CH 3 Discovery


Sirius POV

Sirius was currently reading a book, willingly, and it was providing him with so much information and yet nothing concrete. How come parenting books were so vague? There were some good points such as communication and complimenting good behaviour. However, he did have concerns. One. He wasn't exactly a good role model. Two. He didn't know how to adjust his parenting style since he didn't currently have one. And three, he wasn't sure how to set limitations or discipline someone.

Harry was a teenager, not a little kid. Was Sirius supposed to set him a bedtime or make sure he ate his vegetables? And like is he allowed to ground Harry and how does he even go about doing that. The boy has been taking care of himself for 14 years and he hasn't done too bad of a job.

Sirius was really determined to do good. He wanted to excel at being Harry's godfather. And once upon a time he was. But Harry was just a baby back then and now he was a teenager, almost an adult. And knew that he needed as much help as he could get. He knew that he was completely out of his depth and unprepared. The problem was there were no book titled; 'Your best friends were murdered and now you are raising their son who is being hunted by the same man that killed his parent.'

Sirius could make some amendments to this guide.

He wasn't a very good role model. But he could use his mistakes as a learning opportunity so that Harry doesn't replicate his behaviour. Though he had a feeling he wouldn't regardless. But Harry's impulsiveness was a little too close to his recklessness. The only difference was his recklessness stemed from rebelling and Harry's impulsiveness stemmed from his heart and good intentions. But one thing the two had that was extremely similar was that they lacked good conversational skills.

He was locked away with no practically no human contact, at least civil human interactions for twelve years. He was extremely rusty and it didn't help that even beforehand he was blunt and never had a problem with making people uncomfortable. If he was going to talk to his godson properly then he would need to practice. Talking about pointless and irrelevant stuff was easy. Having to deal with fears, concerns and stress was a lot harder. He needed to be able to help Harry solve problems and let him know he had advice available if he ever needed it. And though he didn't know everything about Harry's childhood with the Dursleys. He did know that he was unhappy there and would much rather prefer living with him. That said alot in itself. Since the two of them still don't know alot about eachother. And based off of his interactions with Harry. He could be rather withdrawn and secretive until his emotions build up and eventually explode in a vast pool of words that he could barely string together into understandable sentences.

And that is where Hermione came in. She seemed to have no problem voicing her opinion and sharing her thoughts. And she excelled at doing it in a way and situation where it wasn't uncalled for. She was pretty good at reading the room and situation. And though she had an air of confidence and security it did sometimes seem to manifest itself in the form of bossiness. But considerding Sirius and from what he knew of Harry and Ron, they all simply let her take charge of things because she had a better grasp on things then they did. She seemed much more forthcoming when asked questions but lately she has been acting a bit odd in the morning.

At 8 am in the kitchen she would look out the window for something. He assumed that it would be mail. But he wasn't sure who she was waiting for. Ron seemed to send a letter every Friday. And Harry sent one every couple of days. Both usually arrived in the afternoon. She hadn't been in any contact with her parents since she was brought here, just in case the letters could be intercepted and traced. The last thing Hermione wanted to do was put them in danger. And from what Sirius understood of the situation, they wanted Hermione to go with them so that she wasn't. It was a sore subject for her. And he didn't want to upet her.

She seemed to be quite disappointed each time there was nothing there and she had been acting a bit stressed in regards to it. So one day he decided to ask her about it. "Are you expecting some mail?"

She seemed defensive by his sudden interest. "Why do you ask?"

"Every morning for the past week," he said after mentally counting the days. "You have been staking out that window."

She seemed to have deflated at the reminder. And then looked at him a little sheepishly. "I was hoping I would have received my OWL scores by now."

He really shouldn't have been surprised. "Why are you looking forward to those? You probably got O's on all of them.

"I probably failed," she moaned.

"I don't think it is physically possible for you to fail."

She looked at him and narrowed her eyes. "Don't try to reassure me it's not working."

"Hey, you probably did better than me," he held up his hands trying to placate her growing worry.

"Now that's not a surprise," she snipped.

Ouch. That one hurt. Though he was impressed by her quick remark. And he wasn't too upset. Most people assumed he was an idiot due to some of his behavior. And he couldn't deny that in some cases he did hype it up a bit. "I will have you know I was an upstanding student."

"Really I find that hard to believe."

"Hey, now I may not have been Moony or Lily. But my grades held up pretty well. They had to be since I wanted to be an Auror but you know the war got in the way." He and Prongs were going to join together. He ended up going further in the training than Prongs. But he didn't have a wedding to plan or a baby to come along. But even he couldn't keep up with the workload during the war.

"If I remember correctly I had 7 Outstanding, 2 Exceeds Expectations and 1 Acceptable." It was a long time ago but he sounded right.

"Acceptable?" Hermione asked almost in horror at the idea.

"Ya, I was rubbish at Divination." She seemed to immediately forgive his less than acceptable grade due to the subject. He didn't really care too much either. Divination was hit or miss. You either had a knack for it or not. And he definitely did not. "But I did get my Outstandings in Muggle Studies and Transfiguration. The E's were from Potions and Herbology. I was still getting used to Padfoot's increased sense of smell. Lily was furious since I didn't study nearly as long or as hard as she did. She still had higher marks than me. But it still frustrated her."

"What about Harry is he as worried about his OWLs as you are?" He never got the chance to talk to Harry much about his grades. All he knew about them were from what Moony told him about when he taught him during his third year. And since it had been several years, Moony's words weren't exactly an indication of the now.

"No. Definitely not." He didn't know whether or not he should be happy with his confidence or disappointed that he didn't care. "Don't get me wrong, he did study really hard and I do think he did pretty well. Considering everything that was going on. It wasn't exactly the highest on his list of priorities."

"So his grades are solid then?"

"His grades are good, he probably could do better if he applied himself a little more but considering that all of his near-death experiences are near the end of the year I can forgive him for that. That's good. Sirius thought. He was still trying despite the war looming over him. "He is actually the best in Defence the Dark Arts. He usually does better than me. It's also his favourite."

Funny. It was also his favourite back in school. Though he led Minnie to believe otherwise. "Really. His mother's favourite was Charms and Potions and his father excelled at Transfiguration."

"I would say Harry enjoys Charms and Transfiguration but Potions is kinda in the middle for him. He hates Divination. He hates having to listen to Trewlany predict how he is going to die each class." Sirius would too." "I find the subject matter complete rubbish. And he isn't fond of Astronomy either." He couldn't help but mentally file that information away for later. He wasn't sure if he would be ready if Harry ever came to him for homework advice but he knew one person he could always ask.

Their dynamic seemed to have changed over the last couple of weeks. She seemed much more relaxed now. Less stiff and more comfortable. Her clothes even seemed to reflect her mood. She was in a pair of jean shorts and a see-through shirt with a red undershirt. Her muggle upbringing was quite apparent. Even though many witches and wizards opted to wear muggle clothing they still were under the impression that any clothes that ended above the knee were immodest.

He was of the opposite opinion. Molly Weasley would probably throw a fit if she saw how she was dressed, especially while in his company. He personally didn't care in the slightest. She was dressed like a normal teenager. However, it was clear that Hermione was of the impression that she needed to dress properly to be accepted by others. And so last summer when she was staging her even with the huge heat wave she often wore jeans and t-shirts.

And since she didn't care about his opinion she was able to let loose a little. And by loose, he meant not wearing neutral tones and instead wearing some colour. She might not act like the typical Gryffindor but a lion can't change its main and her red sneakers were a dead giveaway.

He kept his old bedroom though he realized that living in the same room as he did when he was a rebel teenager was probably not the best idea for a grown adult who was learning to be a parental figure. He decided to change things up to make it more adultish. He tore down his Gryffindor banner and instead of throwing them out, he decided to save them for something else he had in mind. He went through all of his photos and removed any and all traces of Pettigrew. Though he did most of that already. He decided to magically remove him instead of cutting out a hole. And then had them properly framed instead of stuck carelessly to the wall in a collage. He even took down his posters of scantily clad women. It was a huge stepping stone to being a responsible adult.

He went to go show off his little project and found Hermione in the Library. She had her head bent over as she scribbled furiously on some parchment. It was the first time he truly witnessed the different dimensions of her personality. At first, he was faced with the side that studies, was well behaved, and was polite. The one in front of him had a bit of a mouth on her and could be sassy and sarcastic.

"You've caught me at a really bad time." Apparently, she thought of something to her already written essay and decided to simply redo the entire thing to include it.

"Isn't it always a bad time? He muttered, she glared not appreciating the loudness of his distraction.

"It is when you are around," she said loudly, intending for him to hear it. There was a playful side to her. And he found it humorous. He enjoyed ruffling her feathers. It was different than with Molly Weasley, Hermione dished it out right back at him.

"Rude." He gave her a curious look. "Have you always been this sassy?

Hermione rolled her eyes.

"That right there. I am detecting high levels of sass," he said wiggling his finger at her.

She sighed in exasperation and stared at him incredulously until he left.

She didn't seem to mind his commentary since she never avoided him or huff in a puff. He knew that he had a big personality and that it could come across as obnoxious. And though at first, she seemed to question the decade of his music taste. She never seemed bothered by the volume. Which was so loud it could be heard from all corners of the house.

The music was a great distraction from his thoughts that slowly crept in despite him being in a largely improved mindset. It also helped fill the silence before he could be overwhelmed with guilt and doubt. But sometimes it distracted him a little too much and he would forget while singing along to some Sex Pistols song that he would forget that he was picking up sharp broken glass. He couldn't help but swear when he realized he pierced his thumb and it was already starting to bleed.

She seemed startled by his exclamation. But after seeing his thumb in his mouth and realizing that he wasn't in any imminent danger she relaxed. And then looked at him in mild wonder. "You know French?"

He was confused at first. How did she know that? Then he remembered he swore in French. He forgot he often did that. He tended to do it at Hogwarts so that the teachers couldn't get mad at him for swearing when they didn't understand what he was saying. But eventually, Minnie caught on. "I had a very extensive education before attending Hogwarts." It was one of the few things his parents ever taught him that ever came in handy. Though he was reluctant to say it.

He looked at her with a raised brow. "How do you know it?"

"I went to France with my parents the summer before my third year." She seemed to be overcome by the happy memory before she snapped out of her dazed look. "I'm not fluent but I studied up on the language for a month before we left."

Imagine having a life where you enjoyed and chose to learn a new language to travel to another country. "That sounds more fun than my childhood" She looked at him curiously. Though she didn't ask. She seemed well aware that his childhood wasn't something he liked to talk about. And it tended to be something the unspokenly agreed upon. He didn't talk about her parents and she didn't talk about his. But he didn't seem to mind too much. "I had etiquette training. I learned about proper titles to use when greeting someone. Which fork or spoon goes on each side of the plate. I had lessons on how to conduct business transactions."

"It was incredibly boring. And as you might have noticed I didn't exactly like to listen to them." She just nodded her head though she had her brows raised in exasperation. She didn't seem surprised though Sirius had a feeling that wasn't meant to be a compliment. "I was born a rebel.'' It was a theory he often toyed with. He always referred to himself and so did some family members as the Black sheep of the family. And he always took it as a compliment. He was proud to be nothing like the lot of them. That always brought a smile to his face.

He started rocking out to the music quite exuberantly now. He was really starting to have fun and just wanted to cause her to laugh. Which she couldn't stifle for long.

Hermione was an incredibly patient and caring individual. She had to be hanging around two boys all of the time. And having to deal with his ups and downs during the summer would have been exhausting for anyone else. It was for him. But seeing her interact with Kreacher was just a little over the top in Sirius' mind.

The little runt tricked Harry into thinking he was captured. And he almost died. Hell, all of that could have died due to that stunt at the ministry. It was lucky they all made it out relatively okay. Hermione's scar was still present and would probably never fade away.

And yet despite that and how he often called her a Mudblood often in earshot. She never insulted him or dismissed him. Instead, she pitied him. Always defended that he didn't know better. When Sirius knew full well that he did. But that was just a part of her character.

"You're a very forgiving person."

She shrugged off the compliment. "I have to be. My best friends are two teenage boys. Sometimes they just say whatever comes to their mind without a single thought." He forgot that he used to do that. Though most days he probably did the same thing. Moony was always the one who threw a shoe in his mouth. He knew for a fact that he probably said a lot of things he should regret. And that there were some he definitely did. "I think I will always forgive them no matter what they say."

"Really?" Cause there would no doubt be a lot to forgive. When you're a teenager you don't realize just how horrible those things are. He didn't. And he had a feeling she was talking from experience. Which included Harry and Ron.

"We weren't instant friends and the first two months of Hogwarts were lonely for me. I was reminded of that fact."

That surprised him. "I would never have guessed. The three of you are like bound by the hip." He could swear that it almost seemed like the three of them could read each other's minds. They were so in sync with one another. The idea itself seemed strange for there to be a time when they weren't.

"Not always. Sometimes I can't take all of their quidditch talks and they don't want to hear me talk about textbooks.

"It is nice to have interests outside of your friends. I wish I had. All my time was consumed by my friends." Maybe if he wasn't so blinded by his friendship, maybe he wouldn't still be struggling to move on with his life even after 15 years after several of their deaths.

"It's never too late to start a hobby. I can always teach you how to knit if you are interested."

Ya. He saw her knitted creations during Christmas. He thinks she was attempting to make a sweater. "I think I will pass." He wasn't that desperate yet. "Besides this house is currently my hobby." And it was an extensive one if the countless weeks of effort with no days off were any indication.

"And once you inevitably finish, what then?"

He knew what she was trying to do. But he wouldn't let her make a point. "Being a Godfather to Harry and your current magical guardian." That in itself was going to take up a large portion of his time. He honestly didn't know how real parents did it.

"And what happens when we leave to go back to school." Oh Ya. That happens in over a month.

"Shit." He also forgot that his job as guardian technically ended once his wards turned off age. Hermione turned 17 in September. But at least he had another year with Harry. But he knew that even once they were adults that didn't stop them from all being a family.

"You could always get a job," she suggested.

He almost laughed at the idea. "I'm good. Besides it would look bad on a job resume that I was imprisoned for mass murder for 12 years before I escaped.

"Who knows someone might take pity on you when they realize you were wrongfully imprisoned." Well, that wasn't out of the ballpark. Once his name was cleared, if his name was cleared; Kingsley and Tonks have been quite tight lipped about Pettigrews trial, there would no doubt be many people flocking to his side. Proclaiming they never believed the lies in order to get close to the Black fortune. Another one of his reasons for needing to find a job desperately. He was rich. And even with all of his plans to donate his money to charity, different funds and spending copious amounts on Harry, Moony and Hermione though she didn't know it yet, he would still be well off.

"Nonetheless I have no experience." At least any relevant experience. And though getting a job did mark the right of passage for any adult. He wasn't too sure of being restrained to any rules or order and schedules anytime soon. Right now he was going to enjoy his freedom. In whatever shape or form it came in. Even if it meant enjoying doing chores.

There was still much work that needed to be done. But this was definitely a start. And they had made good progress. Sirius was proud. It was the first time in a long time that he actually did something for himself. It was a lot homier and definitely liveable. The bathrooms weren't touched yet. The plumbing worked so he didn't have many complaints. Not much was done to the library. The drapes were replaced. And the wallpaper was peeling so Sirius just removed it and painted the room a dark blue. But none of the furniture needed to be replaced.

Hermione on the other hand was cleaning out and reorganizing all of the books in the library with Sirius's supervision. He was laying on the couch and she was telling him stories of her school years.

In Particular, she just finished her fourth year. And her experience at the Yule Ball. He should take Harry aside and teach him how to dance. Despite his father's reluctance and mild embarrasment, he was a good dancer. And he and Lily did like to go dancing before they went into hiding.

"Boys are idiots at my age," Hermione stated simply.

And he couldn't help but agree. When changing hormones were involved all boys were idiots. He definitely was when he was her age. "True but no one catches your eye.?"

"No, not really." Hmm, interesting.

"But what about the Bulgarian." He couldn't remember the name of her date.

"Victor?" Yes, that one. He was curious about what happened after their date. Did they actually date or was it just a one-time thing? But whatever happened. She sounded like she had fun before her disagreement with her friends. "We mostly hung out though we did go on a couple of dates. But nothing really came out romantically. We are still good friends though and write each other letters once a week."

"Why didn't it work?" He asked curiously.

She thought about it for a moment. But her answer didn't hold any anger or resentment. Just acceptance. "I was initially attracted to him by his maturity and he felt the same about me plus the fact that I didn't fawn all over him like his fans. He felt comfortable with me and could be himself. And it was great for me to talk to someone with an entirely different perspective than me. But in the end, I felt companionship rather than any romance. Plus it turns out I wasn't really his type."

He was rather confused by that statement. She was rather a pretty and intelligent young woman. Why wouldn't any boys her age say the same thing? "What do you mean?"

Hermione gave him a pointed look. As if he wasn't catching on to something. "He prefers men."

"Oh ya, that would do that then." He had a few past relationships with women who didn't feel that fond of his past dalliances with men. He did prefer women. But on occasion and depending on the bar, he would find a nice man to hook up with. And he did have a tendency to flirt with Moony in front of women. But it wasn't like he ever cheated on them. Despite the rumours swirling that he was a player.

"It was no hard feelings. It was such a relief for him when he told me and he even has a boyfriend now that he constantly brags about. I am happy for him." Well, he was glad to hear about that. From the sound of things, it was just a crush that ended up turning into friends. There was nothing wrong with that. And even better there was no loss, just a gain.

But that did beg a question. She said she wasn't his type and she did allude to him not being hers. What was her type? Possibly a messy-haired godson of his? Which may also be his reason for the current topic. "So what exactly are you looking for in a romantic partner?"

She looked at him completely bemused as she put another old dusty book in the Transfiguration pile she had going on. At least that was what Sirius thought Hermione was organizing by; subject matter. "Are you trying to give me love advice? Cause no offence but I don't think you are the best person for that job."

"I resent that comment."

She looked at him incredulously for a moment. Seeing if there was any malicious or teasing where there was not. Before sighing and giving in. He could hazard a guess that she didn't have many if any people to talk to about this about. He didn't think she was good friends with her roommates. And her only female companion seemed to be Ginny Weasley. "Okay sure why not. Obviously, maturity is a huge thing for me. Plus I am not interested in playing games. I want something serious. And don't you start. I want something simple. I don't need flowers or huge declarations of love. Just someone to talk to about academics I guess. Oh, and Crookshanks has to approve of course."

"Oh, so it's wrong for me to ask about your love life and yet it's perfectly fine for your cat to make judgement calls."

"Crookshanks has an excellent sense of judgement. Plus he is my familiar."

She did make a good point. And from what he could gather Crookshanks was rather picky with whom he liked. And if he recalled correctly. Crookshanks didn't seem to mind Harry so much. Though the other aspects of her criteria could be bent a little to include Harry. It could work surely. "Okay mature, simple, we'll go with intelligent and Crookshanks approval. That's all?"

"That's all," Hermione reaffirmed before going back to removing the books off of the bookshelf.

Well, she wasn't rather picky. And her criteria weren't too demanding in his opinion. And it seemed as though appearance didn't play a role or any influence in her decision. So that made things a bit easier. So why was she single? Surely there were those at Hogwarts who fit that list. There were a lot of students. "How come you aren't with anyone then?" She was a teenager. It was like a right of passage to explore crushes, romantic feelings and if you're lucky experience first love.

"You clearly don't know the students of Hogwarts very well." Well, he did and though it was 20 years ago surely teenagers weren't that different now. And if not. What about the Ravenclaws? Surely they would love and appreciate Hermione.

"Most boys are ruled by their hormones and are interested in gaining experience. Then there is the small problem that most don't particularly like me. They just think that I am book warm and those that do like me think that I am with Harry or Ron. Or that those two are my bodyguards." Hmm. She brought up Harry on her own this time. Maybe despite him not being her complete type there was still some unresolved feeling there. He would need to keep an eye out for that when Harry arrives.

"Hugh, that sucks," though he didn't really believe it. That just meant she was just as available as Harry was.

She shrugged it off. Not too concerned about finding the love of her life. "Not really. As I said, I am not interested in a fling. I want something to last and be real. And with my education and the war going on. I don't think I have the mental capacity to commit to something like that right now." Well, that made sense. But just because she wasn't actively searching for love didn't mean that love couldn't be near.

"How about you Mr lady's man. I am surprised that you haven't brought any women over her." It was true. He had been single for quite a rather long time. But he wasn't proven innocent yet. And though he could mask his appearance and head into a muggle bar. It just wasn't the highest on his list of priorities.

"Believe me I thought about it." Especially when he remembered that he was laying in bed alone and would wake up the same way. "But then again you are staying here and then Harry will be as well. And I just don't think I am ready to get back into the shake of things."

He wasn't sure if he was ready for the dating scene again. His trust in others was rather shaky. Even though Peter was just a friend and not a romantic partner. He still did break his heart and his ability to trust others was now shaky at best. Hermione was one of the first he had been able to open up to in a long time. And even that was slow going and probably easier since she wasn't a romantic prospect but just a kid or like a niece he hadn't seen in years.

"It's understandable," Hermione said kindly. And it was clear with the way she looked at him that he didn't have to explain himself. She was clever like that and seemed to be able to read others easily. At least with him. Or perhaps he was just too open.

"And at least I won't have to worry about you forgetting any silencing charms." He gave a bark of a laugh. Ya. she didn't. Unless his cousin and Moony got together and came over here. Then not even silencing charms would be able to save her.

"Ouch!" Hermione proclaimed. Causing Sirius to sit upright and look at her in concern. She was holding her hand and he could see some red pouring on her hand. "The book just cut me."

He stood up and immediately went and took a look at her hand. There was an angry red line on her palm. But after holding his wand over it, there didn't seem to be any residual magic on it or seeping into the wound.

After her hand was healed. And the panic and worry that immediately sparked inside Sirius at her call for help started to dimmer. He felt himself start to relax again.

Hermione on the other hand bent down and carefully inspected the book on the ground. It fell so that it lay open. After carefully touching it and noticing no more injuries she picked it up and inspected it. "Secrets of the Darkest Art." Well, that sounded ominous. And probably disturbing. And most likely held no concern for him. So he headed back over to the couch he was previously on. Though instead of laying back down he sat upright while she inspected the book. After a moment she asked, "What is a Horcrux?"

"A what?"

"A Horcrux?" Hermione repeated.

The word bounced around in his head. But it didn't sound even remotely familiar or trigger anything. "Never heard of it." Was it supposed to mean something? "Let me see the spine."

Hermione turned the book so that the spine was exposed. The binding had a purple tinge and hue to it. But the binding itself looked almost fleshy as if made from scales. "Oh ya. That's why. My father forbade me and my brother from ever reading any book with a binding like that. As you know, there are tons of books here on dark magic. But there are some that even my family didn't agree upon.

"Then why did they keep books like this?" She held it very delicately in her hands. Almost afraid of what dark magic it could cause by just holding it and speaking of it. Well, it already proved that first contact could physically cut someone. It was probably a spell his father cast on it to deter anyone from reading it.

"Because they are rare. And they are the worst of the worst. Image was everything. Anyways we weren't allowed to read any books with the black spine. Purple was okay as long as we had our father's permission. There were consequences if we ever read them and protection charms to prevent us from reading them. As you can see. But ones like that, well even I was afraid of the consequences." His fear as a child gave way to curiosity and spite as an adult. "So since it's open and my father would be rolling around in his grave to know that a muggle-born was holding such rare and expensive books from our library. You might as well tell me what this Horcrux is."

"Is that a good idea?" She asked cautiously.

"Probably not, but you have piqued my curiosity and no doubt your own. Go ahead," he said, waving her own.

She said in a clear and concise voice, "A Horcrux is a word used for an object in which a person has concealed part of their soul. A person splits their soul and hides it in an object outside the body. Then, even if one's body is attacked or destroyed, one cannot die, for part of the soul remains earthbound and undamaged."

Sirius felt his stomach grow queasy as she spoke. No wonder he was never allowed to read that type of book. That was horrific. And made Sirius extremely glad that he wasn't a dark wizard if that was an example of some of the dark magic they liked to engage in. "That is morbid and just plain disgusting."

"It is described as one of the darkest rituals ever performed and extremely rare to even be successful. Only one known individual has ever been documented as successful. It is a painful experience to rip one's soul apart. And can only be achieved after committing murder." Hermione tried to say it all in a calm voice but Sirius could hear the stutter and hesitation as she considered the words. "I can see why you were never allowed to read this." And that was putting it lightly.

"Ya. I think I just lost my appetite." He forgot what kind of horrible books his family collected since he never really took the time to go through any of the books before. Reading was more so Regulus' thing. But now he was the head of the family. It all belonged to him. And he didn't quite know what to do with it. If he could he would just toss them all in the trash and be done with it. But he had a feeling that just tossing books on the dark arts onto the streets, especially books such as that, wouldn't be a wise idea. "Put that book in a separate pile. The ones with the darkest arts can be stacked together and we can decide what to do with them later. Either we will burn them or just hide them away in the basement."


Sirius was ecstatic. No, that wasn't the right word. It was too simple and didn't truly explain the amount of happiness currently running through his veins right now. Though his joy and exclamation were also mixed in with relief and just hints of anger. But none of that stopped the huge smile currently on his face.

He couldn't believe the document in his hands or the newspaper in front of him. It had arrived an hour ago along with a simple note from Kingsley saying Congratulations.

He found himself just staring at it. Trying not to blink in fear that the words would vanish. He didn't know when the realization hit him or when the smile crept on his face.

He found himself running up the stairs towards the Library where Hermione still was after dinner. Still sorting through all of the books. Right now he didn't have the restraint to tease her or surprise her. He just couldn't hold back his feelings and emotions any longer. They were bursting to escape and he found himself itching in his own skin to simply blurt it out to someone. And right now that meant Hermione. And it wasn't just because she was the only person who was here. He wanted to brag to anyone who would hear. But right now he wanted her to know.

He found himself waltzing into the library and whistling as he went with his hands behind his back. Holding and hiding his treasure from her eyes.

She gave him an incredulous and almost suspicious eye, once noticing his appearance. "You are remarkably well-behaved tonight. What have you been up to?"

"Guess who made the evening news."

"What?" She said in alarm. And with what Sirius could read as a concern. If he wasn't practically jumping with joy he would be flattered. But he couldn't keep holding back anymore. It was all too much.

Sirius pulled the newspaper out from behind his back and quickly shoved it into her hands.

She was incredibly startled and confused by what was happening. And Sirius grew impatient as she straightened out the paper in her hands. It wasn't like she would need to flip through it. The article he was indicating was front and center on the first page. "Read it out loud, Kitten."

"Sirius Black infamous Azkaban escapee released of all charges." Hermione looked up at him in complete shock and awe.

"Keep going," he said impatiently, wanting her to get to the good part first. He was practically bursting out of his skin with excitement.

"As some of the readers remember, in the summer of 1993 Azkaban prisoner Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban Prison. The first person to ever do so. Sirius Black was convicted on 12 charges of murder and was accused of being a Death Eater. It appears all of the fear, paranoia and precautions we all took when wizarding society found out about the escaped mass murder were all for naught. Last month Peter Pettigrew was captured when breaking into the Ministry of Magic. Pettigrew was one of Black's murder victims however after 14 years the man was alive and well. And how? He was hiding as an unregistered animagus. It was revealed during the trial that he faked his own death in the year 1981. He confessed under Veritiserum that he was the one who killed those twelve muggles and framed Sirius Black in the process. He also revealed that he was the Potter's secret keeper and betrayed them to He Who Shall Not Be Named, resulting in their deaths and the famous tale of Hary Potter. Who is also Sirius Black's godson," Hermione's voice trailed off as she finished reading the page.

"Sirius this is incredible." She said it with such shock and awe. It almost seemed like she didn't believe it was real at first. He knew the feeling. But he couldn't stop himself from just nodding along. "I am so happy for you.

"I am so happy for myself too. This has been a long time coming." Too long in his opinion. But he wasn't going to allow this happy moment to be ruined by his anger and resentment.

He grabbed the paper from her and held it away from him at arm's length. Just admiring its beauty. He kissed the paper. This paper was living proof that he was free. It was just the newspaper and not the official document. He left that downstairs, too afraid that constant touching would smear the dried ink and ruin the words. But this almost seemed more legitimate since everyone would be reading the Prophet. "I am going to have this framed on every single wall including the bathroom. I am going to keep a copy in my coat pocket when I go out." Not only as protection if anyone threatens to have him arrested. But as a reminder that this was real. It was truly real. "I can go out." But that wasn't all this paper signified. "I am free," he muttered, still in shock. It wasn't just a pipe dream anymore or a fantasy. This was really happening. And he knew that it was just beginning to set in what this paper really meant. And once Moony found him his smile would be completely mirrored. But this was just simply incredible.

Hermione pulled him out of his thoughts. "You know what will be even better. When Harry finds out."

Harry. The first person to truly believe him and the idea that he would be free once again. Merlin. The look on his face would be the final nail. This was real and he wasn't just dreaming. "Should I go over to Private Drive and surprise him? Or should I wait for the tour and nonchalantly mention it when I show him his bedroom?" He didn't know what to do. He was suddenly overwhelmed by all of his options. His face was starting to hurt from smiling so widey but he didn't even care. He had so many thoughts and could execute so many plans. No longer bound or limited to Grimmauld Place or Padfoots form.

"Whatever you want," Hermione said kindly with her eyes shining.

Whatever he wanted. He could do whatever he wanted. The tears sprung up in his eyes before he could stop them. And without a single thought. He moved to Hermione and threw his arms around her. Simultaneously laughing and crying while he hugged her.

It was over. His prison sentence was finally over. And he was finally free to be with his family.