The next day I woke up feeling lighter, all the challenges of this school year were now behind me. And now, I didn't have to worry about Voldemort being in the castle anymore, his constant presence always made me slightly unsettled, throughout the year.
During breakfast, Dumbledore's absence was noted by everyone considering it was the last full day of the year. He was probably resting any injuries Fluffy gave him after I left. I knew he wouldn't want to harm Fluffy, considering how close Hagrid was to the dog, so he was at a disadvantage in the fight. And only, Hagrid would be able to calm him down, so Dumbledore had his hands full.
During all the final classes, they gave us material to review over the summer, to prepare for the second year. However, none of it was going to be marked so I didn't expect many of the students to bother doing it considering it was all theory work. Since, underage students weren't allowed to perform magic outside of school. Thankfully, that didn't apply to me and considering all the years I spent learning theory before Hogwarts, the review was useless for me.
The final Quidditch game was held right after all the classes were done. The result wasn't a surprise for anyone. Though the score ended up being our largest of the year, since the snitch stayed out of my sensing range for awhile and because the Ravenclaw seeker couldn't find it either. As a result, the game continued on for some time and we ended up winning 500-50. With our dominance in Quidditch, plus Hermione constantly getting house points in class with some points from Neville and I, once in a while; we ended up winning the House Cup without needing the blatant favouritism.
It was presented the day of the Leaving Feast and this time; Dumbledore was in attendance to give it to Gryffindor. I know I shouldn't care because it won't matter in the long run, but it still felt good knowing we won without relying on last-minute technicalities.
As for Dumbledore, he looked completely fine but I could tell he was hiding a lot of discomfort and I'd noticed his left wrist was bandaged up as well. Quirrell's absence was explained away with a cover story about him going off to explore more vampire nests. And that he would not be returning next year as his trip would take a long time. I saw some students around the Great Hall look skeptical at that, but nobody could question him on it, or would dare to.
We left Hogwarts about 2 hours after the Leaving Feast. Hermione, Neville and I discussed our plans for the summer, during the ride. Hermione and her parents were going to Italy for the summer. Since canonically, I knew they would be going to France the following summer, it seemed travelling was a yearly activity for the Grangers. Neville was going to be spending the summer at one of the Longbottom's estates, also located out of the country. Though Neville didn't know where, his grandmother remaining tight lipped about it. As for me, I told them I'd be playing tourist in London, with Sirius, since neither of us had the opportunity to explore it much.
When the train arrived in London, they wished me well for the summer, and then grabbed their stuff and went out to meet their relatives. I closed the blinds after they left and called Tipsy to take me back to the Manor.
Now just before we left Hogwarts, the twins told me they had received letters that said some emergency had come up so they had to leave immediately after arriving at the station. So, they would have to postpone meeting Padfoot. I didn't remember anything from canon being relevant but I didn't press them since they wouldn't have been vague, unless it was very personal, they were very open with everyone that way. So instead, told them I'd make sure to get in touch with them during the summer, to reschedule the meet. They left without actually giving me a way to reach them, they had faith that I would be able to get in touch with them regardless or else I would have asked before they left.
That's why elves are the best, they know instinctively where they need to go. They told me once, it was because of their innate connection to magic. Although, it's not like I won't be able to do the same…eventually. The Wand of Watoomb, in the comics, had the ability to scry whatever the wielder wanted. If that is true for my wand, then it might be something I could do in the future. Although, I'm not sure how strong I would have to get before I was able to do that. But there was no point thinking about it now, I had other things to work on at the moment. I'd slowly uncover all the abilities of my wand, there was no rush.
When I landed in the Manor, I was immediately whisked into a hug by Sirius.
"Harry! I missed you so much!" He said, smothering me into his chest.
I mumbled out my response, and that's when he realised how suffocated I was. He quickly let go and apologized before laughing and pulling me into another hug, albeit a lighter one. He dragged me into the dinning area right after, where the elves had prepared a Welcome Home Feast.
Now I had eaten a lot during the feast at Hogwarts, but I was a growing adult after all. Besides, I could make up for it, during tomorrow's work out. With that thought, I joined Sirius and the elves and we all proceeded to stuff ourselves.
When there was no more food left, we all had food-comas. Even the elves were too lethargic to begin cleaning right away, for the first time since I had come to live with them. It was tiresome but we all managed to move to the sofas and then passed out…I don't know when but at some point, the elves woke up and moved Sirius and I to bed. I wasn't sure about Sirius, but I know I didn't wake up till the following day.
Even though it was summer break, I didn't let that disrupt my routine. I woke up early as usual, but my workout was a lot more intense. Had to make up for yesterday, since I was still feeling a little stuffed. Only had a light breakfast because of it, the same went for Sirius as well, who had woken up while I was working out. He came down for breakfast, just as I sat down...
"So, while you were off lolling around Hogwarts, I was busy taking care of all our legal problems." Sirius said with a smug expression as we sat down on the sofas, after finishing our breakfast.
"Oh really? Please enlighten me" I said with sarcasm. I was suspicious of Sirius being able to figure out all the legal proceeding of the normal world so quickly.
"Do you know who Andromeda Tonks is?" He continued on when I agreed with a nod. "Well, she's my older cousin, in case you didn't know that, Mr. Know-it-all. The two of us used to be the outliers of the Black family. And we both ended up getting kicked out the house too, so we were always close because of that. She came by to apologize for not trying harder to get me out when I was first arrested. This whole time she thought I at least got a trial; however bad it may have been. It was only after reading the Prophet when I was released did, she realize the truth."
"Why did she wait till now to come see you, you've been released for a few months now?" I asked curiously.
"Tt was because she was feeling guilty and needed to work up the courage, is what she said. I wish you were here Harry; I drove her mad. Almost got tears too, until I started laughing. Well worth the few hexes I got."
I shook my head in faux disappointment. I knew the nature Sirius had, so I'm sure he pretended to have been very hurt by her inaction, all this time. The hexes probably came as comeuppance after Andromeda realized he was just messing with her.
Sirius and I had talked about this before, and the only people he really blamed were Pettigrew, Voldemort, and partially Dumbledore. As he should have at least made sure Sirius got a trial.
"I'm glad you had fun ruining, what was probably a difficult apology for her, but I still don't see how-" I asked when I got myself out of my musings, or tried to before he interrupted me.
"I was getting there, but very well, if you want to be serious:" He, said twisting his expression into what he called his serious expression. I had to stop myself from laughing out, I couldn't lose. It was game we often played; him trying to break my composure, while I tried to keep us on point.
"When we started talking about everything, we ended up opening some old wounds we shared with the family. It helped us make amends, as it were. Eventually, got around to telling her that I found out I was never actually disowned from the family. And I'm now the Head of the Black family, allowing me to welcome her back in, if she wanted." He explained with his mock serious face.
"And did she accept?" I asked curiously, forgetting the original point of our conversation for a second.
"Well, she said no initially, felt it wasn't something she needed anymore. But I told her not to do it out of spite of our families but instead do it, so years from now, the Blacks are remembered because of us and our children, instead of our parents. We could control how the future Blacks would grow up. She readily agreed after that" He answered.
"Wow, that was actually some sound piece of advice." I gave him a backhanded compliment and then got back on point. "So, I'm guessing after that conversation, you two eventually started discussing a little bit of my circumstance with the Dursleys. And then she told you that she knows someone who could probably help us get sorted out…Am I right?"
Well actually, her husband Ted does" He, said slightly gloating at the fact that I wasn't exactly right in my guess. "He's a muggle-born actually, the reason why Dromeda got kicked out of the family. But anyway, he's really good friends with a solicitor working in the muggle world who helps other muggle-borns establish a life back in the old world, after spending so much time away from it. She said she will get in touch with this solicitor and let us know when we can meet him"
I nodded my head to show my agreement but said "So what I'm getting is that, Andromeda and Ted Tonks are the ones, who are getting it sorted for us. All you did was basically ask your older cousin for help."
"You cheeky bugger!" He then stated while laughing and lunging at me, trying to trap me into a head-lock.
We somehow got into a spontaneous duel in the main room. All friendly spells, but it was an intense duel nonetheless. The close quarters of the room made for quick exchanges between both of us firing spells when peeking over whatever cover we had, like the sofas, or the tea tables.
We went on for about an hour, only used basic spells but it was still a lot of fun. I asked him to join my trainings whenever he could, his keen insights from his experiences would be very helpful in refining my overall usage of magic. He agreed but only on certain days, I woke up too early for him to want to join regularly.
We had the elves prepare us a quick lunch and after wolfing it down, we set off for 12 Grimmauld Place. The place looked exactly as I had thought. Visible dust layers were present all around the house. The floors, tables, chairs, portraits, everything was covered in dust. A few seconds after we landed at Grimmauld Place, it's caretaker came to rudely greet us.
Kreacher and Sirius traded insults for a few seconds before I got annoyed of it quickly. It was entertaining for just a short time. I told Sirius to go with Sebas and check out the house, while I toured with Kreacher. He was wary of my idea, but agreed when I passionately stated I was here to explore Grimmauld Place, not watch Kreacher and him fight it out.
So as Sebas and Sirius toured the house, I went along with Kreacher. He tried to hurl insults at me but I was barely paying attention to him. I just wanted to get far enough away from Sirius so I could ask Kreacher about the locket. And when I thought we were far enough away, I cast a wandless Muffliato, just to be safe. Kreacher who had continued to insult me stopped when I cast the spell, wary of what I was going to do.
"Kreacher, what we are going to discuss now, must not be shared with anyone else, understand!" I stated grimly.
"And why would Kreacher listen to the traitor's disgusting friend?" He asked condescendingly
"Because I will help you complete the task your previous master, Regulus, gave you." I answered confidently.
"You! What! How do you know about that, Kreacher has never told anybody about it?" He asked in rage.
"Well, Kreacher, I can tell you how I know this or I can help you destroy it, your , I know you are a good elf Kreacher, and you feel guilty for failing the last task your master left to you so I want to help you." I was laying it on thick, but I wanted to make sure I secured getting that locket when I got to Hogwarts. I wanted to destroy 3 horcruxes this year, if I could; the diary, the locket and the diadem.
"You're lying, Kreacher has tried many times to destroy it. But Kreacher has failed every time…" Kreacher continued to rage out at me.
"I know you've tried your best Kreacher, but that locket is special. To destroy the locket, you need very special objects. I know you don't know me, so it's hard for you to trust me. But I promise you, give me a few months and I'll have the way to destroy the locket." I tried to console him.
"How does the traitor's filthy blooded friend know this method?" He inquired, rage dripping off every word.
"I know because there are other objects just the same as this one, that need to be destroyed. I learned of them at the same time as learning how they can be destroyed." I told him.
"What? There are others…Kreacher has failed Master Regulus so much!" he yelled out again. If I hadn't cast the Muffliato spell, Sirius and Sebas would have definitely heard him this time.
"It's okay Kreacher, like I alluded to before, I know of them all. And in a few months, when I get back to Hogwarts, I'll be able to destroy 3 of them, including the locket you have been keeping safe for all these years." I tried convincing him further.
He took on a pensive expression before agreeing but very reluctantly. I thanked him for it and reminded him to keep it a secret from Sirius. He answered in confirmation just as I sensed Sirius and Sebas approaching. I cancelled the Muffliato spell before they realized it was active.
For the rest of our time at Grimmauld Place, Kreacher was more behaved with me. He still treated Sirius like dirt but was better with me. He didn't acknowledge me or anything but he stopped throwing insults my way. I guess he would wait to see if I followed through on my promise, before actually opening up to me. Sirius was too pre-occupied with insulting Kreacher to notice his change in behaviour.
We ended up staying till the evening, Sebas taking note of everything that would need to be cleaned, repaired, replaced or thrown out before the place could be used. Sirius wasn't going to be moving in, instead we were looking at remodelling it to be our headquarters for our business that we would be starting up very soon.
We had already begun discussing some of my ideas yesterday. The first project we would be working on would be turning board games played in the normal world to magical equivalents; Monopoly, Risk, Uno, Scrabble were all on our list.
Starting the project was going to be great, because it would involve teaching Sirius to play the games, so it was work and pleasure. And considering his prankful and child-like nature, he would have great suggestions for the games once he figured out the rules.
Working on the board games, would also allow Sirius and I to review Runes together. While I had done a lot of self-studying before Hogwarts, with Sirius, I would be able to fill holes in my knowledge that I didn't know I had. Self-learning can be dangerous because if you don't know where you missed important details, and proceed ahead before you are ready, it can lead to some bad results.
Sebas took Sirius and I back to the Potter Manor just as the moon rose in the sky. Kreacher opted to remain at Grimmauld Place, to the relief of Sirius but the disappointment of Sebas and I. I knew why Kreacher's mental state had deteriorated so much, as for Sebas, he knew all too well the tragedies of being house elves for wizards.
The following day started off just as relaxed as the previous day. The difference today was that after breakfast we left to meet the Tonks' and their friend. We ended up travelling via the Floo, it being my first time. Unlike canon Harry though, I didn't stumble or trip using it, remembering the trick to it.
When I saw Andromeda Tonks for the first time, I could understand why the book Harry attempted to attack her the first time he saw her. She did look a lot like Bellatrix Lestrange albeit more sane, calmer and way less intense looking. Her husband, Ted looked a lot like Peter Burke from White Collar, not sure how accurate that was to canon. I didn't remember how the books had described him, while the movies had excluded Andromeda and him all together. Nymphadora, AKA Tonks, was not at the house unfortunately, I was looking forward to meeting her, she was one of my favourites characters.
The friend, Randal Willow, was not a character from canon, at least not one that I knew. He had graduated from Hogwarts the same year as Ted and we didn't know much about Ted, so it made sense. Randall faced a lot of difficulty getting a job in the wizarding world. So, he ended up re-joining the normal world again, choosing to become a lawyer so he can help other wizards in the same situation he was in.
After talking to him, everything became a lot easier at least, in terms of creating a paper trail. Turns out Hogwarts was actually a registered private school in the normal world. It was created to make it easier to enroll students in case authorities got involved for any reason. It was officially run by a revolving panel of alumni muggle-borns. Randall said all Sirius and I had to do was send him our school records and he would do the needful. In my case, I would have to send it to him yearly. I also discussed getting adoption papers for Sirius and I, which he said would be no problem. And as I wanted, he could also get it backdated. Turns out there were many muggle-borns wizards who couldn't get jobs and turn back to the normal world and they all help each other whenever possible for things like this.
With the pleasantries out of the way, I then asked what needed to be done to get the Dursleys arrested. The Tonks, and Randall, were surprised, not expecting that particular request. I only had to explain a little bit to help them understand, all three were intelligent enough to read between the lines. I saw it on their expressions when they realized that I was alluding to child abuse. They didn't ask any details at all, but voiced their support in any way possible.
It was Andromeda who came up with having Sirius himself go to the authorities, once both of our paper records came in. It was a little risky, but we also didn't have too many other options, the main issue of explaining my time at Potter Manor.
The play was to have it seem like Sirius Black, a widowed reclusive, adopted a missing child he found passed out on the side of a road that he took to the nearest hospital. The only thing the child remembered was his first name, Harry. He explained that was only because he remembered coming to a similar hospital before and heard his uncle tell the nurse that his name. That piece of information was to point the authorities directly towards my older hospital records, which I hoped still existed and weren't lost because of some fire or what not.
Now with nobody being able to find any information on Harry's relatives, Sirius took it upon himself to care for Harry. Eventually, enrolling him at his former institute, a boarding school called Hogwarts. And it was there that Harry would get recognized by an old teacher at the school who taught Harry's mother, Lily Potter, Lily Evans at the time she was a student. The green eyes he had being particularly distinctive, instantly reminding her of her favourite student. That teacher informed Sirius of that information, who then used the mother's maiden name to find Harry's relatives. He would tell authorities that he discovered that Lily and her husband died in a car accident leaving their son orphaned, in the care of Lily's sister Petunia Dursley, previously Petunia Evans.
Hopefully, the authorities would then take a look into the life of Harry Potter since he started living with the Dursleys until he supposedly ended up living with Sirius Black. If the authorities asked to speak to the teacher, Andromeda would take the part, relying on magic to advance her age to make it believable. However, we would have to wait at least a month before Sirius could go to the authorities and start the plan, it was the minimum time Randal said it would take to make sure our cover stories were seamlessly inserted into the normal world. We didn't want anyone find any holes in them ,after all.
I told him the timeframe was more than acceptable, Sirius and I had plenty to busy ourselves with over the summer. I had to slap my hand over Sirius' mouth before he blabbed out the current project we were working on. I wanted the few families that I knew of to be the first beta testers of our games, so I wanted it to be a surprise for them, especially for Ted. And Randall, I would be giving him the games we created for his family too. Sirius and I then bid the three of them farewell and returned back to Potter Manor; it was dinner time by the time we made it back.
