Beginning Author's Note:

A friend of mine, who I got to beta read the 1st chapter, doesn't like reading stories in the present tense. He says he has a hard time with it. So, I want to know what you think. Should I change to the past tense or keep it how it is?

Let's get this straight, yes, I agree present tense can be hard to read, but I believe it's because almost no one writes in it. It gets easier the more you read it.

Personally, I like present tense, but that's just me. It makes me feel like I'm experiencing the story as it happens, while past tense makes me feel like it loses a small portion of the excitement. It's not happening as I read along, it's being told to me, meaning, it's already happened.

Give me your thoughts, I want to know what you think. Should I change to past tense or keep it as present tense? Leave a comment or PM me on what you want to see.

Another thing to mention, I have, once again, added more to 'Chapter 0: Things to Know', I have added quite a bit to it.

One more thing, I thought I should mention this now, but there won't be much action/combat for quite a while. In my efforts to write this, it is much longer than the original story. The original Chamber of Secrets was about 85,151 words in total. I'm not even 2 months into 2nd year (unedited) and have already surpassed that amount. That, plus my writing of 2nd year will be fairly shorter than any of the following years; that means this will be a very long story and I hope you'll all stick with me.


Reviews:

Sunny JS:

I agree that, it is too convenient for a 1st year to cast doubt on Sirius Black's incarceration. I had so much trouble with it, trying to make it seem natural, but it's the best I could do. Then I had an idea, but I can't tell you what it is because it would be a huge spoiler and I'm sorry to say, you won't find out for a very long time.

As for Luna's talk with Harry, again, I agree that it 'feels wrong'. The reason why we feel like it's wrong is because they are so young, but when we were their age, weren't we just starting to become interested in the natural body too? You also have to remember that Luna is an oddball; she's blunt, intelligent and young, but she lacks social skills and charisma. She doesn't really understand what should and what shouldn't be said.

For the story's pacing. 2nd year will go by quickly in comparison to 3rd year and beyond, mainly because in 2nd year there won't be many differences in the plot, but I will be expanding on several things. As for the rest of the story, I have most of the main events planned out from the beginning to end of my story.

I hope this answers your questions.


Lincos:

Your comment is just plain rude, condescending and insulting. Not only does it insult my writing, but the writing of others as well.

There was no need for you to comment that you found my story boring. Do you know the saying 'if you have nothing nice to say, then don't say anything at all'? Well I have my own version, 'If you have nothing nice to say, then you should keep your words to yourself... unless the other person insulted you first.' Well you shot first.

Of course I have tropes, there's so many stories out there that you can't not have tropes. I challenge you to write a story without any tropes. As for the 'badly used tropes' that I seem to have 'a lot of', in your opinion at least, I have no clue of what you're talking about. You don't even mention what they are or how I could fix them. In case you don't know, your comment is not criticizing, it's just insulting.

Also, it is not 'poor writing' to have a flashback in the beginning of a story. I didn't want to start on June 29th because I did not want to retell everything that happens with Dobby in a lot of detail; I'd have made the encounter go mostly the same way. While, at the same time, I wanted it to be known that I did not change anything, other than what I've already said I changed.

I also suggest that when you decide, in the future, to insult people on their writing, you should make sure your comment is perfectly written. You have quite a lot of grammatical errors in your comment and you decide to claim that mine and other people's writing are 'poor writing'. I find that hilarious; in my opinion, having a lot of grammatical errors is what I'd consider to be 'poor writing'. No wait, sorry, having so many grammatical errors would be the definition of 'poor writing', unless, or course, English isn't your first language. If that were true, you wouldn't have tried to make a comment on my writing style.

I hope you have a pleasant day, Lincos and I hope you take my criticism to heart.


Sorry, everyone else, if you read my response to Lincos. Not a shining moment of mine, but I did leave a warning that I don't take insults well.


Disclaimer:

I don't own anything.


Chapter 2: Freedom & the Press

Sunday - August 2nd, 1992

An uproar ensues from the Wizengamot, they can't believe they just changed guardianship of The-Boy-Who-Lived without knowing. Some people are laughing, some are raging, some don't care and some are just plain confused about why the others care so much.

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

Cannon blasts resound once again. The room quiets down, allowing Madam Bones to speak. "I assume you have proof you are Mr. Harry Potter's godfather?"

"I do, it's in his parents' will." He answers happily.

"Lily and James didn't have a will." Dumbledore points out. Some people nod in agreement, they don't remember a Potter will reading.

"Of course they did! Who didn't have a will made during the war?" Sirius exclaims as he puts a hand over his chest as if he's offended. "It's just never been read… because the will's executioner was locked up for ten years waiting for his trial." He smirks at the old wizard. "Anyways… I'd like to get on with the compensation of my unlawful imprisonment."

At his prompt Madam Bones, Dumbledore and a rotund man in a green bowler's hat and dark green robes start deliberating his recompension. While this goes on, Arthur Weasley makes his return. "We've got him in the unbreakable cage." He whispers to Harry. "I see that he's a free man now, since he's no longer in handcuffs." This is when he notices that Harry has been crying. "Harry, are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, I don't… think I've ever been happier." Harry wipes his eyes with his sleeves, his smile hasn't dimmed in the slightest. "I just found out that I still have family, Sirius is my godfather."

Arthur beams at the boy. "That's great news! I'm happy for you."

"I am too!" Luna avers as she leans against him.

"Thank you."

The discussion between the three important people only takes a few minutes. They all return to their prior positions. The man with the stupid hat is the one who begins speaking.

"We, the ministry, hereby apologize to Sirius Orion Black for his decade long unlawful imprisonment. As a token of our apology we'll immediately put forward your request for custody and magical guardianship for Harry James Potter as soon as the Potter will is read. You must speak to Albus Dumbledore for further information on your guardianship." He pauses and looks like he's trying to fight off a cringe for what he's about to say.

"And in addition to your request, you will receive 15,000 galleons for every year you were imprisoned. As you were imprisoned for ten and a half years, you shall receive 157,500 galleons." His voice cracks when he says the total amount. "It will be transferred within ten days to the Gringotts vault of your choosing."

"Thank you minister. I'll have it sent to my godson's trust vault. I've got to make up for missing all those birthdays and Christmases." Harry's eyes widen at the amount of money his newly found godfather is giving him. Harry couldn't care less about the money, he already got the best gift he could ever ask for, someone he can call family.

"Minister, I would like to say a few words." The blonde man, who has a striking resemblance to Draco Malfoy, calls out as he stands up. Harry notices the frown appear on Sirius's face when he looks at the man.

"Very well, Lord Malfoy, you have the floor." Minister Fudge says, happily handing the floor to the man.

"Thank you." The man confirmed to be Draco's family, if not his dad, says. "I, on behalf of the Wizengamot, would like to formally apologize to you, Mr. Black." He sounds genuinely apologetic, but from disgruntled remarks from Mr. Weasley behind him, it's all just an act.

"What happened to you is a blight on our record. It never should have happened and we will rectify this by never letting such an error happen again. As a further apology, I, personally, will shoulder half of the compensation." Malfoy takes his seat once more as the courtroom resounds with claps of approval. This action doesn't only make Malfoy look good, it makes the entire Wizengamot look good. This prompts others to chip in on the payment Sirius will receive from the Ministry.

"Thank you." Sirius has a bit of a cold bite to his thanks. "Oh and Mister Malfoy," Malfoy doesn't say anything at the slight, but the hand gripping his black snake-headed cane has it's knuckles turn white, "I will be taking the Black seat back in the next Wizengamot meeting. Since you didn't try to get me a trial as the acting proxy of House Black; I will no longer be in need of your services." Sirius is almost certain that Malfoy had something to do with his imprisonment and never getting a trial.

Malfoy scowls furiously, but wisely keeps his mouth shut and nods in acceptance. Should he try to defend himself by saying he didn't know that Sirius never had a trial, he'd be admitting to being inept for the position. As the proxy for the Blacks, he should have done everything in his power to right any wrong that was done to the Black family, which he obviously didn't even try to do.

Staying silent is his best choice; he has too much pride to declare himself as incompetent. On the other hand, he obviously wouldn't admit that he knew Sirius never had a trial, it would bring huge repercussions and most, if not all, of his political clout would vanish into thin air. Since it's common knowledge his son is the Heir of House Black, he could be put on trial for line-theft. By staying silent, Lucius has an increased chance of avoiding both outcomes.

Line-theft is one of the most heavily punished crimes to commit in Magical Britain, almost equal to how badly the ICW (Internation Confederation of Wizards) punishes people for child abuse. The ICW creates baseline laws that every magical country must follow and heavy punishment for child abuse is one of them.

As for why line-theft is so detested in Magical Britain is because Magical Britain is made up of many powerful families. A lot of those families have been around for an incredibly long time. None of them want to see their House absorbed into another, so as a deterrent, the punishment for line-theft is incredibly heavy.

"Minister, if we are done here, I'd like to finally see my godson for the first time in ten years." Sirius Black urges, wanting to get all of this over with. He has much better things to do than stand here all day.

"Yes, Mr. Black, you are free to go." The minister dismisses him with a pleased tone. Having to no longer pay Sirius nearly as much, his mood greatly improved. All of that miney would have come straight from the Ministry's coffers and is something he really didn't want to happen. Minster Fudge turns to Madam Bones, "Shall we begin the next trial? We've still got a long day ahead of us."

She agrees and once more takes her spot on the podium. She looks at Dumbledore, silently asking if Harry is here. "Aurors, escort Sirius Black to Courtroom 8's antechamber, we'll have Mr. Potter, meet him there." She says, commanding the two aurors after getting a positive reply from the Chief Warlock. Sirius follows the aurors out the courtroom, through the door he initially came in from.

Arthur stands up and places a hand on Harry's shoulder, "We should hurry in case the aurors leave. Luna, it was nice seeing you again."

"I'll see you later Luna. If you don't come and visit, then I'll visit you." Harry says waving goodbye.

She waves back with a smile of her own. "Goodbye, Harry Potter. Goodbye, Arthur Weasley." She's genuinely happy for the first time in quite a while. 'I wonder if he'll let me call him my friend?' She wonders as she skips over to sit by her dad, who had been furiously taking notes the entire time.

People take notice that Harry and Arthur stand up and quickly realize that the boy is Harry Potter. They all clamor to try and get his attention, but Arthur stops them with a glare and his wand out, pointing towards them. 'Being famous is annoying.' Harry thinks to himself, 'I need a way to disguise myself.'

Harry follows Arthur out of the courtroom at a brisk pace, but unbenounced to all three of them; just before the Wizengamot started, someone had sneakily taken a picture of the 2 children while they were hugging.

Harry and Arthur swiftly make their way to the antechamber of Courtroom 8. As soon as they open the door they see the 2 aurors are about to leave. Just before they open the door Mr. Weasley calls out to them, hurrying over. "Excuse me, aurors!" They halt in their tracks and turn around at Arthur's shout.

"Heya Harry!" Sirius barks as he spreads his arms out.

"Hello Mr. Black." Harry awkwardly greets him. He has no clue how he should act.

Sirius's excitement deflates considerably; his shoulders slump and his arms fall to his side in dejection. He takes a few steps closer to Harry, before bending his knees slightly and putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Come on, Pup! No need to be shy, just call me Sirius or Padfoot!"

"Padfoot? Pup?"

He smirks, "I'll tell ya later." He pulls Harry into a quick hug and claps him on the back. "I missed you, kid. How've yah been? Tell me everything!"

"I think it would be a good idea to wait." Harry tells him, delaying their 'get to know each other' time. "There's something we need your help with."

"Anything!" He eagerly responds, "What do you need?"

"We might have found Peter Pettigrew, it's why Mr. Weasley is talking to the aurors right now." Harry felt like it would be a good idea to tell him beforehand.

Sirius's gaze hardens at the mention of Peter and quickly agrees to help. Harry and Sirius join the 2 Aurors and Mr. Weasley as they all hastily make their way back to the 8th floor to make the fire call to Mrs. Weasley.

Arthur starts a fire and throws a pinch of floo powder into it while calling out "The Burrow!" The fire flickers and Arthur sticks his head inside the fire. Harry flinches at seeing this. Even though he has already been enveloped in the green flames, it's still ingrained in him that fire is supposed to hurt.

A few moments after Arthur steps away from the fireplace, a neon green pillar of fire erupts. When the fire disappears, Molly Weasley is standing there. He mane of curly red hair and her light tan robes have a few patches of soot. In her hands is a cage with a gray rat with a missing toe. The aurors step closer to Sirius, who is clearly burning with rage at the sight of the rat. "Wormtail! You filthy traitor!"

Primal fear noticeably pervades through the rat; all the fur on its body stands on end. He scampers to the furthest corner of the cage from Sirius to cower. Sirius makes a grab for the cage, but the aurors stop him and Molly jerks the cage out of his reach. "Let me go! I'll kill the rat!" Sirius cries as he tries to fight them off.

"No!" Harry steps in front of Molly, glaring at Sirius. "I won't let you kill him!"

Sirius holds himself back, he doesn't want to hurt Harry. "Harry!? He's the one who ratted on you and your parents!"

"I know! But I can't let you kill him!" Harry hollars emotionally at his godfather. "I just got my only family back, so I won't let you do anything that will get you sent back to Azkaban!"

Realization flashes through him and Sirius loses all the tension in his body, his head lowers and arms fall, hanging loosely at his sides. "You're right… I'm sorry Pup. My hatred got the best of me. I really am a reckless Gryffindor at heart." He chidingly jokes about himself.

Mr. Weasley claps his hands together to get everyone's attention before addressing the 2 aurors. "Auror Deckle, Auror Snide, if you could kindly take the rat from my wife's hands and lock him up for the rest of his life, that would be wonderful."

Auror Deckle takes the cage, holding it with one hand. Auror Snide takes out his wand and casts a spell, causing the rat to glow white. "Yep, the rat is definitely an animagus, we can safely assume that this is Peter Pettigrew, based on Mr. Black's reaction and description." He nods accordingly at his own deduction, "Mr. Weasley, if you can come to the auror headquarters sometime tomorrow, to make a statement, it would be appreciated. It will also help if you could bring your whole family along with you, we'd like to get their statements as well."

"We'll do just that, thank you." After being thanked, Auror Snide goes to inform Madam Bones about what just transpired and Auror Deckle goes to put the rat in a holding cell.

Arthur turns to his wife. "Molly, we should go tell the kids that we'll have to talk to the DMLE tomorrow."

"Ok dear, I expect an explanation on what just happened." Mrs. Weasley looks a little flustered about finding out that Ron's rat is actually a person. 'No wonder it lived so long.' She mentally comments to herself before a slight realization of what's happening hits her. Her face goes bone white as her thoughts run the same course as Arthur's did earlier when he found out.

She turns to Harry and Sirius, greeting them warmly. "Harry dear, it's great to see you again. I hope you'll enjoy staying with us for the rest of the summer."

"Thank you Mrs. Weasley, it'll be the best summer I've ever had." Molly smiles and nods, hiding the worrying thought of why he said it so confidently.

"Sirius, congratulations on being a free man again."

"Thank you, Molly." Sirius grins happily, "I hope it's not much trouble, but I'd like to visit every few days to see Harry."

"Oh, of course you can!" Molly says, beaming at the man. "Who am I to keep you away from Harry, you're welcome to come over whenever you want." Arthur nods in agreement and Sirius thanks them. "We'll be going back to talk to the children, we'll see you soon." They all say their own version of goodbye before the Weasley couple takes the floo back home.

"So, Pup… how's life been?" He awkwardly pauses. "Wow… I've lost my social skills, I guess a decade with those things flying around can do that to a man."

"What things?" Harry asks, he assumes Sirius means the Dementors, but isn't certain.

"Dementors." Sirius shivers when he mentions the damnable creatures. When Harry asks what they are, Sirius shivers again, making Harry feel bad for asking, but Sirius still describes them. "Dementors are horrible, horrifying creatures. They wear dirty black cloaks over their black skeletal bodies. They give off an aura of depression, fear and anxiety which eats away and corrupts any positive emotions and memories. Leaving you with only the worst moments of your life. They feed on negative emotions, so if you have no positive thoughts or memories, you are just a food source for them." He looks Harry right in the eyes warningly. "Never let one get too close, they have an ability we call 'The Dementor's Kiss' which will suck your soul right out your mouth and into their stomach." They both shiver at the thought of their soul being eaten.

"Can't you just kill them before they get close?" Harry wonders why these creatures are even allowed to exist.

Sirius shakes his head negatively. "They are unkillable or at least we think so; no one's ever killed one before, except by starving them."

"Then how do you stop them?" These things just keep getting worse. Such terrifying creatures being unkillable is not good.

"There are two things they fear, fire and the Patronus Charm." Sirius tells him, the scratchiness contained in his voice had been slowly going away now that he's been talking more. "The Patronus Charm is a charm that creates an animal-shaped protective guardian or a mist-like shield. They give off a strong aura of positive feelings and these feelings repel Dementors because they can only thrive in despair.

"Can you teach me the charm?" Learning this charm has become one of the things Harry deems as absolutely necessary. Just the description of these creatures makes him shiver fearfully; he'll pray to whatever god or goddess will grant his plea to never be near one of these creatures. He doesn't have many good memories and with how bad his life has been with the Durmentors in Durzkaban, he'd be a literal feast for these Dementors.

Sirius crosses his arms in thought, "After being in Azkaban for so long, I'm not sure if I can still cast it." He grins, "but I know someone who'd be a much better teacher than me."

"Who?"

"My friend Remus, I need to get in touch with him."

"Remus Lupin?" Harry asks after recalling Dumbledore telling him the names of his father's friends.

That surprises Sirius. "You've met him? I figured he'd try to stay away because of his… err… furry little problem."

Harry scrunches his eyebrows, wondering what that means, but doesn't push for the information knowing that it's not Sirius's story to tell. "No, I've only heard of him because Dumbledore told me he was one of my dad's friends."

"I see…" He then slaps his fist in his palm and grins. "Oh right! I've got to thank you pup! Dumbledore told me about your talk with him. How it reminded him about how a Secret Keeper can pass the title onto someone else. So, thanks Pup, you're the best godson a guy could ask for." He lightly slaps Harry on the back appreciatively.

Harry gives the man a small smile "You're welcome, I started doubting it when…" Harry goes on to explain the conversation he had with the headmaster back in June.

"Way to one-up the ministry, Pup!" He laughs, "It took you just a few minutes to figure out what they couldn't in ten years."

This is the moment that Harry starts to doubt the ministry's capabilities. To change the topic away from the idea of the ministry being a faulty governmental body, Harry asks, for the second time, the question that's been bothering him. "Why do you call me, Pup?"

"I'll tell you when I visit you at the Burrow. It's not a good idea for me to talk about it…" he looks around "…here of all places." Harry nods in acceptance, guessing it might get him into trouble if someone were to overhear.

Sirius sighs, "I hate to do this, but I have to cut our reunion short." He frowns knowing he can't spend much more time with his godson, but if he doesn't get it all done, more problems will crop up. Those problems will cause him to spend even more time away from Harry. "I've got a lot to do now that I'm a free man, but I promise I'll visit sometime within the next three days. I hope I can get it done quickly, so I can make up for all the time I couldn't be there for you." Then his face lights up like he remembers something. "Oh right! I know I'm a few days late to say this, but Happy Birthday!"

"Thanks." Harry smiles, although he's disappointed that Sirius has to leave, he understands that there are things that need to be done. "Before you go, someone wanted me to ask you something." Harry asks it in a completely serious voice. Sirius takes note of Harry's tone and motions for him to ask. "She wanted me to ask if you're Stubby Boardman."

Sirius barks in laughter, that is not the kind of question he expected to be asked. It takes him a moment to gather himself before he answers. "No, I'm not Stubby Boardman…" he trails off in thought. "But now that you mention it, I do sort of look like him. Maybe he has some Black blood." He then registers something else Harry said and smirks teasingly. "A girl got you to ask me, huh? Anything I should know about?"

Harry rolls his eyes, but a hint of pink appears on his face at the implication and deepens when he remembers what Luna offered to show him earlier. "I just met her today!" Harry says, a little too loudly due to his embarrassment. Sirius just barks in more laughter.

"If you ever need any tips on how to catch birds…" Sirius waggles his eyebrows. "That is something I can teach you."

Harry turns around and stomps to the fireplace and calls out over his shoulder, "I'll see you in a few days, Padfoot!" He grabs some floo powder and steps into the fireplace.

Sirius is able to get out a "Cya Prongslet!" Between laughing fits. Being called 'Prongslet' almost gets Harry to stop and ask about it, but he doesn't, his embarrassment overrides his curiosity.

"The Burrow!" Harry shouts as he throws the green powder at his feet once he steps into the fireplace. He is once again feeling like he's being sucked through a drain while spinning rapidly in the green flames.

The next thing Harry knows is that he's upside down and thrown from the Weasley's fireplace. Luckily, there is no one awake in the living room, but it doesn't last long as two identical redheads bound down the spiral staircase. The first people to welcome him are the twins, Fred and George, but he's not sure which is which.

"George look, it's Harry Potter". Harry's not sure if he can trust that this one is Fred.

"How nice of him to join us, Forge."

"I agree, my less handsome twin."

"It's too bad he missed the show…"

"Percy passed out…". They both point to the couch with their thumbs to where their older brother is lying down unconscious.

"When dad told us about Scabbers…"

"Being a thirty year old man…"

"Named Peter Pettigrew. It probably…"

"Had something to do with the rat…"

"Sleeping in the same bed as him for five years." Looking back and forth between the two as they talk is giving Harry a slight headache. He might as well just close his eyes when talking to them.

"Was that Harry that came through the floo? Is he ok? I heard a crash." The shrill voice of Mrs. Weasley comes from around the corner. She doesn't give them time to answer as she continues talking. "I'll be there in just a second to check him over."

"Yeah it's me!" Harry calls out to her, "I'm fine, I'm just not used to the floo yet!"

He hears footsteps coming from upstairs, probably because they heard Mrs. Weasley call out his name. Mrs. Weasley makes it to him first, having been closer. She clutches his upper arms lightly. "Welcome to our home." She gives him a once over and focuses on his head. "Oh you have some soot in your hair." She lightly bats at his hair to remove it.

"Uh, Thanks."

"You're welcome, sweetheart. Ronald should be down in just a minute." Just as she finishes speaking, footsteps are heard coming down the stairs and Ron steps into the living room. Mrs. Weasley heads back into the kitchen to start on lunch.

"Heya Harry!" Ron's shoulders jump up, glad to have his friend over.

"Hi Ron." Harry greets back.

Harry sees movement behind Ron and his eyes move to it. It's Ginny and she's staring at him with wide-unblinking eyes while hiding most of her body behind the wall. As soon as they make eye contact, she jumps, squeals and bolts back up the stairs. "Is… she ok?" Harry asks awkwardly.

"Don't worry about her." Ron tells him, "She grew up reading the stories about you and thinks of you as a hero."

The twins both have cheshire grins. "She would always play with her…" Starts the twin on Harry's right.

"Harry Potter doll and pretend…"

"She was married to you."

Harry groans, horrified at having a doll made in his likeness. "A doll?"

""You heard correctly, Ickle Harrikins."" They both give him a thumbs up like it's a good thing to have a doll made in your likeness, without you knowing.

"So I have fictional stories written about me and a doll. What's next, putting my face on knickers?" The sarcastic tone of Harry's voice gives off a high sense of loathing.

Forge grins, "Nope, they already did that in '88." Harry just groans in self-pity. 'Why would they put my face on knickers!?'

"I've heard my uncle threaten to sue someone for using his name on a failed company project without his permission. Can I sue these people?" The three redheads don't reply, they have no idea what 'sue' means.

To break the awkward silence Ron asks if they want to play Exploding Snaps.

The rest of the day goes by quickly and just before dinner, Dumbledore stops by for a visit. He asks everyone how their day had been and congratulates them on capturing Peter Pettigrew. After a few minutes of conversation he says his farewells; he still has some business to attend to.


Monday - August 3rd, 1992

The next morning during breakfast an owl drops off The Daily Prophet, the magical world's newspaper.


Guilty Until Proven Innocent! Sirius Black!

By: Joe Tontuba

We at The Prophet were utterly astounded when we heard that a trial would be held for Sirius Orion Black, the supposed right hand of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. You might be asking 'Why?' Or 'What could he have done in Azkaban to warrant another trial?' We had those same thoughts, but to our sheer astonishment, as it turns out, Sirius Black, never had a trial! He's been unlawfully imprisoned for 10 years! You might be thinking he deserved it for what he did, but here's the thing, he's innocent! Innocent of all charges!

After looking into the situation it seems that the former Head of the DMLE, ,Bartemius Crouch Sr., and former Minister for Magic, Millicent Bagnold, signed off on his immediate transfer to Azkaban. It seems that Sirius Black was simply thrown in Azkaban with only the assumption of guilt. Then forgotten about for 10 and a half years.

What could Millicent Bagnold and Bartemius Crouch Sr. have been thinking? As the law states 'Everyone must be given a fair trial within 60 days of their arrest.' Apparently they felt they were above the law. They felt they had the right to ignore what they're supposed to be enforcing. Such a situation wouldn't have been so bad if he was actually guilty of the alleged crimes, but as said prior, he was innocent.

With Sirius Black being innocent, then who is the guilty party? Who betrayed the Potters? Who killed Peter Pettigrew? Who blew up the street? Who killed the 12 muggles? The answer is surprising.

In yesterday's trial not only was Sirius Black found innocent, but Peter Pettigrew, whom we all thought of as a hero, was, in all actuality, the real culprit! Peter Pettigrew was the real Secret Keeper that betrayed the Potters! It was Peter Pettigrew who caused the explosion! And it was Peter Pettigrew who killed the 12 muggles.

What really happened the night of Sirius Black's wrongful arrest, Sirius Black was chasing down Peter Pettigrew for giving You-Know-Who the Potter family's location. When Mr. Black cornered Pettigrew, Pettigrew started to bocally cast the blame of betraying the Potters onto Sirius, naming him as the Secret Keeper. Then while Mr. Black was stunned at the sudden accusation, the dastardly Peter Pettigrew cast a dark curse on the ground. The curse hit a muggle gas main, causing the explosion that killed the 12 muggles.

In the chaos of the situation, Pettigrew cut off his own finger and escaped into the sewers by turning into a rat. Yes! That's right! It turns out that Peter Pettigrew is an unregistered animagus with the form of a rat.

You might be thinking 'Wasn't Sirius Black the Secret Keeper for the Potter family?' The answer is both yes and no. What many people don't know, and was revealed in Sirius Black's trial by Chief Warlock, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, that a Secret Keeper has another ability, beyond that of telling someone the secret.

The 2nd ability of a Secret Keeper is the power to hand the title of Secret Keeper to someone else, which is what Sirius Black did. He was the first Secret Keeper for the Potter family, but soon after becoming the Secret Keeper he convinced Lily & James Potter to allow him to pass the title to Peter Pettigrew.

Mr. Black did this because he felt he was too obvious of a choice to be Secret Keeper. Lily & James Potter agreed to have Peter Pettigrew become the Secret Keeper, trusting him with their lives and the life of their son. Their trust was misplaced and Mr. Black regrets it to this day of giving Pettigrew the title. Soon after becoming the Secret Keeper, Pettigrew told You-Know-Who the secret, leading to that fateful All Hallows' Eve night. Having been You-Know-Who's informant, Peter Pettigrew is both figuratively and literally a rat!

With this information now revealed, the Wizengamot stripped Pettigrew of his Order of Merlin, 3rd Class.

Now you might be thinking 'If Peter Pettigrew is still alive, then where's he been hiding for the past decade?' Find out the answer in tomorrow's issue of The Daily Prophet!

Information on the Fidelius Charm and Secret Keepers found on page 8.

Further details on Sirius Black's trial can be found on page 12.


"I'm glad Sirius is out of that horrid place." Mrs. Weasley says, commenting on his stay in Azkaban. "It's a marvel that he is still sane after ten years."

"I hope he can visit soon." Harry says, "He said he'd visit within the next three days." He looks at Mrs. Weasley for approval, which she happily gives.

"So what's he like?" Ron questions him.

"He's very upbeat and loves to laugh by the looks of it, although I can tell he's still haunted by his time in Azkaban." Harry starts off, "Headmaster Dumbledore told me he and my dad were brothers in all, but blood." Harry looks towards the twins. "Fred, George," They give Harry a curious look. "You might be interested to know that Sirius, my dad, Peter Pettigrew and another friend of theirs, Remus Lupin, were notorious pranksters while they were in Hogwarts."

"Interesting, right Fred, my less awesome twin?" Says the twin on the right.

"Very, my less handsome twin." Responds Fred, but it might be George, you never know. Both twins are sporting wide grins.

"Hawwy, wha' ahr you doin'!?" Ron hollars after filling his mouth with food. "Don't tell 'em dat!" Everyone looks at him with disgust.

"Ronald Bilius!" His mother screams scoldingly, "How many times do I have to tell you!? Do not speak with your mouth full! If I see you do it again, you'll be on Gnome duty for the rest of the summer, without help!" Ron clamps his mouth shut and shakes his head vigorously in fear of his mother's wrath. He's brave enough to go after someone trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone, but doesn't even consider mustering any of his Gryffindor courage to speak back to his mother.

"Do you have any stories?" One of the twins asks.

"No, I didn't get much time to talk to him yesterday. He said he had a lot of stuff to take care of." Harrys tells them, feeling a little dejected, "But you can ask him when he comes to visit."

""That we will.""


Wednesday - August 5th, 1992

A little before breakfast the floo lights up in a manner Harry hasn't seen before. Green flames roar to life with a loud *Fwoosh!* Since Harry doesn't know what to do, he waits for one of the Weasleys to… do whatever it is that needs to be done.

Mrs. Weasley, having heard the sound of a fire call, comes out of the kitchen and hits a brick on the fireplace with her wand. The fire flickers and forms into the face of Sirius Black. "Hello Sirius dear."

"Hello Molly" He greets back. "Am I okay to visit?"

"You're always welcome to visit. Come on through." She says as she steps aside.

"Alright then, I'll come on through." His face disappears and the fire goes out. A few moments later a pillar of green fire springs forth and when it dissipates, Sirius Black in its place.

He steps out of the fireplace and spreads his arms wide. "Padfoot has arrived!"

Harry stands up from his seat on the couch and is about to greet him when two heads pop out from behind the wall of the staircase. "Did someone…" starts the twin whose head is higher.

"Just say…" continues the lower head.

""Padfoot?"" They both say at the same time.

Sirius laughs at their antics, "That's me Sirius 'Padfoot' Black!"

They both jump down the last few steps before the twin on the left speaks, "When you call yourself Padfoot…"

"Do you mean Padfoot…" Continues the right twin. Harry decides he needs to learn how to distinguish between them.

"As in, one of…"

""The Marauders!?"" They, once again, finish the sentence together.

"You know of the Marauders?" Sirius asks surprised.

"Of course we know of the legendary Marauders!" Says the twin on the right. "They're our heroes!"

"George and I found that 'special piece of parchment'." Says the left twin, who claims to be Fred.

Padfoot's eyes light up in recognition. "Oh? So you found that piece of parchment." He says it more like a statement than a question.

"We nicked it from Fitch."

Sirius looks them up and down, as if appraising them for their pranking talent. "I hope you've put it to good use. After we made it, we were never caught for our pranks." That doesn't mean that they never got in trouble, they just never got in trouble for their pranks.

Both twins kneel on the ground and bow, ""We are not worthy!"" Sirius barks with laughter.

"Oh, stop it you two!" Mrs. Weasley commands exasperatedly. "Let the man greet his godson!"

"Hi Padfoot." Harry says in an awkward manner, unsure how he should react to the current situation.

"Heya Prongslet!" He gives Harry a hug, who slowly returns it. He lets Harry go, but keeps a hand on his shoulder. "How's it been here in The Burrow?"

"Pretty good." Harry replies, "Did you get everything done that you needed to?"

"Almost. I've only got one thing left to do."

"What's that?"

"I'm waiting for a family to move out of their house. I wanted you to come live with me," Harry's hope starts growing when he hears this, but it quickly deflates when he hears Sirius's next few sentences. "But after Dumbledore explained where and why you live where you do… as much as I hate the idea of you living with those… horrible muggles, the blood protection is the best way to keep you safe." Sirius wants to call them something much worse, but he knows he shouldn't say such words around children.

"I did, however, think of a work-around." Harry's mood perks up with those words. "You know the house I said I was moving into? Well, its address is 12 Privet Drive." Harry goes owl-eyed, he hadn't expected that the house his godfather just mentioned he'd be moving into, would only be a few doors down from his Aunt and Uncle's house.

Sirius continues speaking and explains his idea. If Harry were to extend his stay at the Dursley's for the whole summer break, he would only have to be there for 12 hours every day. The best part is that for most of those 12 hours, he won't even be awake. As for the other 12 hours, he can spend it at Sirius's house or use Sirius's floo to visit friends.

Harry stares at his godfather in shock, unable to respond. Harry looks around hoping it's not a dream and that he'll suddenly wake up. Mrs. Weasley gives him a supportive smile, while the twins are still worshiping the ground Padfoot stepped on. "Thank you, I… don't know what else to say."

Sirius grins, "No need to thank me, pup! It's my job to take care of you." Sirius looks Harry up and down, taking in the oversized clothes he's wearing. "Now there's two things I have planned for us to do today, one of which I just decided on."

"What are they?"

"I'm taking you to meet someone and I'm taking you to get clothes that fit."

Mrs. Weasley interrupts them, "You don't have to go just yet, do you? You should join us for breakfast, I've made plenty."

Padfoot turns to face her and rubs his stomach, "I'll take you up on that, thank you, I've been rather starved." Harry can tell there's more truth to that statement than there should be. 'Durzkaban is more like Azkaban than I thought it was.'

"Good! It's just about ready!" She turns to the twins. "Fred, George, go wake everyone and don't cause any trouble."

They stand up and salute her, completely in sync. ""Ma'am, yes, Ma'am!"" Like the soldiers they're pretending to be, they march up the stairs to carry out their assigned mission.

Mrs. Weasley shakes her head mirthfully, "What will I do with those two." With that said she returns to the kitchen to finish cooking.

"So… Why do you call yourself Padfoot?" Harry asks after a few moments of silence.

"Oh right! I did say I'd show you." When Sirius finishes the sentence his body starts to shrink and rapidly transforms into a shaggy and very skinny black dog. "Ruff!"

Harry takes a step back in surprise. He did not expect his godfather to suddenly turn into a dog, but now, everything clicks together in his mind. "Ok, now I get it."

It's this moment that Ginny gracefully descends down the last few stairs. She squeaks when she sees Harry before quickly turns her attention to the dog to try and hide her embarrassment. "What's your name?" She asks as she pats Padfoot's head.

Ginny jumps and shrieks at the top of her lungs when Padfoot rapidly turns back into a human to answer her. "His name is Padfoot."

She hastily backpedals away, but trips over her own feet, due to her own startlement. Her face quickly turns scarlet, having embarrassed herself, even worse, having embarrassed herself in front of Harry… again!

"BOYS! DON'T TORMENT YOUR SISTER!" Mrs. Weasley's hollar rattles the house from the sheer volume.

""It wasn't us this time!"" Is the instant dual response from the twins. Their response proves that her assumption would normally be right.

Sirius is cracking up and Harry is having a hard time controlling his laughter. Ginny picks herself up off the ground and hastily bolts into the kitchen.

"Padfoot, you'll have to apologize to her." Harry admonishes his godfather, still fighting off a grin.

"I know, I just couldn't pass up the opportunity for a prank." Harry follows him into the kitchen, where Sirius apologizes to the youngest Weasley.

Once everyone's awake, dressed and cleaned up, they all sit down for breakfast. About half way through breakfast Hedwig flies in through the open window and drops a magazine on Harry's lap. Harry looks at Hedwig in confusion. He's never subscribed to a magazine, so he's fairly bewildered as to why Hedwig has one to give him. When he picks it up and reads the cover, he groans.

"What yah got there, Harry?" Ron asks, wondering why his friend is upset over a magazine.

"Nothing!" He says a little too quickly, but he tries to hide it behind him.

Padfoot, sporting a wide grin, swiftly takes it from his hands. "Let's see here, let's see." He says, holding up the magazine. "I didn't know you subscribed to Witch Weekly, Pup. Is this something I oughta know?"

Harry slams his head on the table. "I don't!"

Padfoot starts laughing as he reads the cover and beats the table with his fist. Taking the opportunity, one of the twins steals the magazine from him and reads the top story article. "The-Boy-Who-Lovegood? The one and only Harry James Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, caught in an embrace with a young girl!"

If Harry didn't have his head still on the table to hide his pink face, he'd see Padfoot and the twins laughing, that doesn't stop him from hearing it though. Mr. & Mrs. Weasley both smile amusedly at their child guest. Ron is thoroughly confused and as for Percy, he either isn't paying attention or just doesn't care. While lastly, Ginny stares jealously at the magazine.

When the twins stop laughing, they flip through the magazine to find the article and they start reading it aloud when they do.


The-Boy-Who-Lovegood?

By: Rita Skeeter

On Sunday, August 2nd, the one and only Harry James Potter, The-Boy-Who-Lived, was caught embracing a young girl. The photo was taken in the guest area during the August Wizengamot session. We are unsure of the reason behind the embrace and we are wondering just what kind of relationship they have. We have many questions for the two of them. Why are they hugging? Are they friends? Lovers? Potential lovers? How did they meet? Who even is this little girl? After some meticulous, but unrewarding research, we could only find information on the last question, the girl's identity.

The girl is Luna Pandora Lovegood. She was born on February 13th, 1981; which was a Friday the 13th. She is the daughter of Xenophilius Zephyr Lovegood and the late Pandora Freesia Lovegood. From our investigation we've gathered that she was born on February 13th, 1981, which just so happens to be a Friday the 13th. She already isn't looking like a good match for our young hero.

In the neighborhood around where she grew up, she's often called 'Loony Lovegood' because of her odd behavior and beliefs. It's also known that this will be Miss Lovegood's 1st year at Hogwarts. Will she follow her parents' legacy and go to Ravenclaw or will she go to Gryffindor to be closer to our Boy-Who-Lived?

Loony Lovegood's father, Xenophilius Lovegood, is the editor and owner of the bizarre magazine called The Quibbler. The man himself is overly eccentric and just as weird as his magazine. His oddness has only gotten worse since his wife's death. He had always been swimming on the shallow side of crazy and strange, but did his wife's death cause him to jump straight into the deep end?

The Quibbler's fan base is made up of mostly people who are either crazy themselves or read it for amusement, not believing any of it to be true. The magazine is mainly focused on fanciful creatures, outlandish conspiracies and ludicrous theories. With its only redeeming portion being its intricate and knowledgeable puzzles, it's a wonder how the magazine is still going.

As for Loopy Lovegood's late mother, Pandora Lovegood, she was an incredibly intelligent witch, although she might have had a touch of crazy herself, due to her choice of a husband. In her Hogwarts career she was the top of her class every year and made Head Girl. It's such a shame that she was taken from us so early in her life.

Pandragora's death took place in her home laboratory on April 13th, 1990. You'd think someone so smart wouldn't have been experimenting with spells on a Friday the 13th. It's believed that her explosive death was the result of a miscalculation in the spells constructive arithmancy, but there might be another reason. Her daughter, who was born on a Friday the 13th, was watching the experiment and witnessed her thoughtless mother's final moments. The daughter's presence and it being a Friday the 13th, the increased bad luck could have been the real reason for the mother's death.

Beyond this we don't have much informa on Lunatic Lovegood herself. She appears to stay out of the public eye ever since her mother's preventable death. So why is she hugging our Boy-Who-Lived? Is she trying to get ahead of the more worthy girls in stealing his heart? Did she get him to embrace her by having him pity her? Is she nicknamed 'Loony' because she contracted her father's, Xenofigrillious's, flippancy? Is she so shallow to use her own mother's death to get sympathy from him? Even though she's a child, will she use her namesake as a way of enticement? Just how far will this little girl be willing to go to claim our Boy-Who-Lived's heart?


Harry grows more and furious as the twins read the article. 'This Rita bint only got their names right once and she's even trying to blame Luna for her mother's death!'

"You know Gred, my less intelligent twin, I wouldn't want to be Luna right now." Forge says, insulting his brother while praising himself. His words get Harry to life his head off the table.

"Pray tell why, my less handsome twin." Gred replies in the same manner.

"I can't imagine how many howlers and cursed mail she'll get."

"Howlers? Cursed mail? What are those?" Harry asks, a little worried, while also doing a decent job holding back his anger. 'They definitely don't sound friendly.'

"Harry, didn't yah hear any of the howlers they got from mum last year?" Ron says as if it would explain what they are. It takes Ron several moments to notice Harry has no idea what he's talking about. "Those red letters that yelled at 'em." Mrs. Weasley's cheeks pinken a bit at the mention of her Howlers.

Harry nods, remembering the multiple occasions where those red envelopes screeched at the twins with their mother's voice. "What about cursed mail? They sound dangerous."

"Nasty things, they are." George says, "They'll curse the opener or they'll eject bubotuber pus or something at them."

"I'm guessing my so-called 'fans' would be the people sending these things to her?" Harry says darkly, he doesn't like the answer he receives. "Then I should warn her, she might not know and I don't want her to get hurt because of me."

"Why are you so worried about Loony?" Ron sneers, "She's barmy, that one."

Harry glares at him, "What did she ever do to you?" Ron blinks with wide eyes and looks away uncomfortably. "Ron, you really need to stop insulting people." Mrs. Weasley takes over from there by dragging him out of the dining room by his ear and berating him for being so callous. Her voice is so loud that Harry wouldn't be surprised if people on the continent could probably hear her.

Harry quickly finishes his breakfast after asking for directions to Luna's house. Mrs. Weasley tells him to follow the path through the woods and near the end of the path, he'll see her house on top of the hill. She tries to get Ginny to show them the way, but Harry politely declines because she still freaks out every time she's near him.

Padfoot's the only one that goes with him, they aren't due to meet his cousin until after lunch. They can shop for clothes after that too. "I'm proud of you for defending your girlfriend." He teases.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Harry tries to argue. "She's just a friend and I won't stand for my friends being called names, even by my other friends."

Sirius shrugs, "I just call it how I see it, Pup."

In an effort to change the topic Harry asks his godfather who he's going to take him to see later. "I'll be introducing you to my cousin, Andromeda Tonks, she's a healer like Madam Pomfrey. Even though she works for St' Mungo's, she doesn't work there. Her job is to go around to those who are stuck at home or can't stay at the hospital for whatever reason."

"I asked her to take you as a private patient after I heard about the… happenings, that your horrible excuse for relatives did to you." Sirius sounds like he'd rip their throats out with his bare hands or his teeth (if he were in his Padfoot form at the time) and that's saying something; Sirius could use magic to do the same thing. "I asked her to take you on as a private patient because I felt it wouldn't be a good idea for you to go to St. Mungo's due to your fame."

"Thank you, I was actually thinking of how I'd go about something like that." Harry says.

Sirius ruffles Harry's hair with his hand. "It's good that you're thinking of your health, but you can leave that kind of stuff to me."

Harry bats his hand away, "Can you teach me how to fight?"

Sirius sighs, "I'm not much of a teacher, but I can spar with you, after you learn enough spells. I'll see if I can get Moony to teach you, he's pretty good at teaching." Sirius smirks teasingly, "One thing I can teach you, is how to pick up girls. I can help you with this Luna girl."

Harry rolls his eyes and ignores the comment on the implied future romantic relationship with Luna. "I'm guessing 'Moony' is Remus?"

"Yep, that's Moony."

"I understand why you're 'Padfoot' and why Pettigrew is 'Wormtail', but why is my dad 'Prongs' and why is Remus 'Moony'?" Harry questions. He deduced earlier that his dad was 'Prongs' since Sirius called him 'Prongslet' that one time. "What are their animagus forms?"

"You worked it out, huh?" Harry nods. "Your dad is a buck animagus, but Remus is different; he's not an animagus. There's another reason why we call him 'Moony', but that's not for me to tell."

Harry remains silent as he ponders on why Remus would be 'Moony'. 'When you think of the moon you automatically think of wolves and maybe rabbits. At least… I think rabbits have something to do with the moon, but a wolf is more likely. So if he's not an animagus, then what would he be? Is it that? Do they exist in the magical world?'

"Werewolf?" Harry quietly mutters to himself, but as a dog animagus, Sirius's hearing is much better than the average wizard, so he's able to hear it. He almost jumps out of his shoes in shock. It's too bad Harry is too lost in thought to notice Sirius's change in demeanor. Sirius almost sighs in relief when Harry doesn't ask any further on the topic.

It doesn't take long for them to exit the small forest. Without the trees blockjng their view, they see a hill with a large tower that looks suspiciously like a rook from chess. 'No wonder it's called 'The Rookery', it's an odd looking house, but so is The Burrow with how it's built so tall and lopsided. Are all magical houses built weird?' Harry ponders to himself about the eccentricities of wizards.

When they get to the crest of the hill, Harry looks out over the horizon. There is a small town not far away. At the base of the hill is a small stream, where he spots a head of long blonde hair sitting on the bank splashing her feet in the water. She's wearing a bright yellow sundress with flickering orange and red flames dancing across the hem and sleeves. This is the first time Harry's seen clothes with moving images. When they get close to her she turns her head back to face them with a peaceful smile. "Hello Harry Potter and Stubby Boardman."

"Hi Luna." Harry greets, holding back his amusement.

Sirius smirks as he bows with a hand held out to the side and one on his chest, "Stubby Boardman at your service." Luna's naturally wide eyes sparkle at his introduction.

"Padfoot!" Harry immediately elbows his godfather in his side, who dramatically falls over. "It's not the time for pranks!" He gives her an apologetic look, "Sorry Luna, but he's not Stubby Boardman, he's pulling your leg."

She cocks her head to the side, "How can he be pulling my leg if he's not touching it?" Her eyes move back and forth between Sirius and her legs.

Sirius barks in laughter. While Harry answers, "It means he's joking with you."

"So, this is Luna? You have good taste, Pup." Harry's ears turn pink at his dogfather's statement. He groans in annoyance as he slaps his burning face with a spread hand.

Luna looks thoughtful and then brings her hand to her face and licks the back of it like a cat. "I don't have much of a taste. Do you like bland foods, Harry? Are you going to eat me?"

Sirius's grin grows wider, "Maybe in a few more years." Harry brings up his other hand to hide even more of his face.

Her silver misty eyes continue to focus on Harry. "Although I don't want to be eaten, if it were to happen, I'll make sure I taste good for you."

Sirius starts laughing so hard now, he can hardly breathe, but he still manages to get his opinion of her out. "I like her already! She's a riot!"

She cocks her head to the side again. "I don't have any pitchforks or torches to start a riot. Daddy normally keeps them locked away, so the Blibbering Humdingers can't get them."

Sirius turns back to Harry, who is still having trouble controlling his laughter. "She's -Haha- a keeper, Pup. -Hahaha- Don't -haha- let her get away. -Hahahaha!-"

Luna gives Sirius an apologetic expression, "Sorry, but I don't play Quidditch and I don't think I'd be a very good Keeper." Sirius is out for the count on that one, he's rolling on the grass laughing so hard he starts having a coughing fit. Harry also breaks out into his own laughter with Luna joining in, even though she doesn't know what's so funny, she just likes to laugh.

It takes a while for them all to pacify their hysterical laughter. Once he stops sniggering Harry takes the opportunity to hand her the Witch Weekly magazine. "I wanted to warn you about the possible howlers and curse mail that might be headed your way because of the article in there."

"That's very nice of you, Harry." Luna stands up and stares at him with clouded eyes, but she doesn't take the magazine. "I will tell daddy to change up the mail wards to include me. We have a ward where any hostile mail sent to daddy is redirected to the minister's office. We'll use this as an attempt to stop him from releasing his secret army of Heliopaths into the world." The older wizard starts snickering again at how the minister will get all the hate mail.

"What are Heliopaths and how would mail stop them?" Harry asks his new friend, he's quite confused as he can't see any connection.

"Heliopaths are horse-shaped fire spirits burn everything in their path. And it's not the mail that will stop the possible Heliopath invasion, it's the owls." Luna explains to the two fairly confused males, who are now even more confused. Luckily for them she continues her explanation. "Heliopaths are afraid of owls because their natural predator, Hydravians, often take the shape of owls."

"I'm guessing this is all in The Quibbler?" Harry asks, he's a little interested in these creatures she tells him about.

"Yep!" Luna's pure innocence in her belief of everything, even without evidence, is refreshing to the godson/godfather duo. "Next month's issue will have an exclusive on Ganderknolls. My favorite so far this year was the March issue with the reported sighting of a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. Daddy and I will be going on an expedition over the winter holidays to see if we can find one in Sweden." Sirius takes a step back and just watches the 2 of them talk.

"Sounds fun, I think." Harry's never gone camping before, he's unsure if he'd find it fun or not. "I hope you find one."

"Thank you, I hope we do too! It would be the discovery of the decade!" Her radiant positivity is contagious, both Harry and Sirius can feel it seeping into them, making the corners of their lips turn up.

"Having mentioned owls, we'll probably get our Hogwarts letters soon. I'll be going to Diagon Alley with the Weasley's, do you want to come with us?"

Luna's wide eyes narrow lightly, "Why would you want me to come?" She asks it like she's the last person anyone would invite to go somewhere with.

"Why wouldn't I?" She seems to have as much confidence in herself as he does for himself, barely any. "You're my friend."

"I'm your friend?" She says it with such a hopeful voice, while at the same time portrays it as if it's the most unusual thing she's ever heard.

"Of course," Harry confirms, before insecurely adding "…unless you don't want to be."

Luna steps out of the water and takes the few steps necessary to be in front of him. She lightly grips the long sleeve of his oversized flannel shirt, "I've always wanted a friend."

Harry's a little weirded out by her actions, but he doesn't make her let go, in case it might hurt her feelings. Giving her a sympathetic look before stating a similar fact about himself. "Then you're the same as me, I never had a friend until I got my Hogwarts letter. His name is Rubeus Hagrid. He's huge, like 12 feet tall, huge, but he's the nicest person I've ever met."

Hearing Hagrid's name reminds Sirius of his motorcycle and how he'll want to get it back if he can, but then thinks better of it. 'It's probably the big guy's only means of travel, I'll just let him keep it.' Hagrid's too big for most brooms and fireplaces, he can't apparate or make portkeys, so the motorcycle is his only mode of transportation besides the Knight Bus. Sirius isn't sure if Hagrid could even fit through the Knight Bus doors to get on.

"I wonder if he'll be my friend too." Luna ponders aloud.

"Don't worry about it, you'll definitely be friends." Harry says and then realizes that they definitely will, since they're both animal/creature fanatics. "So will you come with us to shop for school supplies?" Harry asks again, having yet to get an answer. She nods her head before adding that her daddy might not be able to come.

"If he can't, then you can just stick with us." Luna nods again, happy to have someone who wants to spend time with her. She releases Harry's sleeve, which he hadn't realized she was still holding. She takes a seat and pats the grass, inviting him to sit next to her.

He takes the invitation and the two of them continue to talk for quite some time. Sirius turns into Padfoot and lays down in front of them, listening in on their conversation. Harry clarifies again that Sirius is not Stubby Boardman. Luna tells Harry about some of the many different creatures featured in The Quibbler. For the first time, someone other than her dad is listening to her intently and not just writing her off as crazy or 'Loony'.

Harry in turn tells her about Hogwarts and what to expect. He tells her about the teachers, his Quidditch games and just about everything he can think of. He even tells her about their adventure to save the Philosopher's Stone. The way he tells the story makes it seem as if he did nothing and that it was Hermione and Ron who were the stars.

Luna takes a great interest in Fluffy, the Cerberus, and asks Harry if Hagrid would let her meet the giant three-headed dog. When Harry gets to the part of the story about Norbert, she's bummed she won't get to see the baby dragon.

Padfoot is absolutely dumbfounded with what happened at Hogwarts and has a few questions of his own. He doesn't though, he doesn't want to interrupt the conversation between, what he believes to be, a future couple. He'll ask Harry later and then see what he can get from Dumbledore. He doesn't expect to get much from the aged wizard though, but it's worth a try.

Sirius is floored when he hears that Voldemort got inside the school! And even more so, when he learns how Voldemort was specifically targeting Harry that All Hallows Eve night. It makes him ponder about why Voldemort would go out of his way to personally kill a baby when he never has before. Every reason he can come up with is worse than the one before it. Knowing the old man knows and for whatever reason wouldn't tell Harry. He'll somehow have to force the information out of the old headmaster.

Sirius can see why people would avoid her and make fun of her because of how odd and awkwardly blunt she is. Looking beyond that though, she's a honest and good kid. She also has this calming aura around her that puts him and his godson at ease. She's already got the dogfather's approval and he hasn't even known her for 2 hours. He'll definitely be teasing Harry about the girl for a long time coming.

With Lunch time approaching, Harry and Luna are both disappointed they have to part from their new friend. Harry and Sirius reluctantly exchange goodbyes with Luna and head back to The Burrow.

On their way back Sirius teases Harry some more about his 'relationship' with Luna, after telling him they'll leave to go see his cousin right after lunch. Then he'll take Harry clothes shopping for muggle and magical clothes. It doesn't hurt that he too, will need new clothes, since he'll be living at 12 Privet Drive once the currently occupying family moves out.

Sirius was planning to take Harry out to lunch, but Mrs. Weasley wouldn't hear it. She all but forced the two of them to sit at the table for lunch.

All through lunch, two of the Weasleys silently stare at Harry. The first is Ginny and she looks upset and jealous, but Harry either doesn't notice or doesn't want to notice. Any time his gaze turns in her direction she would instantly look down at her food.

The other Weasley is Ron, he's not so much staring, but more glaring at Harry. Harry figures it's because he got in trouble with his mum and Ron's blaming him for it.

After they finish eating Harry and Sirius floo to his cousin's house. They both find themselves inside the Tonks' home, but only one of the pair lands on their feet. Harry has, once again, tumbled out of the fireplace and is sprawled out on the wooden floor.

The only occupant currently in the house is sitting on the couch and is a witness of their arrival, much to Harry's embarrassment. The occupant is an attractive woman with curly light brown hair, done-up in a bun. Her brown eyes hold a gentle caring and warmth, but flare with just as much pride. "Hello you two, welcome to my home." She greets them as she stands up and smooths out invisible wrinkles on her healer robes.

Sirius helps Harry stand up while trying to stifle his amusement. "Harry, I'd like you to meet my favorite cousin, Andromeda Tonks." He gestures to the woman and gives her brief hug.

"Hello Mrs. Tonks, it's nice to meet you." Harry greets in a polite manner, but with his head down to hide his red cheeks. Being seen getting thrown out of a fireplace is not the kind of first impression he wants to be remembered by.

"It's nice to see you again, Harry," She says with a sweet and reminiscent smile, "I haven't seen you since the day you were born."

"We've met before?" He asks, looking back up at the woman.

"Of course we have, I was the Nurse who delivered you when you were born." She tells him sweetly. Harry just nods, not knowing how to respond.

"Andi, I don't mean to rush, but we have a long day ahead of us." Sirius pats Harry's shoulder as he talks. "I'm taking him to get better clothes after this."

"I see then, shall we get started?" She asks, motioning for them to follow her. She leads them to a small bedroom and tells Harry to lay down on the bed so she can start the examination.

The walls are colored a warm yellow and the bed is centered against the right wall. To the right of the bed is a night stand with a few pieces of paper and a pen on top. The muggle paper and pen would surprise Harry if Sirius hadn't told him that Andromeda is married to a muggleborn wizard.

When Harry lays down on the bed, he has to stifle a moan; it's the softest bed he's ever laid on. His body just sinks into the fluffy bed and he has to fight to stay awake. It's like he can hear his exhaustion whisper to him, enticing him to fall asleep. He hasn't slept in a good bed in over a month and with all the stress from the Philosopher's Stone incident piled on top, all he wants to do now is take a nap. It's a real shame that he can't, he wants to know what Andromeda finds.

Sirius leans against the door with his arms crossed, worried about how bad the results will turn out to be. It wasn't hard for him to determine that Harry's been abused when they were reunited at the ministry. He picked up the signs easily, since he too, grew up in an abusive home. He is not happy with Dumbledore and the muggles the old man left Harry with.

With everything Sirius has learned about since he became a free man again has made him wonder if Dumbledore is going insane. 'I mean, who lets three 11 year olds go face to face against a teacher hosting the soul of a murder-crazy psychopath?' Harry told him about how he speculated that Dumbledore was testing him and knew the possibility of him confronting the murder of his parents.

Andromeda takes out her wand and starts waving it quickly in complex motions. When she finishes, the tip of her wand starts glowing with a white light and the pen on the table props up on its own. After positioning her wand over Harry's head, she slowly descends down to his feet. As her wand moves south the quill starts writing on the parchment.

The light goes out when she reaches his feet, but the pen continues writing. She casts another spell and does the same thing as before, except the wand is glowing green this time. She does this an additional 4 more times and the light is yellow for the 3rd scan, red for the 4th, purple for the 5th and blue for the 6th.

Andromeda waits for the pen to finish writing before she looks at it. It really worries her that it's taking quite a bit longer than normal. Her worry only grows when it starts to write on a 2nd page and even more so when it starts on a 3rd page. When the pen finally stops writing and falls over, Andi picks the sheets up with hesitation, fearful of what's written. It's definitely not good when the pen needs to write on more than a single page. And Harry's analysis almost needed a 4th page.

She takes a sharp intake of breath and covers her mouth with the hand that's not holding the analysis results. She has to blink away tears, so she can continue reading. Her hands are trembling slightly from the revelation of what she's reading. For this to happen to one of the children she helped deliver into this world, and much less someone who can be considered family, she can't help hating the monsters who did this to Harry.

The results of the diagnostics indicate severe physical abuse and long-term malnutrition, most likely caused by long-term starvation and having little to eat when he's not starving. 'How!? How could someone do this!? And to a child no less!?… It's a miracle he's alive, if he was a muggle, he most surely would have died a long time ago. How could Dumbledore allow this to happen!?'

The moment she puts the sheets down, Sirius quickly grabs them. The more he reads, the more his rage boils; it quickly reaches his breaking point.

*Bang!*

He punches a hole in the wall, wishing he could do the same to the Dursleys' faces. Punching the wall doesn't help much to relieve his fury, he's still extremely tempted to turn into Padfoot and rip their throats out.

Andromeda is not surprised by Sirius's outburst and doesn't blame him for needing an outlet for his anger. That and, he's a wizard; he can just fix the wall with magic.

(Author's note: y.o. = years old)


Bone Damages: personal magic healing

Skull

Frontal - 10 y.o.

Parietal - 8 y.o. - 6 y.o. - 5 y.o.

Opcititale - 6 y.o.

Maxilla - 7 y.o.

Nasal cartalage - 7 y.o. - 7 y.o. - 5 y.o.

Mandibula - 3 y.o.

--

Torso

Left clavicle - 2 y.o.

Left rib #6 - 5 y.o. - 8 y.o.

Left rib #7 - 5 y.o. - 8 y.o.

Left rib #10 - 2 y.o.

Right rib #3 - 4 y.o.

Right rib #5 - 1 y.o. - 6 y.o.

Right rib #6 - 1 y.o. - 6 y.o.

Right rib #8 - 5 y.o.

Right rib #12 - 6 y.o.

--

Left Arm

Humerus - 9 y.o.

Radius - 4 y.o.

Ulna - 4 y.o.

--

Right Arm

Humerus - 3 y.o.

Radius - 2 y.o. - 7 y.o. - 8 y.o.

Ulna - 2 y.o. - 8 y.o.

--

Left Hand

Thumb distal phalanx - 2 y.o. - 5y.o.

Thumb proximal phalanx - 2 y.o. - 5 y.o.

Thumb metacarpal - 5 y.o.

Index finger distal phalanx - 5 y.o.

Index finger middle phalanx - 5 y.o. - 8 y.o.

Index finger proximal phalanx - 5 y.o.

Index finger metacarpal - 5 y.o. - 6 y.o.

Middle finger distal phalanx - 5 y.o.

Middle finger middle phalanx - 5 y.o.

Middle finger proximal phalanx - 5 y.o.

Middle finger metacarpal - 5 y.o.

Ring finger distal phalanx - 5 y.o.

Ring finger middle phalanx - 5 y.o. - 7 y.o.

Ring finger proximal phalanx - 5 y.o.

Ring finger metacarpal - 5 y.o.

Pinkie finger distal phalanx - 5 y.o.

Pinkie finger middle phalanx - 5 y.o.

Pinkie finger proximal phalanx - 5 y.o.

Pinkie finger metacarpal - 5 y.o.

Scaphoid carpal - 5 y.o.

Lunate carpal - 5 y.o.

Triquetrum carpal - 5 y.o.

Pisiform carpal - 5 y.o.

Hamate carpal - 5 y.o.

Capitate carpal - 5 y.o.

Trapezium carpal - 5 y.o.

--

Right Hand

Index finger middle phalanx - 8 y.o.

Index finger proximal phalanx - 8 y.o.

Ring finger middle phalanx - 7 y.o.

Ring finger proximal phalanx - 7 y.o.

Pinkie finger middle phalanx - 3 y.o.

--

Left Leg

Tibia - 4 y.o.

--

Malnutrition

Mineral Deficiencies

Calcium - severe

Copper - mild

Iodine - moderate

Iron - mild

Magnesium - moderate

Phosphorus - mild

Potassium - mild

Zinc - severe

--

Vitamin Deficiencies

A - severe

B1 - moderate

B6 - mild

B9 - severe

B12 - mild

C - mild

K - mild

--

Stunted Growth - severe

Underweight - moderate

Decreased Bone Mass - mild

Vision - severe

Puberty - delayed

--

Scarring

Upper back

Middle back

Lower back

Upper chest

Middle chest

Lower chest

Forehead

Right elbow

Left shoulder

Left posterior

Right posterior

Left knee

Right knee

Right shin

Right ankle

--

Burns

Upper back

Middle back

Lower back

Back of the neck

Right forearm

Right hand

Left hand

--

Cursed

Frontal Skull - unknown

--

Magic

Blood Protection

- Blocking curse's corruption

- Blocking 90% of curse's magic siphon

Mutated Child Magic Core Seal

- Reduces the power and likelihood of accidental magic.

Reason for mutation

- Personal magic

- Protection

Effects of mutation

- No degradation

- Protection from %#*%!#*?!

Sealed

- 65% of magic sealed

- %#*%!#*?! sealed

--

Magic Siphon

- 3% siphoned by curse (30% initially)

- 90% blocked by blood protection

--

Magic core

68% unusable

32% usable


Andromeda's mind is reeling as she once more goes over everything after getting it back from Sirius. 'It's like they deliberately didn't hurt his legs or feet, but went out of their way to try and break the rest of him. Why do I think it's only because they didn't want him being unable to walk?' She grows more and more worried with every question she asks herself.

'Then there's his left hand, every bone in that hand except 1 was broken at the same time. What did they do to this child!? These monsters can't be human!'

'Then there's the fact that every bone was healed with magic, when only 32% of it is available! His magic core must be at least four times stronger than average to be able to heal his bones with only 32% of his power available!'

She closes her eyes and takes a deep, slow breath to calm herself. "There is a lot that needs fixing and there are several causes for concern." She tells Harry after gathering her emotions. "To start with we need to fix your bones. I'm sorry to say, but in order to do that, I'll need you to stay here for almost two weeks and you won't be allowed to get out of bed." She sighs, not liking that she'll have to confine him to a bed for so long. "Each day I'll vanish a different limb's bones and give you Skele-Gro."

Harry shivers at the thought of losing his bones. "What's Skele-Gro?"

"It's a potion that will regrow any missing bones in your limbs, but it's limited to one limb per day. It takes 8 hours for it to regrow your bones and it will be very painful." She hates that she's going to put him through even more pain after everything he's been through. She then explains that once they're done with each of his limbs, she will give him a Bone Reconstruction Potion.

The Bone Reconstruction Potion will fix all the problems with his skull, ribs and clavicle by softening the bones and slowly reforming them to their proper state. The process for this potion will take about 5 or 6 days and there will be a constant, dull pain.

After the explanation Harry asks why the potion takes so long when Skele-Gro only takes 8 hours. It's one of the most common questions she gets about this potion, so she doesn't miss a beat when answering it. "If it were as fast as Skele-Gro there would be a good chance your regrowing ribs will puncture an organ." Harry winces at the mention of his own ribs trying to kill him.

"I'll also prescribe you a burn salve and scar removal paste. For the next few months, every night, before bed, you are to apply them on each blemish. Keep this up until they are gone. If you run out, I will give you more." She takes a pause. "I'm sorry to say, but the one on your forehead, can't be removed. It's a cursed scar."

"It's cursed!?" Harry asks as he begins to panic, 'What will it do to me? Has it already done something to me?' It's just his luck to have a scar that not only makes him unneededly famous, but then also be cursed. He then scolds himself for not having already known something was wrong with it. It's unnatural for a scar to hurt just because Voldemort is near him.

"Yes, it is cursed, but there's no danger right now." She pushes her lips, "It's only siphoning a small portion of the magic gathered by your core. It also has a corruptive nature of some kind, but the corruption is being blocked by whatever the blood protection magic within you is. If you didn't have the blood protection, it would be siphoning a lot more of your magic and corrupting you in some way."

To not let him think much more about it, she switches to the next topic, his potion regimen for his malnutrition. "Seeing as your vitamin and mineral results are worrying. I'll be prescribing you with a large list of potions for you to take every day for the next few months. There will be other potions that you'll be taking that will speed up your physical growth; you'll grow two to three times faster than normal, until you're as tall as you should be." That excites Harry a bit, he's always hated being the short kid in class. "With such rapid growth you'll often be very sore and achy, but it shouldn't be enough to stop you from doing anything. If necessary, you can take a Pain Relief Potion."

"I'll also show you some stretches that you can do to relieve some of the strain on your body from growing too quickly. I recommend doing the stretches twice a day; once before going to bed and once after waking up. It's not necessary, but it will ease some of the pain."

"What kind of potions will I be taking?" Harry asks begrudgingly. Even though he's only ever had a few, potions, more often than always, taste horrible. Yes, more often than always.

"There will be quite a few." She answers vaguely, pausing to make a quick mental list. "You'll be taking an Absorbtion Potion, a Growth Potion, a Development Potion and one of each type of vitamin and mineral extracts every day. As well as a Hunger Potion and a Digestion Potion before every meal." The potions are all self-explanatory.

"My diagnostic scans tell me that your growth has been severely stunted and I expect that you should be somewhere between 13-15 centimeters *(5-6 inches)* taller. If this didn't get fixed before you finished growing you'd probably be 23-28 centimeters *(9-11 inches)* shorter than you should have been."

That really surprises Harry, 'I was never supposed to be this short!? I mean… I knew that I was shorter than I should be, but I didn't think it would be by so much!'

She also informs him that some of his deficiencies may be part of the reason for his bad eye-sight. She goes on to say that once his deficiencies are fixed he may no longer need his glasses. With that said she asks to check their perscription. She frowns after casting a spell to check the prescription of his glasses. Her frown deepens after casting a spell to check his eye-sight. The prescription is horribly wrong, so she casts a third spell that will change the prescription to match his sight. The charm will have to be recast on his glasses every week or he can get new glasses that are enchanted to do the same thing.

When Harry puts his glasses back on, his sleepiness immediately disappears due to the surprise of how clear everything is. His next immediate thought is wondering how much better he'll be at being a Seeker in Quidditch.

"Lastly, your malnutrition is severe enough that you have yet to start puberty, which will actually be beneficial for you. If you started your perscriptions after puberty started, some of the damage to your health would have been permanent. I'll also be giving you a Puberty Supressing Potion in hopes that it will help delay puberty even further." Harry's not sure how he feels about starting puberty late. It's a sign of growing up and that he's not as much of a child anymore. On the other side, there's the raging hormones and other stuff that he's heard about that all sounds annoying as hell.

"Once your treatment is complete, I can assure you it will have all been worth it. You'll feel free of a burden you never knew you had because you're so used to your current aches and pains that you barely notice them." The conviction radiating from Andromeda convinces him that she's not lying, not that she has a reason to.

Andromeda goes over a few more things with him and Sirius regarding his treatment. She tells them about the mutated magic seal and that it's probably best to leave the seal in place, at least until the curse within his scar is removed. She fears that whatever the anomaly is, might strengthen the curse and/or vice versa. She believes Harry's own magic mutated the seal to keep him safe. She immediately follows with the idea of visiting Gringotts to see if they can identify and remove the curse.

She suggests Gringotts for the same reason they came to her, for secrecy. They don't want anyone to see Harry at St. Mungo's and speculate on why he's there, especially now that Sirius is free; the press might try to blame him for the reason Harry had to go to St. Mungo's. For some reason Harry thinks of Rita Skeeter when this topic comes up in discussion. He has a reason to believe she'd happily write the article.

They shortly discuss the date to start the bone regrowth process and decide it would be best to start the day after they buy his school supplies, which has yet to be determined. Even though they haven't gotten the supply list yet, they know that they'll get it within a week and Andi's schedule is very flexible.

With the examination and explanation done they all leave the guest room. Before he leaves, Sirius fixes the wall with an incantation and a wave of his new wand. He would cast silently, that is, if his new wand would let him. The wand wood used to make it refuses to cast magic silently.

Just before they're about to leave through the floo, Sirius says "Oh right, I should probably do this before I go." He says it with an ominous smirk. Andi and Harry look at him with confusion and cautiousness, they can tell he's up to something.

"I, Sirius Orion Black, Head of House Black, do hereby reinstate Andromeda Lillica Tonks née Black as a member of the Black family and any who descend from her, so mote it be." He claps his hands and a white flash blinds them. As the flash occurs Sirius throws down the floo powder, shouting "Diagon Alley!" and the pillar of green fire consumes him and Harry, transporting them to said destination.

Unknown to them is that Andromeda Tonks is standing there with her jaw dropped, she never expected to be a member of the Black family again. Nor did she know that Sirius is the Head of House; she thought his mother got her wish to disinherit him, but apparently not.

She sits down still reeling in her shock. Once it settles down, blissful tears start to roll down her cheeks. 'He knew how much this would mean to me… and extending it to Nymphadora, means even more. I'll never regret marrying my Teddy, but being rejected by your family still hurts… And it's just like Siri to treat something like this as a big prank.'

With Sirius holding on to Harry, it's the first time he's not thrown out of the fireplace. When Harry looks around to take in his surroundings, he sees he's in a familiar bar, The Leaky Cauldron. As usual, Tom is behind the bar and there aren't many customers right now, since it's past lunchtime. There's only a few drunkards at the bar and a couple sharing a table.

Harry and Sirius greet Tom before heading into muggle London. Sirius has already exchanged some galleons to British pounds, which prompts Harry to ask what the exchange rate is.

Sirius easily answers, "It's roughly one galleon equals five pounds. As there's 493 knuts in a galleon, 1 knut is roughly equal to 1 pence." He is just reciting what the goblin told him when he went to exchange galleons for GBP the other day. "Now let's get some muggle clothes that actually fit you, after getting you a whole new wardrobe I'll take you robe shopping. I'm also in desperate need of clothes too."

Harry's a little despondent about Sirius spending so much money on him. "Wouldn't a whole new wardrobe cost a lot?"

"There's no need to worry about that Pup, I'm Lord Black now and that means I'm filthy flippin' rich." Sirius beats his chest with his fist. "The Black family is by far one of the richest magical families in all of Europe. I couldn't spend it all even if I tried."

Harry's eyes are so wide, Sirius is afraid they might fall out of their sockets. It's a good thing his glasses would help stop them from falling out if it were to actually happen. "In all of Europe!? Not just Britain?"

"Yep! Why do you think I was so easily able to find a house on Private Drive, when none of them were for sale?" He grins at the thought of spending his family's money on a small muggle home. "I bought it for twice its price and it didn't even dent the mountain of galleons in the Black family vault."

Harry can't comprehend the amount of money his godfather has, so he decides to just leave it at that and ask something else that's been bugging him since the trial. "What's all this 'Lord' stuff about? Are you actually nobility?"

Sirius shakes his head, "They did a long time ago, but not anymore. They lost it alongside the Statute of Secrecy, but those old pureblood families still wanted to feel like they had nobility. To do so they decided to make it a tradition and treat it like those houses still have lordship in an official setting, like the Wizengamot or a public event."

"What's all this about purebloods?" Harry inquires, "I've heard it several times, but I still don't know what it is."

"It's a load of rubbish, that's what it is." Sirius says, firmly stating his opinion before going into more detail about it. He describes how blood status is determined, a magical child's blood status is based on the magical capabilities of their parents and/or grandparents.

If all 4 grandparents are magical then the child is a 'pureblood' (a magical child of two squibs would be a 'pureblood' as long as all 4 grandparents are magical).

A 'half-blood' must have at least 1 magical grandparent or 1 magical parent (as long as there's 1 wizard or witch within those 6 people, then they are a 'half-blood').

While lastly a 'muggleborn' has no magical parents and no magical grandparents. Harry also learns at this time that the term 'mudblood' is a highly offensive term for muggleborns and half-bloods with a muggle parent, meaning 'dirty blood'.

Sirius then goes on to explain that 'pureblood supremacy' is the belief that muggleborns are impure and not worthy of possessing magic. Many purebloods also believe that muggleborns 'steal the magic from proper wizards and witches'; it's their explanation of why some pureblood children are born as squibs.

"Because of this view, muggleborns are commonly discriminated against." Every word that comes out of Sirius's mouth possesses a viscous disdain, showing how much he disagrees with pureblood supremacy. "Then there are the muggleborns that come into our world and try to apply muggle world logic to everything, which gives muggleborns an even worse reputation." That last part makes Harry immediately think of Hermione.

Not wanting to go any further in explaining the pureblood supremacy movement, he changes on to a related topic he feels Harry should know about, the Wizengamot factions. "Within the Wizengamot there are three factions: the supremacists, the traditionalists and the liberalists; the factions are also commonly called dark, neutral and light respectively. Sadly the supremacists have the largest margin in the Wizengamot, a little more than 40%. Fortunately, over the past decade, their count has dropped from the high 40s. Another good thing is that there are more neutrals that have light-sided views than neutrals with dark-sided views. This allows for some semblance of balance within the government, but it's still horribly corrupt."

As an example of the corruption, Sirius uses his extended stay in Azkaban. All of Voldemort's followers got a trial, but he didn't. That's a clear sign that he wasn't a follower of Voldemort because the pureblood supremacist faction would have fought to get him a trial if he was. But because he was a liberalist and Malfoy's are the closest to the main line of the Blacks, they wanted to secure the Black seat as part of the supremacist faction. With Sirius out of the way, it made it easier.

Sirius then explains a bit more about the Wizengamot, but doesn't go into much detail, saying it's a wizard tradition to not learn about politics until the summer after 4th year. "Almost all houses, with hereditary seats in the Wizengamot follow this tradition because they want their kids to have fun at Hogwarts for the first few years and not worry about politics. Both my family and your family follow this tradition and they were in different factions. The Blacks were hardcore supremacists, while the Potters are liberalist, but have traditionalist tendencies." Harry takes notice of Sirius's specific use of present and past tenses. He figures that the Black house, with Sirius as the Head of House, is no longer part of the supremacist faction. "I think that's enough on this topic for now, let's find a good store."

When Sirius said he'd buy Harry a whole new wardrobe, he really meant it. Harry could easily fill a walk-in closet with all his new clothes. A lot of the clothes are too big for him right now, but since he's going to go through a big growth spurt over the next year, they didn't get much clothes in his current size. Sirius spent several thousand GBP on clothes for Harry and a lot less on himself.

When they are out of sight, Sirius shrinks their bags of clothes and then puts them in a small, black leather pouch. Harry assumes the pouch is bigger on the inside, due to how many bags of clothes Sirius keeps shoving inside of it. Even with the bags of clothes being shrunken they would have filled the small bag several times over if it wasn't expanded on the inside.

As they shopped, Sirius regales Harry with stories of his time in Hogwarts. He speaks of some of the pranks they did, how his mum didn't like his dad at first and many other fun times he had there. Harry eagerly takes it all in, he doesn't often hear anything about the lives his parents lived, it's mostly 'you look just like your father, but you've got your mother's eyes.' So hearing something new about them is refreshing and greatly appreciated.

The only downside is that there's not nearly as much Sirius can say about Harry's mum as he can about Harry's dad. Harry assumes he'd have to get in Snape's good graces, which would never happen, to hear more about his mum. That or find another friend of hers, but he has no idea who they are or what they look like.

Sirius doesn't only talk about his school life, he also pokes fun at Harry by saying things like 'I bet Luna will think you look good in that' or something else along those lines, much to Harry's chagrin.

After they finish shopping for muggle clothes they head to a italian restaurant for dinner. Sirius has become a huge fan of muggle food because in comparison to the wizarding world, it has a lot more flavor.

Harry points out that it's because the wizarding world only has a few spices, while the muggle world has dozens, if not hundreds of different spices. Mrs. Weasley uses a few muggle spices, which is one of the reasons why she's considered to be such a great cook. Harry decides it would be a good idea to introduce her to more of them and see how much her cooking improves afterwards. 'Maybe I'll get some for her as a Christmas gift.'

Once they finish eating they move along to Diagon Alley and head to Madam Malkin's to get Harry more wizard robes. He currently only has school robes and they aren't good for every occasion.

Sirius also buys Harry a three compartment and magically expanded trunk that's equipped with a Feather Light Enchantment. One compartment is for camouflage when using muggle transportation, the second is for his school supplies and the last is a climb-down/walk-in closet for all his new clothes. There was a model trunk for a small personal library, it's the same as the walk-in closer version, but instead of a closet design it has bookshelves. Harry easily decides that this will be Hermione's birthday gift.

With that done, they have finished shopping and the two of them return to The Burrow by floo from the Leaky Cauldron. Sirius goes through first to make sure no one's there when Harry tumbles through the living room. Apparently all Potters have had the same issue ever since it was invented and it doesn't get better until they turn 17. Also it's not just the floo where this kind of thing occurs, it also occurs with portkeys and apparition. So far, it's only known that the cause has something to do with the Potter family's magic. As for what that something is, they have yet to find out.

After propelling out of the fireplace like a spinning top, Sirius hugs his godson goodbye and takes his leave back to The Leaky Cauldron. That's where he's staying until the house on Private Drive is ready. By the time Harry gets to The Burrow, it's almost time for bed, which is something he's glad about, he's very exhausted.


Ending Author's Note:

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, I'm still taking a vote for past/present tense. PM me or leave a comment with your choice. So far I've only had comments that say present tense is hard to read, but they're still fine with it. Let me know what you think.

Let me know if you find any mistakes or grammatical errors. PM me or leave a comment, either is fine. Do the same if you have any questions, I will answer them to the best of my ability (as long as the answer won't ruin any surprises I have in store).

For those of you that didn't reread the Beginning Author's Note, I point you in the direction of doing so. I have added some stuff to it that was not there during the teaser.

Thanks for reading!