Chapter nine

Lady Longbottom invited Sirius to join her family for the remainder of the Christmas holidays, since Harry was already staying there. He accepted and told Harry he couldn't wait to spend some time with his godson and the Longbottom's.

After a few hours of talking, Sirius and Harry headed to the library, 'So what did you want to talk to me about in private?'

'It's not really private, but Neville and I promised to not reveal how this person helped. I wrote to him and asked if I could tell you.'

'So Peter, Crouch, Moody, all that was because someone helped you?'

'Yeah, it started when I was poisoned. Sirius, it was Snape, he really helped me with all this. I know you, dad and Snape didn't like each other and I know it would be no use asking you to be friends. That would be impossible. But he did more than you can imagine. First he discovered the potions in my system, then he made the anti-dotes for them. When he discovered I have mage sight, we got talking. Well, I showed him the map, he saw Crouch's name on it inside the defence classroom. It all went from there.'

'I know he changed sides, I doubt we will ever get on. But I will give my word that I will not deliberately antagonise him, in any way.'

'Thanks, that's all I was hoping for. But did you know that my parent's named Snape to take me if you and my godmother and her husband couldn't?'

'No, I am surprised that James would. Lily I understand so they were close.'

'I think that it was dad's way of apologising. He admitted that he would hex you lot when he could, but it wasn't as much as he liked.'

'We were pricks Harry, especially to Snape. I should apologise to him for a prank I pulled, it almost killed him. I never meant for it to go that far and it was just lucky your dad saved him.'

Harry knew this but he decided not to mention that Snape had told him about it. Sirius had told him already, but it must have slipped his mind.

'Since we don't really know each other that well, um, do you have money to buy a house?'

'The Blacks is almost as wealthy as the Potters. My grandfather refused to disown me after my brother went missing. So as the last Black, I disowned two of my cousins and reinstated the third. I cancelled their marriages as well since they were organised by my father.'

'Bellatrix and Malfoy. How will that affect them?'

'It means they lose the dowry that was given to their husbands. Most of Malfoy's money was from his wife. Lestrange is in the same boat, but since they are in Azkaban it's not like they will need it. The goblins have been notified so their vaults will be inventoried then the money returned to the Black vaults. I have an appointment to see them next week.'

'I didn't know anything about the vaults until just before returning to Hogwarts last year. When I blew up Marge and got to stay at Diagon alley I decided to speak with the goblins. I wanted to get some decent clothes but I wanted to make sure I didn't use too much.'

'So your mail from Gringotts must have been redirected. It was probably Albus since we're finding out everything he's been involved in. Anyway, let's join Neville and his grandmother.'

Harry and Sirius headed back downstairs to the conservatory where Neville was tending to the plants while his grandmother was reading.

The following day, Sirius escorted Harry and Neville to Diagon alley to meet up with luna. He found it surprising that his godson had a girlfriend and he was only fourteen. James didn't begin dating until he was nearly sixteen.

They sat outside Florean's icecream parlour and didn't take long before reporters turned up. Sirius cast some silencing charms to give them some privacy, it wouldn't stop the photographers taking their picture. Harry didn't seem to notice especially when his girlfriend kissed him. That picture is bound to get a lot of attention. The reporters knew who the blond girl was, the daughter of Xenophilius Lovegood, editor of the Quibbler. If Harry Potter was dating her and it looked like he was, then the boy would never give them an interview. He would do an interview for the Quibbler.

When the Daily Prophet was delivered the following morning, many people were angry with the picture on the front page. Harry Potter kissing his girlfriend, Luna Lovegood while visiting Diagon alley with his godfather Sirius Black and his best friend, Neville Longbottom.

The story went on about how Albus Dumbledore had been stealing from the-boy-who-lived from the time his parent's died. Many were outraged that the headmaster and chief warlock would do that to an orphan. He was sacked from his three jobs and his vaults were seized until the money could be returned to Harry Potter. Again, Harry had asked that the money be donated to St Mungo's, but also to supply new school brooms to Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. He wrote that he wanted Firebolts for the quidditch teams and Nimbus for the flying lessons.

Augusta allowed Neville to accompany Sirius and Harry while they went house hunting. The one thing that both Sirius and Harry wanted was for the house to have plenty of land around it and they wanted it secluded. Sirius planned to ward the property, but he was not going to connect the house to the floo network. Sirius or Harry didn't want people's heads appearing in the fireplace so they decided not to connect it. They knew they could restrict floo access, but neither of them wanted to be annoyed. Sirius did apply and was granted three reusable portkeys for Harry, Neville and Luna that way they could visit any time they wanted.

A few days before Harry was due to return to Hogwarts, Sirius received a letter from Minerva McGonagall, asking if he would pay a visit to Hogwarts. Sirius dropped Harry off at the Lovegood's then headed to Hogwarts.

Harry and Luna were sitting at the edge of the pond, 'This is nice, it's also relaxing,' Harry stared around the property and all he kept thinking about was how good he felt.

'You never could relax, now you can,' Luna fell back, pulling Harry with her then she moved until she was half lying over him, 'I know you can see aura's, like I can, but I could never see my own.'

'It's silver, it's beautiful, you're beautiful.'

Luna smiled, 'We match, you're silver as well and you're beautiful.'

Harry grinned, 'I think we were made for each other. Being with you feels right, like it's meant to be. I've never felt that before.'

'We are, we're soul mates my Harry.'

'My Luna,' Harry pulled his girlfriend closer then kissed her. He put as much love into the kiss that he could. He wanted Luna to know exactly how he felt.

Sirius was sitting in front of Minerva's desk, his mouth open, 'You're kidding.'

'I assure you I am not. So do you need some time or are you going to turn me down?'

'You do remember how many detentions I got when I was a student?'

'Naturally I do, I gave you most of them. You are an adult now Sirius, so even though you have changed, I do know that part of you will always be a Marauder. Since Severus is now the defence against the dark arts teacher, will you take over as transfiguration teacher, Sirius?'

'Alright, I'll do it, but if you find someone else that's good enough and not like the ones Albus hired, then give them the job. I'll stick around and do what I can but I'm not sure I'm suited to teaching.'

'If you can get through more than a year then hopefully things will settle down. If you still want to leave after that, I'll keep my ears open for a replacement. But I believe you will bring much to this school Sirius and to the students. Children are a lot different today than they were when I began teaching. I believe younger teachers are whats needed, you can relate more to them.'

'Maybe, I'm still getting to know Harry, but I can see us sitting up late at night just talking, especially about James and Lily. I want to be able to show Harry some memories of his parent's, but trying to buy a pensieve won't be easy.'

'You can always use the one here, but it must remain here as it belongs to Hogwarts.'

'I might take you up on that. So it looks like I need to work on my classes. Blimey, imagine me, Sirius Black, Padfoot, Marauder, a teacher at Hogwarts.'

Minerva smiled, 'Yes, I never thought I would see you as a teacher, but as I said, you can relate to the students more than the older members of the staff. Now I will help you set out what you need to teach, then it will be up to you. I just ask that you do not start pranking Severus again.'

'I already gave Harry my word that I will leave him alone. Now we're going to be colleagues. Does he know?'

'Yes, he knows, he believes you will team up with the Weasley twins.'

'Well, I do want to help them start their dream of owning their own joke shop. I might give them ideas, but I know as a teacher I can't go around pranking the Slytherin's…um, students.'

Minerva grinned, 'Yes, that must stop.'

'So have you worked on someone for potions?'

'Yes, I hired your cousin's husband.'

'Ted,' Sirius grinned, 'People like Malfoy will hate that, he's a muggleborn.'

'He is, so let's hope he might be able to stop certain students who believe they can get away with harassing muggleborns. Severus had a reason to support his Slytherin's, that reason is now gone. I believe many students, Slytherin's mainly will see a big change in their head of house.'

'So Severus acted like he supported the Slytherin's so he could return to spying when Voldemort returned. It would have worked, Harry explained how Severus acted, but how he helped Harry with the potions in his system. I can't believe Albus would do that. Have you found out why Albus suppressed Harry's magic?'

'Albus knew that Harry would end up more powerful than he. That frightened him. He was so used to being known as the most powerful wizard alive that he was scared he would be ignored when people found out about Harry. Tom Riddle, or Voldemort was powerful so he also thought there was a possibility that Harry could turn dark like Tom. If there's more Sirius, I just don't know what. Hopefully Madam Bones will get the full truth out of him.'

Sirius nodded, but he also knew there was more to all this, that Albus Dumbledore had more plans which involved Harry. Hopefully those plans would be discovered before Harry was place in another dangerous situation. Sirius did understand being wary of anyone powerful becoming another dark lord. But leaving Harry to be abused could have easily turned Harry dark, so that excuse did not make sense to Sirius. He would do anything to protect his godson, even against Albus Dumbledore but he would like to know if the man had any other type of plan for Harry so he could make sure those plans failed. Sirius would do a bit of investigating but he still hoped Amelia Bones was able to get the full truth from Albus.