Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. Nope, not me.

A/N: Yay for reviews!

Now, for the first time, given as he's back in the land of the living, Sirius gets a chapter instead of an interlude all to himself…

There are some things about Sirius and Regina's child revealed in this chapter… but fear not - the child is a character from canon, even if it doesn't sound like it at this point…

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Innocent…

That wonderful word rang round Sirius's head like a church bell. Innocent. Innocent. Free.

He felt himself shaking - shaking with joy, shaking with tears, shaking with excitement. "I'm free!" he murmured to himself more than anyone. "I'm free!"

He stood. His legs were trembling but he didn't care. He looked Moira Meadowes straight in the eye. "Thankyou," he said, quietly at first. "Thankyou. THANKYOU!"

Harry got up and came over to him. Colour had flooded back into his face and his green eyes were alive and dancing. He stuck his hand out. "Congratulations, Sirius," he said, grinning hugely.

Sirius grasped Harry's hand and shook it firmly before pulling the boy into a manly hug. "Thanks, Harry," he replied. "Thanks."

A pandemonium of noise had broken out around the courtroom. Moira slammed her gavel down. "Court adjourned!" she called, and there were huge cheers.

Sirius felt himself being hoisted up and he was carried out of the hall on everyone's shoulders. Behind the mob, he saw Regina get up slowly. Aemilia grinned at her, took her arm, and together, they followed.

"See you at Hogwarts, Reggie!" he yelled out, and saw her wave back, smiling.

He barely remembered Flooing out of the Ministry into Hogwarts, of going down to the Great Hall and sitting at the teacher's table as a huge impromptu feast was held to celebrate.

All that mattered was that he, Sirius Black, was alive, in love and free.

*

"Harry," Sirius said quietly, beckoning his godson over. "Harry, I need to talk to you."

He saw mild bewilderment in the green eyes behind the glasses, but Harry followed him over to a quiet corner of Gryffindor common room. "All right."

They sat down on a threadbare red sofa. "I… have something to tell you," Sirius said heavily. "It's… not bad, but I thought you should know." He took a deep breath. "How much of what happened when I was behind the veil do you know?"

Harry blinked. "I know that you fell through when we were fighting in the Department of Mysteries. Then you met Miss Lupin -" he nodded with his head to where Regina sat with Remus beside the fire, "- and she tried some magic to get you out, but when she got back, you were gone. And then you appeared in the middle of the courtroom."

Sirius took a deep breath. "Okay, Harry," he said. "This is what happened after I disappeared from the Void, okay?"

"Okay."

"After Regina did her magic, and she disappeared - I suppose it was temporarily - I put my hand against the wall. That place wasn't really what wizards know as the Void, Harry. That's an awful place, populated with unseelie wights - powerfully magic creatures that are also powerfully horrid. It was as if part of the Void had collapsed on itself and made a kind of bubble. But when I fell through - I still carried magic with me, and the place began to fall apart. So when I leaned on the wall, I fell through a sort of crack and landed somewhere totally different."

Harry's eyes were wide. "Like - another world?"

"Kind of," Sirius answered. "I ended up in a sort of forest. At first I didn't know where I was, but then I realised." He took another deep breath. "Do you know where you lived before you were taken to the Dursleys?"

"What, with my mum and dad?"

"Yes."

Harry's brow furrowed. "I - never really thought about it."

Sirius smiled slightly. "You and your parents lived in a little cottage just outside a village called Godric's Hollow. It was a gorgeous little place - it had a thatched roof, and three chimneys, and climbing roses and honeysuckle on the walls. It also happened to be near a rather large wood."

Harry's eyes widened even further. "You went there?"

"It was like I was there… but it was a better version of there," Sirius replied slowly. "It was… more real than the real thing, if that makes sense." Oh Lily, James, he thought. "The last time I was at Godric's Hollow… well, suffice to say it was in a bit of a state. When Voldemort attacked -" he closed his eyes, reliving the horrible night, "- not much was left, Harry. I never wanted to go there again. But when I fell through the wall of the Void-bubble and realised where I was… I had to go back."

Harry nodded vehemently. "And?"

"And it was like Voldemort had never been there," Sirius said, smiling sadly. "It was beautiful, Harry. It was like nothing had ever changed. I stood there looking at it for a while, and then I went to the door and knocked. The knocker on their door, Harry -" he allowed himself a mischievous smile, "- was a stag with these massive antlers. I gave it to James for his twenty-first."

Harry grinned, but didn't say anything.

"And…" Sirius looked dreamily into space. "And… the door opened, and your mum was standing there, Harry. She told me to come in, and there was your dad."

"My mum and dad?" Harry breathed.

"I had fallen through into the afterlife, Harry."

"But - how did you get back?"

"Have you heard of the Arachniae?"

Harry nodded. "Yes. Professor Seraphim - our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher - is one, and she told me about them the other night. They had books about life and death - or they did, till they were destroyed."

Sirius bowed his head. He had heard of the destruction of the Arachniae earlier in the day.

"And she told me that Miss Lupin had been one, and that my mum was one," Harry finished.

Sirius nodded. "That she was, Harry, and a very good one. She sent me back using a complicated spell - I'll explain it to you some other time. But… your parents gave me a message for you."

"A - message? For me?"

"Your dad told me to say that he's very proud of you and that you're the kind of lad he wishes he could have been. And he told me to tell you that he misses you and he loves you very much."

Harry's eyes were misty with tears. "And my mum?"

"She told me to say that she loves you and that she wishes she could be with you and that she and your dad are always watching, no matter what. She said that you're not to play Quidditch in wet socks because you'll catch a cold and she doesn't want you to be sick or hurting ever and she's so sorry that you are. And she said -" Sirius gulped, "- that when the time finally comes for you to die, that she and your dad are waiting for you."

Both he and Harry were crying in earnest now. Harry clutched at him like a lifeline. "Sirius," he sobbed. "Sirius… thankyou."

He pulled back and looked his godson in the eye. "Don't mention it," he said hoarsely.

*

The clock struck one. Ron yawned. "I'm off to bed," he announced.

"What, are you just going to leave Hermione there?" Ginny asked him. She was curled up like a cat on a chair by the fire.

"Well, I can't very well take her up the stairs, can I?" Ron retorted.

"Why not?"

"Last term," Harry interjected, "Ron tried to go up into the girls' dormitory to get Hermione, and it backfired."

"Just a bit," Ron grumbled.

Ginny giggled. "What happened?"

"The stairs turned into a helter-skelter, didn't they?"

Ron looked oddly at Sirius. "How did you know that?"

"James," Sirius replied promptly. "In our seventh year, he used to always try to get up there to see Lily."

"Did he ever manage it?" Harry asked curiously.

Sirius grinned. "Yes, he did."

"How?" Ginny asked.

Sirius yawned. "Tap the fourth brick up from the floor, three from the left, and say Dignationis."

"How'd he figure that out?" Ron asked curiously.

Sirius grinned. "If I were to tell you, we'd be here till five in the morning. Now carry Hermione up to bed before she breaks her neck." Hermione's head was hanging off the chair at a very odd angle.

"If she wakes up," Ron told Sirius warningly, hoisting Hermione into his arms, "I'm blaming you."

"Feel free," Sirius replied, grinning mischievously.

"Night, Sirius," Harry said, yawning.

"Night, Harry."

"Night, Remus. Night, Miss Lupin."

"Goodnight, Harry," Regina replied.

"See you tomorrow," Remus added.

Harry made his way up the boy's staircase, while Ginny trailed after Ron and Hermione up the girls'. Ron came down again a minute later and bid them all goodnight before going up the boy's staircase himself.

Remus stood. "I'd better go and see how Aemilia is doing," he said. "I'll bet she's planning on pulling an all-nighter, but I know what she's like when she doesn't sleep."

"What is she doing?" Sirius asked curiously.

"Helping Dumbledore devise a case to get Fudge removed from office," Remus answered. "They better bloody win, too. I can't believe Fudge tried to kill you today, Sirius."

Sirius shrugged. "It comes with the escaped criminal gig, I'm afraid."

Remus leaned down and kissed his sister's temple. "See you in the morning, Reggie," he said softly. "Night, Padfoot."

"Night, Moony."

"Goodnight, Remus."

The portrait closed behind Remus and Sirius looked at Regina. He knew what he had to ask her about. "Reggie?"

"Yes?"

He took a deep breath. "When… when I was with Lily and James, in the afterlife," he said slowly, "they told me… something."

Regina's eyes pierced his. "They told you about our child," she said simply.

Sirius nodded. He couldn't think of any words.

"I wanted to tell you," Regina said softly. "It was just… with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and all that… I didn't want to give you a weak spot. Somewhere where You-Know-Who could hit you and wound you so badly that you wouldn't get up again."

"I understand, Reggie," Sirius said quietly. "But… I don't know anything about our child. Could you… tell me a little?"

Regina smiled sadly, and her eyes grew dreamy as she remembered. "She was a beautiful little girl," she told him softly. "She was born in March of 1980. She had your eyes. She was just beginning to sit when… my mother took us both."

"What happened to her?"

Regina shook her head. "I don't know," she said softly. "When my mother took us… she put me under the Imperius curse. One minute I had my little girl, the next… my mother took her, tied me to a chair, Stunned me and left. When she came back… my little girl was gone."

Tears were falling down Regina's cheeks and Sirius could feel them behind his own eyes too. "What was her name?" he asked her.

Regina smiled through her tears. "Her name was Psyche," she answered.

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Be not alarmed, my friends… I promise you that Psyche Lupin is a character from canon (with a different name, of course)… all shall be revealed… at some point!