Harry didn't think he'd ever like Narcissa, he did have a measure of sympathy for her situation.

"In exchange for a simple oath of loyalty, I'd be willing to house you, and fund your life; within reason. I'll pay for the rest of Mr Malfoy's schooling, as well as any further education he chooses to undertake, and arrange for whatever house you take to have the best protections magic can provide. While I can't assure your safety out of the house, or while Mr Malfoy is at Hogwarts, I can ensure that the Wizarding World knows that coming after you will be declaring a blood-feud against the combined houses now under my purview."

"What would the oath entail?" she asked, but he could see a hopeful light in her eyes, and he knew that she would take the offer. He was learning what it was like to be offered freedom after being kept under someone else's thumb, and he couldn't blame her.

"I'm merely asking you both to remove yourselves from the war. The loyalty oath will be an assurance that you cannot fight against me. I'm not asking that you fight for me, or fight at all. If you do choose to fight, then it must be your own choice, with the knowledge that during battle, I will not be able to protect you from harm."

"And Draco will be included in that?" Narcissa asked, glancing at her son, who was now looking down at the table.

Harry nodded. "If you decide to go ahead, I'll be dissolving your marriage contract immediately, and recalling the dowry paid to Lord Malfoy. You will both immediately become Black's, until Mr Malfoy is of the age to take on the Malfoy Lordship, if he so chooses to do so." He paused, trying to gauge the reaction of the people in front of him. "I won't push a decision on you, nor do I expect a decision today. You can contact me via the bank at any time and I'll meet with you at my earliest convenience."

There was a rather pregnant pause, and Harry glanced at Alex, who nodded just slightly, his lips tilting up to show his approval of the way Harry was handling the situation. Harry looked back over at Narcissa, who seemed to be pondering her options.

"Lord Black, what of my sister Andromeda? And Bellatrix?"

"Andromeda has already been reinstated into the family along with her husband and daughter, Nymphadora, who is currently the heir to the Black fortune," Harry replied, allowing a small smile to grace his lips. It quickly dropped when he thought of the last remaining Black sister. "Bellatrix has, by her own actions, already removed any leniency I may have been inclined to offer her. I trust you understand that my stance on her is non-negotiable."

Narcissa swallowed hard but nodded her head in understanding. It wasn't a secret that Bellatrix had been the one to kill Sirius—or appeared too, at any rate—and so Harry's determination that he'd have nothing to do with her was surely not a shock.

"If that's all, Lady Malfoy, I'll leave you with the offer I've made, and you can make a decision at your own leisure. I'm sure you understand that I'm currently quite busy, given that school starts again in just a few weeks."

He stood and Alex followed suit. Narcissa remained at the table, and arched a single eyebrow at Draco, who nodded his head slightly.

"If you don't mind Lord Black, we would like to accept your offer now, as neither myself nor my son want to be a part of this war if it is avoidable, and your offer is more than either of us would have hoped for."

Harry glanced at Alex, who made a show of checking his watch before he nodded to Harry.

"If you feel that you truly don't need more time to make a decision, then we can take care of the paperwork now." They retook their seats, and Alex pulled out the paperwork he'd already prepared in advance and passed it to Harry. "We currently have two properties set up and ready to move into, if you'd like to do so immediately. I'm sure you know of them, Lady Malfoy. One is the Black Manor in Suffolk, the other is a delightful cottage on the coast of Cornwall. The decision is yours, and if you'd like to wait for the other properties to be ready, then you can of course, do that instead."

Narcissa smiled. "I visited both in my youth, Lord Black, and I have some very fond memories of the cottage by the sea. I would be delighted to call it my home, My Lord."

Harry had to physically stop himself from shuddering at her choice of address and simply nodded, as Alex prepared the final bits of paperwork.

Harry pushed the contract Alex had written, including the dissolution of the Malfoy marriage, as well as the loyalty oath and it's terms, across the table towards her.

"You'll both need to read through his contract very carefully, as it includes the terms of the loyalty oath. Should you go back on the oath, the contract will drain your magic in retribution, so it's extremely important that you both know exactly what you're signing."

…

Later that evening, Harry sat in a comfortable armchair reading through one of his ancestor's journals whilst Sirius and Alex chatted about the progress of the plans, and what was next.

"For the next few days, we have nothing planned so far," Alex said, checking his schedule. "Though that may change as things happen. I thought we could use the free days to help Harry learn to control his magic, and he can see if he can make any of his new abilities work for him."

Sirius nodded. "Any news on Dumbledore's movements. I know that Tonks said earlier that he has people out looking for Harry, so it's unlikely that's going to remain quiet."

Alex snorted. "I'm expecting an article either tomorrow or the day after stating that Harry is missing. I've already drafted a statement for the Prophet about Harry's emancipation which I'll tweak as necessary when the news finally comes out. I expect I'll receive a letter from the Headmaster within an hour of that going public."

"He's going to be furious," Sirius said, with a hint of glee clearly noticeable in his tone.

"Yes," Alex agreed. "I believe he'll ask for a meeting with Harry to try and find out what, exactly, is going on, and he'll likely bring as many people from the Order with him as possible in an attempt to guilt Harry back under his control. That's going to backfire on him rather fantastically though, when we tell him exactly how many charges Harry could have him facing with very little effort."

"You really have got this planned out, haven't you?" Sirius said admiringly.

"You have no idea." Alex's smile had a sadistic edge to it, and Sirius laughed. It was good to know that Alex was as competent as his father had been, and it made Sirius feel a little better to know that Harry had someone in his corner that was solely thinking about Harry and his welfare.

He didn't have any sympathy for the old man and his sheep. Even taking away what he'd done to Sirius, it was what he'd done to Harry that made Sirius believe he was truly evil. Who would send a child to face a Dark Lord with their magic bound? It boggled his mind, and while he'd love to just send Dumbledore off to his 'next great adventure' sooner rather than later, he knew that Alex's way was better. By the time he was done, there wasn't a soul in Britain that would hold even the slightest amount of fondness for the old goat.

And Sirius really wanted to know why. Why a man, who had the respect of a nation, would sink to the levels he had. What more could he possibly want that destroying Harry would give him?

Running a hand through his hair, Sirius watched his godson reading and he smiled slightly. Despite everything that was going on right now, and would continue on into the future, Sirius was glad that he was here for it.

That he could finally help his godson the way he should have been all of these years.

…

Alex's prediction of an article came true the next morning, right on schedule according to him. It left them with two days to help Harry get a hold on his magic before the statement Alex had drafted would be released to the press.

As it turned out, the journals of his ancestors had been very helpful to Harry in instructing how to channel his magic properly, and the correct amount to use for different spell types. He'd also begun to practice wandless magic, and could easily cast most first year spells with just a wave of his hand.

Sirius helped him some more with his control, guiding him in feeling his magic inside of him, and then guiding it in a trickle, for when he wasn't sure how much magic a spell would require, and how to pull it back when necessary.

Harry had found that the most frustrating thing was the elemental aspects of his magic. He seemed, so far, to have quite the affinity with water, and he could make a ball appear from nowhere, swirling it around between his hands with little effort. The other elements were more of a struggle, and left him panting and aggravated when nothing happened despite his attempts.

Sirius and Alex both assured him that it would come to him, that he had to relax and learn some patience, but it was difficult. He'd never been particularly patient about anything really, and this was something that he felt he should know. His great, great grandfather's journal had made it sound like elemental magic would come naturally.

During Harry's frustration, Alex released the statement about Harry not being missing, and his emancipation, including his new position in the world as Lord Potter-Black in time for the morning news two days after Dumbledore's announcement.

Harry had laughed when the paper had been delivered, because not only had Alex made Dumbledore sound incompetent, he had no doubt that the news that Harry had help outside of Dumbledore would leave the Headmaster absolutely furious.

Not even a full hour after the Prophet was delivered—only forty minutes, in fact—Harry received a letter from the Headmaster. It was a thinly veiled order, disguised as a request, for Harry to meet with him immediately.

Alex snorted at the 'request' for a meeting later that same morning and shook his head. "No Lord in our world would arrange a meeting for the same day the request was made, the man is utterly ridiculous."

Harry snorted. "We knew that already though."

Alex just shook his head, and wrote back to Dumbledore that Lord Potter-Black is currently, understandably, extremely busy, and the following afternoon was the first time he could make time for a meeting.

That he signed it from himself, as though Harry didn't even have the time to write back to him, was a petty touch that made Harry and Sirius laugh.

They could only imagine the Headmaster's reaction to the return letter. Picking his book back up where he'd left off, Harry read with a smile on his face. While he wasn't looking forward to seeing the Headmaster, he was looking forward to proving to both himself and the Headmaster that he was strong enough to stand on his own two feet.

That he didn't need Dumbledore to pull his strings.