DISCLAIMER: This story is based on materials owned by the great J.K. Rowling. I do not make any money with it or anything...Only the Sylvia Shaw character is mine.

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sirius the homicidal maniac: Your welcome! You know, your right, I think its time for Sylvia to meet Harry. I didn't anticipate to do it so soon, but now that I think about it, since they're going to London anyway…your right. Only not just right now on this chapter but thanks for the tip and for all your good words. Don't abandon me!!

Siriuslyinlove: Welcome to this story!! I'm glad you love it and don't worry, there's more to come.

Padfoot1979: Gee, thanks! You really learned things?! I'm actually impressed with myself!!

Nitequeen: Oh! God! (blush) Masterpiece indeed! Thanks for making ma laugh and don't worry for your grades, I've been there…you'll get trough it. It can't be worse than the grades I used to have in physics.

Stormcloud Empath: I'm glad you like it. Don't worry, I have all of it planned, its not going to be used anywhere near Hogwarts. Trust me.

A/N: Sorry for the delay guys but I have a wonderful news: I have found myself an amazing beta-reader who is also half teaching me so that I can understand the reasons for my numerous mistakes. I don't know how you all coped with the number of errors in the text, which was appalling to say the least, but thank you for sticking around. The chapters will be edited one at a time. Starting with this one 'error free' chapter, ready for your enjoyment…and my great, great relief.

Thank you Aurias for a superb job.

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Chapter 9 - Diagon Alley

It was with some trepidation that Sylvia was standing in front of her fireplace, a big roaring green fire in it. To protect Dumbledore's secret, she had decided on putting her flamboyant red wig in a simple ponytail, a mixture of her own clothes and Rowena's and to keep to her own personality. To be sure to ward off any link between both Rowena and her, she had chosen a name from her library of personas, along with the papers going with it. Today, she would be Caitlin Blackburn; the name seemed appropriate to her for some reasons.

Black approached with a little bag in his hands, he had already explained the procedure to her. Even though he had said it was a very simple way of travel, the number of recommendations he had given her kind of bellied that. She was pretty nervous, and he seemed to be bearing no better. He too had taken great care of his appearance, his hair was groomed, and his clothes, though black, were immaculate and fitted his muscular body perfectly. She knew he had gone to Hogwarts shortly to get some of his things and the result was quite impressive.

"All right. Are you ready?" Seeing the nervous glance she send towards him, he added, "You can still stay here you know."

She straightened her shoulders and shot back, "What? After all the preparation I went through? Don't be ridiculous." She grabbed some of the powder in the bag and after an imperceptible hesitation, stepped into the fire. It was amazing and it actually tickled! She took a deep breath, threw the handful of powder at her feet, and released her breath in a shout. "The Leaky Cauldron!"

The whole world went crazy, turning around her as if she was caught in a tornado. She kept her elbows tucked in as Black had told her, extending them again only when she felt herself slow down. She stumbled and almost fell to the floor as she was thrown out of a fireplace. She regained her balance and looked around her. Perplexed, she wondered if she was at the right place. Black, "No, not Black, Sirius, you have to call him by his first name today. Don't forget, you're supposed to be an old muggle friend." So, Sirius had told her she would arrive at a pub, The Leaky Cauldron. The place did look like a pub, but one about three centuries ago! Some people, dressed in various cloak and robes, were gaping at her with obvious distrust and surprise and a bald round man was coming towards her with a serious look on his face. Just as she was starting to silently pray Black to arrive soon, she heard a swooshing sound behind her and, turning, saw the focus of her prayer elegantly coming out of the fire. He smiled with relief when he spotted her there and came to stand at her side. He casually took her hand and crushing it in his, saluted the bald man jovially. "Hi Tom! It's been a while. How are you?" The man glared at him for a while, studying every inch of Black's features as if he could see things unseen to everyone but him. Her hand was reduced to mere pulp under the pressure Sirius was putting on it. She had a hard time keeping her smile and open-face to the world as if nothing wrong was happening. Everyone in the pub was waiting expectantly for Tom's reaction, visibly without this man approval, there was no way Black could get back his old respectability and be accepted. The tension in the room was nearing breaking point and Sylvia was wondering what would happen if the bald man were to reject Black. Would they have to fight their way out or would people settle to just shun them with contempt? She bit down on her tongue to prevent her from showing the pain on her face when the pressure on her hand just got stronger. She could feel his body tensing up at her side, preparing for the worst. "Gosh! If we need to fight, I'm not sure I'll be able to use my hand."

Finally, Tom nodded, "Black. Welcome back." And that was that. The bartender turned around and went back to his counter. Sirius released her hand slightly and they both let go of the breath they didn't knew they were holding. Some of the people, but not all by a long shot, came forward to welcome Sirius Black back to their community and each time, he presented her gallantly as an old friend. When the last of the lot had gone back to his or her table, a thin, shabby man came out of the shadow where he had been studying the scene. "Hello Sirius." he said simply.

At the sight of him, a lot of tension went out of Black and he smiled a real smile of joy. "Remus! Merlin, it's good to see you here." The two men embraced without shame, pounding on each other's back.

"Congratulation, old friend!" Sylvia guessed that man was the same Remus Black had told her about in his story of his youth. The one they were suspicious of at the time. Turning back toward her, Black presented her to his friend, but not in the way she thought he would, "You remember Caitlin, of course?" he asked Remus casually, while plainly telling him with his eyes he would explain later. Without missing a beat, Remus turned to her too, beaming.

"Caitlin! Lass, you look wonderful! I have a hard time recognizing you!" And he hugged her like a long lost sister.

"Dear Remus! It's so good to see you again."

"Well," said Sirius, "why don't we all go do some shopping?"

The two men led her to a blank wall in the courtyard, which turned out to be a magical portal to an amazing place - Diagon Alley. Sylvia felt like a little girl going to a theme park for the first time. A meandering street, full of strange people and strange things was unraveling in front of her, the shops on each side was nothing she had ever seen and the bright colored clothing of the crowd put a festive counterpoint to the atmosphere. It was like entering Oz or Narnia, a place of wonder where normal behavior and laws were to be forgotten. In here, she could be herself, she was free and safe; she was finally without fear. Relief, joy and excitement was rolling inside her, warming places in her she did not even know were cold. Gripping the two men's hands, each grinning at the wonder in her face, she urged them, "Come on, I want to see everything!!" And the three of them plunged into the crowd, laughing.

The fist thing they did was to go to the wizard bank, ran by weird, very serious little buggers Black called goblins. She approached one nervously to change her muggle money into wizard one. The goblin looked back at her with piercing eyes and asked for her name. Sirius, behind her, whispered in her ear, "Give him your real name, he'll know it instantly if you're lying and you don't want to know what he'll do then!"

Following his advice, she told the Goblin, in a low voice, her real name. A light of recognition went in the creature's eyes, "Ah! Yes. Professor Dumbledore had told us about your coming. He had opened an account and given you a vault for you with your first pay. Vault 1005 it is. Here is the key, don't ever lose it young woman. It's important. Understood? And don't worry, the headmaster had explained the situation, everything that concerns you is highly confidential." She nodded, dumbfounded and took the key. "Now, sign here. Good, you can make a withdrawal immediately if you want." She nodded again, too surprised to do anything else. An account and a vault here? Dumbledore was going to pay her in wizard money? She better checked the exchange rate; she didn't want to get fleeced!

She gave her place to Black who stood in front of the Goblin almost defiantly. "Hi Visbik. You seem well." He greeted the little creature calmly.

"Mr. Black. From order of the ministry, your vault is now completely accessible to you at your discretion. Here is your new key. You are here to make a withdrawal?"

"Indeed." Black signed and put the key in a pocket, gesturing her to follow the Goblin that have materialized at their side on Visbik's order. They left the hall through one of the multiple arches opening in the walls, waving briefly at Remus who was waiting for them on the porch. The mad rush on a train cart to Black's vault was exhilarating and felt a lot like a strange roller coaster ride without the usual shrieks. Black went inside his vault but Sylvia made sure not to look inside. She didn't felt it would be very polite to gaze at the personal fortune of an ex-convict. Beside, she didn't want him to feel ashamed in front of her if his fortune was on the low side. During the ride getting them to her own vault, Black explained to her the different values of the wizard coins, showing her each one from his own purse which seemed to be pretty full. He told her how much she would possibly need for their outing and what to take with her. "Don't take gold, you won't need that." They finally stopped in front of her very own vault. The Goblin took the key from her, opened the huge metal door and retreated to the cart, letting her face a small heap of coins on the vault's floor. She took what Black had told her would be enough and going through it, searching for the right coins, she discovered she did not need to be scared of getting fleeced. Dumbledore seemed to take her work seriously enough to pay her well. She put a handful of coins in her purse near her small key and went back to join Sirius on the cart.

Once they were outside again, under the gray low sky, Sylvia asked with enthusiasm to the two friends, "Where first?"

Sirius took a deep breath, "Ollivanders. For my wand." He started to walk purposely towards a small shop with a wand on a cushion lounging on the front window.

Before going inside, he turned to her and Remus, "Why don't you two go have a chat at Fortescue's? You could reminisce all you want and Caitlin can tell you what she had been up to all these years." He gave her a gaze that visibly meant she could tell Remus everything and wanted her to do so. Making as if to kiss her on the cheek, he whispered in her ear, "He works for Dumbledore too. Trust him, he's my best friend. He needs to know." She nodded and kissed him back making it maybe a little longer than necessary in order to whisper back, "Right. Good luck."

Remus guided her through the crowd to a little ice cream parlor, which she discovered, had none of the usual flavor. She chose a jelly bean ice cream cone while her companion got himself a special aurors sundae. They sat down at an empty table in a corner. "So, who are you, really?" asked Lupin, his eyes full of curiosity. She told him her real name, how she had met Sirius, both the dog and the man, and that she now worked for Dumbledore on a special project. Then, explained to him what Black had told her about his time in Hogwarts with his friends. "You seemed to have been quite a group. What was it like?" It was her turn to be curious. She had a hard time imagining Black as a carefree kid, he had always felt so tightly controlled and she wanted to know what he was like before. Remus was only happy to oblige, going back to memories of a wonderful time.

He told her about an elaborate prank the marauders had achieved, consisting in fooling their runes teacher into drinking a foul potion that would, without his knowledge, transform him into a girl for an hour. He was in the midst of telling her the story when his gray hat suddenly turned black with glowing white letters saying, "Welcome back, Sirius Black." Stopped short by her gasp, Remus looked around him quickly, his hand going to his pocket. Seeing what was the matter, he smiled, then laughed with abandon. Following his gaze, Sylvia discovered the whole street, including passersby, was decorated with banners and balloons in black, white, red and gold proclaiming, 'Sirius Black: a hero is back!' or ' Long live Sirius Black' and even ' If it's not Black, then it's no good!'. She spotted the said hero at the head of the street, coming toward them while shooting confetti in the air around himself and onlookers with his long new wand. He was waving at people and smiling as if he was in some kind of parade and had a glowing gold badge on his chest advertising 'Beware, I'm back and I'm Sirius Black!'

Some of the people around seemed horrified, afraid or irritated but some started to smile and even laugh at the man's antics. A few children waved back at him and were instantly rewarded with balloons with 'Welcome Sirius Black' written on them. A father scowled and tried to wave the balloons away but Sirius retaliated. He turned the man into a living advertising with a big sign on the front saying 'There is no going back to a world without Sirius Black' and another one on his back going 'Sirius Black is my man, now and forever'. Try as he might, the man could not get the signs off him and finally he shrugged and went on with his two boys laughing in tow. By then, the whole street was full of people laughing and applauding when a teenage witch waved her wand casually at a nearby crate which started regurgitating a wild spirited music. Everyone yelled his appreciation and Sirius, smiling at the witch, thanked the girl by decorating her cloak with a huge image of his smiling face complete with the now familiar welcoming announcement. Next, he waved his wand over the street to create a very large banner floating and announcing 'Sirius Black festival'. By that time, Remus was crying with laughter and managed to stay on his chair only by holding to the table with sheer will. Sylvia was in little better condition, her awe and wonder at the magic was the sole thing keeping her from collapsing completely into an endless fit of giggles. Sirius finally reached them, forever stopped by people congratulating him and slapping him on the back. He bowed formally to her and going on his knee in front of her and produced a little black box. Sylvia's laughter was suddenly stuck in her throat and people around came closer, curious as to what was going on. With a flourish, Black opened the box…and everyone howled with glee and laughter. In the box, on a bed of velvet, was laying a golden pin with ' Sirius Black is the most gorgeous men on earth' well in evidence on it.

***

The rest of the morning went in a flash, as music and multicolor balloons followed them in every shop they visited. And they went to every single one of them. Sirius and Remus had a wonderful time in Gambol & Japes wizarding Joke Shop and they literally had to drag Silvia out of Flourish and Blotts, the magical bookshop. She had time however to buy a book: Difference and similarities between Wizards and Muggles, by Shadie Longtongue. The impromptu festival and the easy and funny way Sirius treated everyone seemed to have done what it was supposed to do. Wizards and witches now smiled and talked with him as if he had just came from a long trip oversea instead of twelve years in hell with two on the run. She could see him visibly relaxes as friends, ancient colleagues and old comrades talked with him of legendary pranks or common relations. As time passed, she was happy to stay on the side to observe, as Sirius was drag to the tick of things, surrounded by his kind. Remus came to her with a drink and a smile, visibly overjoyed with the way things were going. "Well, what do you think about the wizard world so far?"

She smiled back at him and took the glass. "It's wonderful. I understand why it's so important for Sirius to get fully accepted back. He has such an original way of doing it too!" she added, wryly, touching the pin on her collar. At some point during the day, Remus had changed the phrase on the pin, which now read, 'Sirius Black is the worst showoff on earth'. Black had still to read it, since he had not been close enough to her in the last hour in order to do so.

Remus smiled and nodded, "It was the best way, really. People had to remember the boy he was before Azkaban and the fastest way to do that was to remind them of what a prankster he used to be. I just passed some time in the crowd to hear what's been said and nobody seem to think of his years in prison. The remarks goes more in the direction of ' He'll never change' or even, ' Will he ever grow up?'" Remus grinned, "It's like the last fourteen years never happened."

Sylvia studied her new friend carefully, "So, it's all just a very clever public relation stunt. How long have you two been organizing this?"

Remus shrugged, "Since he got out of prison. We used to owl each other a lot while he was in exile. We had time to think about it and make plans."

"I hope my presence didn't disrupt any of your plans," she said with a hint of sarcasm, "it would be a shame, it was so very well thought up." She fervently hoped Sirius had not invited her just to patch a loophole in their scheming, or maybe he thought at the last minute that she would be just the right touch to show he was harmless. Nobody thinks the worst of a man who appears in enemy territory with an innocent friend. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense, and the more her stomach seemed to drop. She just hated the thought she was being used.

Remus shot her a strange glance before saying slowly, "Actually, I'm grateful to you. The one thing I was afraid of was to have him all alone to face everyone in The Leaky Cauldron. I couldn't be with him, people don't trust me, and it would have been a very bad policy for him to reappear with a werewolf at his side. I'm very glad he found someone he could trust to stand by him when he needed it the most."

His words quieted her fears and thinking about it, came to the conclusion that it didn't really matter why she was here, she was having a great time and for now that was all that mattered. Remus had explained to her how he had been bitten by a werewolf when he was just a kid and how his friends had found a way to change into animagus in order to stay with him when he transformed. Of them all, only Sirius was left. She hoped he didn't feel she had taken a place that should have been his at his best friend's side. She put a hand on his shoulder, "You know, Sirius didn't really relax until you appeared. For my part, I'm rather glad there's two of us to help settle his nerves. After all, you did save my hand from amputation when he finally released it to hug you."

He laughed and everything was all right again, in fact she felt that everything was wonderful. She had not only one but two new friends, she was surrounded by laughter, magic and music and she was safe from Tim. She had not been so happy in a long time. She looked around her. They were back near the ice cream parlor and a small dancing area had been cleared near the magical, musical crate. She saw Sirius untangle himself from the group of wizards he had been talking to and went toward them. Without thinking, she adjusted her clothes and checked her wig, blushing when she caught Remus looking at her, grinning. She had no time to answer him as Sirius was already in front of her, capturing her attention entirely.

"Come on," he said, taking her hand and pulling her, "I want to dance." He refused to acknowledge her sputtering denial as he dragged her to the dancing area. She had not danced since her college years and had always felt, even then, uneasy to be in the spotlight, unprotected from prying gazes. She had hated the ritual assessment of her dubious charms, almost always followed by dismissal that seemed to come with the dancing. But here it seemed to be different. No one was looking her up and down, no one was cataloguing her by her clothes or the people she was with. She started to relax, let the music transport her and stop looking at her feet. Sirius smiled at her and took her hand back in his as he started to show her the steps of a complex dance. She was fast laughing hard and having the time of her life, twirling around in his arms. Then the music changed to a new, slow tune and Sylvia started to go back to Remus' side as the floor was emptying of everyone but couples. Sirius grabbed her by the elbow and turned her around to get her back into his arms. "Oh no! You won't get out off this easily. You have to pay for making fun of me." He said, gesturing at her pin with his chin, his eyes twinkling with mischief. He kept her close to him as they started to dance and placed her arms around his neck. She blushed and kept her eyes firmly set on his left shoulder, not daring to look up at him, scared at what he would be able to see in her gaze. Her heart was going at a hundred miles a minute and her whole body was way too hot.

He sighed and got her even closer as he put his cheek on hers, whispering in her ear, "What about a good dinner in the pub? Then," he hesitated for a moment, "then, I thought that since we are already in London we might as well go see Harry. He can't get out of that wretched neighborhood and I know he would want to celebrate my freedom with me. And I kind of miss him."

She nodded on his shoulder, straining to control the shaking of her voice, "It's okay, I understand. I'm sure he will be overjoyed to see you and Remus. I can handle going back to the cabin."

He leaned back to look at her with a frown. "Actually, by 'us', I meant you and me. I really would like you to meet him."

That startled her enough to make her look at him in the eye. "Go in muggle London? Are you nuts? It's too dangerous, I'm not in full disguise and you can still be attacked by those crazies even in your dog form. Everyone knows that you're here, you advertised it enough. It would be easy to guess your desire to see your Godson and lay a trap."

Sirius opened his mouth to answer her when a loud voice was suddenly heard over the music, diverting their attention, "Isn't that a disgusting and degrading exhibition; a murderer and a muggle snuggling indecently in front of everyone."

A tall, elegant wizard was standing at the edge of the dancing floor, looking around with contempt plain in his aristocratic features. With a flick of his wand and a snort of disgust, he 'killed' the music by the simple mean of destroying the crate into splinters, making the crowd run away from it, protecting their heads with their arms.

"I guess that means the festivities are officially over." Sylvia thought with unease. The man did not look particularly friendly and Sirius at her side was tensing all over again.

Black took a step forward, "Lucius. How nice of you to drop by to welcome me back. Want a balloon?" He took his wand out slowly and clearly as if to advertise the fact that he had one. At the sight of it, the man's eye grew wide then small with speculation. He did not acknowledge the black balloon that popped and started to float near his head.

"You move fast, Black, I have to give you that. You and I know just what you are though, don't we. Nothing but a very, very lucky little piece of scum. I don't know how you pulled it off, but as far as I'm concerned, you are more than ever a danger to our community. Put a toe out of line and I'll have you back into Azkaban faster than you can say Merlin. If I were you, I'd watched my back," he shifted his cold eyes to her, "and I'd keep to a better company, a skinny little muggle rat won't help you get back into the fold." With a sniff, he turned back and pushed the balloon with an annoyed gesture, then took his wand and destroyed the balloon, but not before everyone around had time to read what was written behind it, 'kick me, for I'm an ugly git with too much hair."

Sirius smiled with some satisfaction and called after him, "Same to you old boy, same to you."

***

They were back at The Leaky Cauldron to eat as the party had finished abruptly after that Lucius guy had departed, people darting small fearful gazes at Sirius once more. The confrontation had put back into everyone's mind the reality of Black past deed. Sylvia hoped it had not completely destroyed the ready acceptance of Black's return that was achieved today. Dinner was very serious though as Remus and Sirius talked at length about The Death Eaters and Lucius Malfoy, which it seemed, amounted to the same thing. Sylvia could not say that she was very surprised by that, but she kept silent, listening to the two men with both her ears. She had learned during her time on the run that the best way to understand what was going on, was to make yourself invisible someplace where you can hear a lot. Eventually, if you get enough information, you can analyze it and get the picture. It was like putting puzzle pieces together. Right now, she was learning a lot about the wizard world and how it was ruled. It seemed to her that wizards were no better than muggles when it came to politics and making intelligent decisions. The two men were absolutely disgusted by the way one Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, was handling things concerning the return of Voldemort and the first series of Death Eaters' raids.

Eventually, they grew silent, deep into dark thoughts. After a while, Remus shook himself and went back to lighter topics. "What about your new wand? You didn't even show it to us yet."

Sirius, startled out of his thoughts, smacked his forehead. "The wand! I really need to tell you something about it." He looked suddenly excited like a little boy with a new toy. "You remember when Ron and Harry went to Hogwarts at the start of their second year flying Arthur Weasley's car and crashed into the Whomping Willow?"

Remus grimaced and nodded, "I rather doubt anyone could forget that. What of it?"

"Well, the tree was damaged and Madam. Pomfrey and Professor Sprout were able to heal much of it. But a small branch was snapped, there was no way it could be put back, so Dumbledore sent it to Ollivander to see if he could do something about it."

Remus gasped, "You're not saying…your wand…"

Sirius grinned evilly, "Yep, that's exactly what I'm saying." He took his wand out and deposed it on the table. "My new wand is made out of thirteen inches of the Whomping Willow with three hair of three different unicorns as a core. Very powerful and perfect to throw curses."

Remus gaped at the grinning face of his friend before starting to grin too. Before long, the two were laughing furiously. Remus finally wiped his eyes, "Merlin! I almost feel sorry for the poor Death Eaters who'll want to stop you." He got to his feet and sighed, "Unfortunately, I have to go. Thank you for a very interesting day. Take care of yourself, all right?" The two men clasped hand warmly and Remus turned to her. "Caitlin, it was a pleasure seeing you," to her delight and surprise, he embraced her and kissed her on the cheeks then smiled at her, "I'm sure we'll meet again."

She kissed him back impulsively, "I certainly hope we will."

A small cough turned their attention back to a scowling Sirius, which only made the two new friends' grins get wider with delight.