Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter or Dragon Age franchises.


"Padfoot?"

The large black dog barked happily for a moment, its tail wagging, but then turned back towards the path they had been heading down and growled. Harry wiped at his eyes and looked up to see several of those monsters, the darkspawn he reminded himself, heading their way.

He raised his left hand and pointed towards the monsters. "Confringo!"

It had been many years since he had learned the blasting curse. Once upon a time, a pitiful excuse for a wizard named Pettigrew had blown up a street full of muggles with it. Harry was now much, much more powerful than that traitor had ever been. Chunks of darkspawn flew apart and he was just glad they were still far enough away that none of their tainted blood landed near him.

"Truly, 'tis better than I had expected," Morrigan said as she relaxed slightly. "Perhaps your world's magic was more capable in combat than you suggested."

"Padfoot, get over here! And don't you dare go near those nasty things. They'll make you sick."

The large dog turned back and leapt towards him, shocking Morrigan as it changed shape into a man. "Harry, is that really you? You look all grown up!"

Harry embraced his godfather and laughed. "Now that is an understatement and then some."

"You know this shapeshifter?"

"Sirius Black, meet Morrigan," Harry answered. "Morrigan, meet my long lost godfather."

"What do you mean long lost?" Sirius asked. "I've only been here for about a month."

"It was a lot longer back home," Harry sighed.

"Oh hell, what happened at the ministry? Were the other kids okay? And please tell me someone got that bitch Bellatrix for me," he growled out the last part.

"Other than losing you, we turned out okay," Harry replied. "As for dear old Bellatrix, that was the first time I ever tried to cast an Unforgivable curse."

"Really? And what do you mean, the first time?"

"The war was fucking awful, Sirius," Harry said, taking a deep breath as he tried to keep so many memories buried. "I used the Cruciatus against her, and the sad thing is, the bitch laughed at me. She said something about how my anger wasn't enough, that I had to really mean it. Well, the second time I cursed her, fucking bitch wasn't laughing then. Of course, it was more than a year later, but that's a whole other story."

"Damn Harry," Sirius sighed. "I missed out on a lot then. But you got rid of Voldemort in the end?"

"Yeah, after way too many good people died."

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you anymore after that day."

"I'm just amazed that I found you here," Harry smiled. "I thought my luck had screwed me over again."

"What do you mean?"

"I stepped through the veil," Harry shrugged. "Then I ended up here."

"Why the hell would you do that?" Sirius yelled.

"That's a much, much longer story. By the time it came to that, things had really changed. Let me ask you something. How old do you think I look?"

Sirius stepped back and really looked him over. "Well, you are a wizard, so there is the whole longer life span thing. For a muggle, I'd say maybe thirty at most. So I'll guess, forty?"

"Not even close," Harry chuckled. "It's a really, really long story, but I'll tell you soon. What have you been doing since you got here?"

"Trying to stay alive mostly," Sirius replied. "I've run into a lot of wolves and even a few acromantulas."

"What is an acromantula?" Morrigan asked.

"A giant spider," Harry answered.

"Ah, yes. Those can be rather annoying, but at least one can often be warned by the webs they leave behind."

"Well, Sirius, I've got good news and bad news. We're on a quest!" he teased with a huge smile.

"What's the bad news?"

"The quest is both. On the bad side, there's an army of those things," Harry pointed to the remains of the darkspawn. "They are going to try to kill everything, and they're led by something called an Archdemon."

"Lovely," Sirius grumbled. "What's the good news?"

"I have something to do to keep me from getting bored," Harry grinned then turned to motion to Morrigan. "Also, I met this beautiful young woman."

The witch in question raised an eyebrow at his comment, but said nothing. Harry was a little disappointed that she didn't even give a hint of a blush. That was alright though; he had an intuition that she was going to be hard to get to past all the crap Flemeth had 'taught' her.

"I can't fault your taste in women," Sirius barked out a laugh. "Or your priorities, for that matter."

"You do realize that you two can keep talking while we walk, I hope?" Morrigan asked rather pointedly as she began to skirt well around the mess in the middle of their path heading north. "I'd like to reach Lothering sooner rather than later."

"Good point," Harry nodded. He pulled out his wand. "Evanesco!"

The corpses disappeared, and Morrigan stopped in her tracks. "I think that is one of the first spells you'll have to teach me."

"I'll see what I can do," Harry chuckled.

"So, whatever happened to that girl you were seeing?" Sirius asked.

"I married her," Harry smirked in response.

"Not again," Sirius moaned. "Just like your idiot father, falling for the first girl that comes along. Now admittedly, Lily did turn out to be a total fox, but still. It's the principle of the thing. If only I'd been there for you to be a properly terrible influence."

Harry just laughed as they kept walking.


They were in luck though, as it was only about twenty minutes later before they reached the outskirts of the village. Unfortunately, there were a number of men blocking the path that led into town, and by their rough appearance, not to mention the armor and weapons, it was fairly clear that they were not the friendliest sort.

"I really don't need this," Harry said with a groan. "I'll give you all one chance to surrender."

The bandits laughed. One of them stepped forward with some swagger. "Looks like we've got you outnumbered. I'll give you one chance to surrender." His men chuckled at that even as they began to pull out crossbows and unsheathed swords.

Harry shook his head sadly and flicked his wand at the fool who had spoken. A cutting curse easily decapitated the leader and the other bandits all flinched back.

"An apostate!" one of them yelped.

A deep growl shocked them even more as Sirius had shifted forms. Harry hadn't noticed.

"Run!"

Harry watched for a moment as they took off.

"Are you going to allow them to flee?" Morrigan asked, clearly curious about his reasoning.

"I don't like killing people if I don't need to," Harry shrugged. "They were no real threat to us."

"An enemy you spare today may come back to haunt you in the future," she replied.

"Then I'll slaughter them if they're stupid enough to try it."

"Damn, Harry," Sirius said as he shifted back. "You didn't let me have any fun."

"Where's your wand anyway?" Harry asked.

"Ah, well, you see..." Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled it out, obviously snapped in half. "I didn't have the easiest of landings when I arrived here. She didn't survive the trip."

"I might be able to do something about that later. Why don't you grab the headless idiot's sword for now?"

"And check for a coin pouch," Morrigan added as they both turned to look at her. "He won't be needing it, and these men were robbing travelers."

"Not a bad idea," Sirius nodded. "I'd love some normal food for a change."

"We should head for the tavern then," Morrigan suggested. "Not only to sate your hunger, but 'tis also the place we should check for information and rumors. 'Tis likely any survivors from the battle fled here."

"Battle?" Sirius asked as he jingled a bag full of coins and stuck it in his pocket.

"The king of Ferelden had led his forces against the darkspawn at a place known as Ostagar," Morrigan explained. "From what we saw, they were wiped out, and with them, all of the Grey Wardens."

"Grey Wardens are a type of warrior dedicated to killing the darkspawn," Harry added.

"And the only ones capable of killing the Archdemon," Morrigan finished. "Hence why Harry has decided to pose as one while he tries to rally what allies we can to stop the Blight."

"Okay," Sirius shrugged. He picked up the bandit's sword and gave it a few swings to get a feel for the weapon. "Can't say I never followed your dad into terrible odds either, so this should be a piece of cake."

"That's the spirit!" Harry laughed patting his godfather on the shoulder.

"You two are actually making me wish I was back at home with Mother," Morrigan said with a glare. "At least she had some sense."

"She never would have been in Gryffindor with us," Sirius sighed.

"No, but remember that Wormtail was," Harry reminded him.

"Fair point."

Morrigan grumbled and pushed past them, walking into the outskirts of the village. Harry noticed a number of people in tents, likely refugees from the south. With the darkspawn on their way, those people would need to keep moving. But it also made him realize that whatever sort of inn they might find in the town would likely not have any rooms available.

"This place doesn't look so great," Sirius said as they walked towards the center of town, Morrigan leading the way.

"Lothering 'tis nothing more than a village on the far southern side of the Imperial Highway," she said.

"Is it a typical village?" Harry asked.

"Fairly so, from what I have experienced," Morrigan answered before raising an eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh hell, and here I was hoping for a bath too," Sirius groaned.

"We were in a marsh," Harry pointed out.

"So?"

"You were a dog," he added. "You could have just gone for a little swim."

"You think you're funny," Sirius snorted. "Believe it or not, that doesn't help nearly as much for when I'm walking around in human form."

Harry stepped closer and took a sniff before reeling backwards and waving his hand in front of his face. "You weren't kidding, Padfoot. Damn, here let me help." He cast a couple of spells to freshen the air; even if it would be a temporary effect, anything would help. "Reminds me of when you were living in that cave with Buckbeak."

"Whatever happened to that great, ruddy beast?" Sirius' voice had slipped into a credible take on Hagrid and Harry couldn't help but smile.

"Let me think back." He scratched his head and tried to sort his memory. "From what I recall, he went back to Hogwarts and lived in the forest with Hagrid keeping an eye on him. I know he survived the war- I remember him getting a few nice swipes at Death Eaters in a battle or two. After that, I suppose he stayed in the forest for the rest of his life."

"We'll have to toast him then," Sirius said as they got closer to the tavern. Other than a few strange looks at their clothing, thankfully no one had stopped them as they walked. "Anyone that did some damage to those bastards deserves us raising a glass for them."

"I think you just want a drink," Harry chuckled.

"Damn right I do," Sirius barked out a laugh, and how that sound brought back the fact that Harry had finally found him. He threw an arm over Sirius' shoulder. "Since I got that little coin purse from our brigand friend, I'll even buy this time."

"I could hardly say no, now could I?" Harry grinned as he pulled open the door. They stepped inside and saw that the place was packed full of people. Every table and chair was occupied, there was a line at the bar, and the center of the room had a few men in armor watching the crowd. He saw their eyes go towards them, and Harry had a feeling that they were about to make things more interesting.

"Here now, where have you come from strangers?" one of them swaggered closer.

Harry gave Sirius a look and he nodded. He slid his wand down into his hand as he spoke. "We are just travelers looking for information. I've heard there was a battle south of here that did not go well."

"Those damned Grey Wardens led the king to his doom," the man replied, eying them carefully, especially Morrigan. Harry took a step slightly in front of her- while she hadn't flinched from anything yet, he was unsure of how much battle she had actually seen. Besides, he could handle anything a few ruffians might be able to try. "The girl looks like a mage. Looks like we have a survivor, a straggler. What do you think boys? Maybe we should take her with us to see if Loghain has any use for her."

"Gentlemen, surely there's no need for trouble," a voice interrupted with an oddly French sounding lilt. A redheaded woman wearing a robe bearing a sunburst pattern stepped forward to intervene. "These seem to be merely a few more poor souls seeking refuge from the Blight."

"Stay out of this sister. We have our orders, and you don't want to get in our way."

"You know, I just met this lovely woman a couple of days ago," Harry said, grinning and ready to deal with these fools. With any luck, he might be able to interrogate one of them. "And I would be a poor traveling companion if I let her be kidnapped by such ill mannered brutes."

"Take them, men!"

Harry whipped his wand at one to the side of the leader. "Imperio!"

He'd long ago lost any scruples he may have had about the spell- it was far too useful to pass up, especially in sowing discord in your enemies during a fight. The victim of the mind control curse stabbed one of his compatriots in the back. Meanwhile, Sirius shouted with glee as he slashed at the armored man closest to him. As his sword struck home in the man's side, it got stuck in the flesh and armor, but Sirius just pushed his way forward, shoving his foe into the bar. He grabbed a mug and brained him, laughing while he did so.

The redhead pulled out a long dagger and cut one of the others across the back of the leg, bringing him to his knees. Morrigan was in action as well- she pointed her staff at a soldier who fell to the ground, holding his head and screaming. Harry was impressed- that seemed like a useful spell he would need to be learning soon.

Only the leader was left, and seeing as how he was trying to fight off one of his own who was still under Harry's Imperius, he was an easy target. Harry froze him in place with a body bind curse, his sword clattering as it fell to the ground.

The crowd around them had cowered back from all the violence.

"Please, we surrender," the man who had been hobbled by the redhead called out.

"I think they've learned their lesson," she replied.

Harry snorted and shook his head. "I don't take it well when people attack my friends, and I certainly don't take it well when men like this leer at women and attempt to 'take them prisoner.' I've seen way too many victims of that sort of thing."

"Please, wait-"

Harry cut the groveling man off with a cutting curse to the throat. He turned to look at the Imperius victim, who fell on his own sword. Sirius finished his enemy off at the same time, while Morrigan cast some sort of spell that made the man screaming on the floor gurgle before he fell still.

"You could have shown them mercy," the redhead argued with a sigh. "Are you going to kill him too?"

She was pointing at the leader, still unable to move due to Harry's full body bind.

"Probably," he shrugged. He floated the man over to the corner at a table that had quickly become available as those townsfolk closest to them fled. Sirius and Morrigan followed him over, both with weapons still at the ready. Harry lifted the first spell and immediately disarmed the soldier. "I suggest you sit down, and if you're very lucky, I may just let you live."

"You're no Circle mage," the man glared and spat out, "Apostate!"

"Is that supposed to be some sort of curse?" Sirius asked with a chuckle. "This place is wild, Harry."

"An apostate is a mage who is a fugitive from the Chantry," the redhead replied as she came to sit with them.

"In other words, the only mages who aren't slaves," Morrigan added with a sneer. "I would expect that sort of lie of omission from a religious fool."

"While that is the type of view I would expect from an apostate. But before we argue anymore, perhaps I should introduce myself- my name is sister Leliana."

"I am Sirius Black, my good lady," the old rogue grinned and kissed the back of her hand. "It is my great pleasure to meet you."

"I think first we should have a little privacy," Harry said with a glance over his shoulder as the crowd was all staring at them. "Muffliato!"

"Where did you learn that spell?" Sirius gasped.

"Why do you ask?"

"It was... your mum, Lily, she created it when we went to school," he said as he sat down and sighed. "I remember it going around, everyone and their dog learning it so we wouldn't have to worry about teachers bothering us or the gangs of Slytherins who all became little Death Eater pieces of shit. Unfortunately, I think she taught it to Snivellus as well. But the Marauders made good use of it for some of our pranks."

"Huh, I never knew that." Harry had kept his wand pointed at the soldier until his shoulders finally sagged and he sat down on the other side of the table. "Let me just deal with this first. Tell me everything you know about the battle at... where was it?"

He had turned to Morrigan who filled in the name, "Ostagar."

The soldier scowled. "You won't get anything from me, apostate."

"Fine, be that way," Harry shrugged. "Legilimens!"

The soldier might have been a stubborn bastard, but he also didn't have any magic in him, and looking into his mind gave Harry no trouble at all. Only a moment later, he lifted the spell. "This Loghain fellow betrayed the king and abandoned him on the field of battle. And this piece of shit was there, so he knows it too. Still think I should offer mercy to this traitor, sister?"

"I do not wish death to any," she replied. "He is no threat to you."

"Not at the moment," Harry nodded. "But he also wanted to capture Morrigan, which I will not allow."

"I can take care of myself," the witch scoffed.

"From what I've seen, I agree," Harry said with a nod. "That doesn't mean I won't help you. But more importantly, the bastard was already happily thinking of 'sampling the goods' during the trip back to Denerim if he had managed to take you captive. And that is something that I have no tolerance for."

"Neither do I," Morrigan hissed with narrowed eyes at the captive soldier.

Harry conjured a very sharp knife and offered it to her. "Would you like to do the honors, my dear?"

"Indeed."

The man tried to struggle and rise to his feet, but Harry used his magic to clamp down and hold him in place. The soldier's eyes went wide as Morrigan leaned over and sliced open his throat. Harry did not bother to lift the spell until it was clear that the man had breathed his last. He slumped forward onto the table.

"I suppose I can understand your actions, even if I do not approve," Leliana sighed.

"You know, Harry, if you're wanting to avoid drawing more attention to us, a notice-me-not charm wouldn't be out of place right now," Sirius suggested.

"Good idea." After casting the spell, the staring crowd began ignoring them, turning back to whatever conversations they might have had before all the ruckus. "Now, I have to ask you Leliana, what is with the accent?"

"I grew up in Orlais," she answered.

"And how do you spell Orlay?" Sirius asked. Once she did so, he couldn't help but grin at Harry- not just her accent but the spelling couldn't have been any less obvious.

"By any chance, are the people from Orlais more... refined?" Harry asked with a smirk.

"If you mean are they arrogant, decadent fools, then yes," Morrigan cut in with a sneer.

"I would not put it in quite that manner, but yes. Orlesian culture is very different from Ferelden's. The fact that the two countries have often been at war, and that it was only a generation ago that Ferelden managed to drive the Orlesians out of the country has left things quite tense."

Harry nodded at Leliana's explanation, before turning back to Sirius.

"French," the two men said at the same time before starting to laugh.

"What is so funny?" Leliana wondered.

"From what I've seen of these two, it could be anything," Morrigan scoffed.

"Okay, before we get into too serious of a conversation," Sirius began, winking at Harry. "Which I am an expert at, of course, why don't we get a round of drinks for while we talk?"

"I wouldn't mind a glass of wine, if they have it," Leliana replied. "Or I suppose mead wouldn't be too bad if they don't have any wine."

"Morrigan?" Harry asked.

She raised an eyebrow but eventually responded. "Just water. One of us should remain coherent, and it doesn't seem like I can count on you and your friend to do so."

He grinned and stood up. "Come on, Sirius- you're buying."

"I'll drink to that," his godfather barked out a laugh.

"What should we do about him?" Morrigan asked, pointing at the corpse still at the table with them.

"Oh yeah," Harry turned back around. "Search him to see if he's got any money or anything useful I guess. Then I can vanish the mess."

"Then you should hurry back so that you can do so."

Harry shrugged and followed Sirius over to the bar. His godfather was cheerfully talking to the barkeep. An arm was thrown over his shoulder once he got close enough. "Harry, just let me say that this day just keeps getting better and better. What better way to meet a beautiful woman than in a bar fight?"

Harry chuckled. "I've had worse first impressions, definitely."

"Me too," Sirius grinned. "Anyway, I figured since it seems like you're interested in the witch with those spooky golden eyes, I'd better focus my attention on the French bird. Between the accent, the whole 'naughty nun' thing, and the red hair, I think I'm in love."

"I didn't know you liked redheads," Harry raised an eyebrow. "Should I be worried that you were interested in my mum?"

"Well, James had called dibs on Lily, but I had eyes, you know?" Sirius laughed. "I once joked that if anything ever happened to your dad, that I would be there to console her."

"Did dad hex you?"

"Nope," Sirius had a little gleam in his eye.

"Really?"

"Lily overheard us and she was faster on the draw. I spent the night in the doghouse- literally," he laughed even harder, having to wipe at his eyes. "She locked me in my animagus form for the night. I wasn't allowed to be around her when she was nursing you either."

"Come on, Sirius, that's not cool," Harry giggled. He could easily imagine Sirius trying to peek.

"I couldn't help it," his godfather chuckled, shrugging and raising his hands in defeat. "I swear, she must have gone up to like an F-cup or something. And you, you lucky little bastard, got to suck on those magnificent boobies."

"I think I can understand," Harry grinned, fond memories coming back to him. "You should have seen my wife once we had our first born. She was already really curvy before the pregnancy-"

"I seem to recall you saying something about that," Sirius interrupted with another laugh. He turned back to Harry and the mirth faded from his eyes. "I remember you telling me about her at Christmas. That was just a few months ago for me, Harry. How long has it been for you?"

"Too long," he sighed. "Decades."

"Fucking hell," Sirius exhaled. "How do you look so young then? Did you come across another Philosopher's Stone?"

"I'll tell you later," Harry replied, feeling too exposed at the bar. "I imagine we'll need a bunch of long talks for me to catch you up on everything. But I'd rather wait until it's just the two of us."

"Alright." Sirius patted him on the shoulder. The barkeep placed the drinks on the counter and Sirius handed over a few coins. "Let's not keep the ladies waiting any longer then."


Author's Note: Sirius is back! Yay!

The party begins to take shape. Unlike the game, Harry won't be doing every single side quest and neither will I describe all the random battles here and there, just when the plot requires them.

And for those of you who follow my other works, I'm hoping to have another installment of Does Voldemort Even Lift, Bro? done in time for the holidays. Till next time!