Chapter four
For the next week Sirius could hardly concentrate on anything and his wife could see how worried he was. Amelia tried to reassure Sirius but even she was not sure if her husband would hear from his godson.
When two weeks passed, Sirius had resigned to the fact he would not hear from Harry. He's only hope was that Harry read the letter and hoped his godson would forgive him.
As Sirius and Amelia were having breakfast an owl flew down and landed in front of Sirius. He took the letter off the owl watched it fly off before he turned the envelope over.
'It's from the Queens Magical Academy,' Sirius whispered.
Amelia put her hand on Sirius' arm but he made no move to open the letter, 'Would you like me to read it?'
'Yes, I just can't.'
Amelia took the envelope, pulled out some paper, "Lord Black, you are invited to the Queens Magical Academy on Thursday the eleventh at ten a.m. If you can't make it then send a reply by no later than tomorrow. If you can attend, let us know and the letter you are reading is a portkey, but it is keyed to you and only you. Professor Sally-Anne Potter.'
'Harry's wife,' Sirius whispered.
'I would say so and if she is a professor at the school then it makes sense that your godson is as well.'
'Yeah, it does. Albus said if Harry survived the war then he could see Harry taking a position as a teacher. He just believed it would be at Hogwarts.'
'It's two days, you need to write back so they will know you are going.'
'Yeah, blimey I'm nervous.'
'Of course you are, that's no surprise love. Go on, reply then you know it's only a couple of days and you will finally see your godson.'
'One that I was never there for. I shouldn't even be called his godfather.'
'Not all of that was your fault. We spoke about this Sirius, Albus is to blame as much as Voldemort was. Then add Peter and Severus. Now go, we have to get to work.'
'Alright,' Sirius got up and went to the office to write his reply. When he sent Prongs, his owl off with the letter, he placed the letter he got from Professor Sally Anne-Potter in the drawer. He wouldn't need it until Thursday.
Amelia had decided to go in late for work on Thursday. She wanted to remain with Sirius until he left. She held him until there was a minute to go, then kissed him before she moved back.
'Tell him that most of us are to blame for his life and we're sorry, so terribly sorry.'
'I will love, I just hope he listens,' Sirius held the letter tight to him but his eyes remained on his wife. Right at ten a.m, he felt the pull of the portkey.
Seconds later he landed in an immaculate and spacious office. A very beautiful woman with blond hair and blue eyes was waiting for him.
'Lord Black, I'm Professor Potter.'
'It's nice to meet you Professor Potter. You are Harry's wife, right?'
'I am.'
'So he is here and willing to see me?'
'He's been here since it opened and yes he is willing to see you. I will tell you this Lord Black…'
'Sirius, please, call me Sirius.'
'Sirius, out of everyone who Harry felt betrayed him or hurt him, you are the only one he could understand. Once he was able to calm down and relax, he was able to think clearly. He forgave you a long time ago, but he was not ready to deal with anyone from his old life.'
Sirius sighed, 'He was hurt by the people who should have been there for him, especially me.'
'Your situation is understandable. He was pleased when he heard you were finally cleared.'
'It was because of Harry that I finally got my name cleared.'
'All he did was mention it to the prime minister when they were talking about Voldemort. Now I believe we should go see my husband.'
'Yes, let's.'
Sally and Sirius stayed silent as they walked through the building, 'It seems to bright and modern.'
'It is, Harry gave a lot of ideas when the queen first come up with the idea for another magical school. Harry said that even though he loved Hogwarts, it was cold, drafty and at times it was depressing. He believed a school should be inviting. Here we are,' Sally could tell Sirius was nervous so she gave him a smile before opening the door, 'your guest is here sweetheart.'
'Thanks love.'
Sirius stepped into the room to see a very tall and a very built Harry potter, who did not look like a complete copy of his dad, not like he used to. Sirius could see some of James and Lily's features in his godson's face.
'I worked out you must teach here, but I never figured you to be the headmaster. It's good to see you Harry.'
'It's nice to see you as well Sirius. But I've only been headmaster for five years. I was teaching before that. I taught defensive magic to the sixth, seventh and eighth year, along with teaching anyone who wanted to play quidditch.'
'So the years are split up?'
'Yes, first, second and third years have different teachers to fourth and fifth and again the same with sixth, seventh and eighth year. We found the old house system of Hogwarts caused more discord between the students. We do have some student who remain all year round, those are orphans or have families who do not want anything to do with magic. But otherwise, we're a day school. How about we sit down and have a cup of coffee, unless you prefer tea?'
'Coffee is fine, working long hours, coffee helps.'
'Dobby,' Harry called, the little elf popped in making Harry smile, 'Coffee and snacks, thanks Dobby.'
'Yes Master Harry.'
'You met my wife, you'll meet my children later.'
'Minerva told me that Jamie and Lily are starting this year.'
'Yes, twin girls, they have looks from Sally and mum, but with blue eyes instead of green, but they do have mum's auburn hair. But we have twin boys as well, they're seven,' Harry stared at Sirius, 'Liam and…Orion.'
Sirius sucked in a sharp breath, 'After me?'
'Yes, Liam is for Sally's dad, who was killed ten years ago.'
Sirius turned to Sally, 'I'm sorry for your loss.'
'Thank you.'
'Are they anything like me and your dad?'
'Actually, it's Jamie and Lily who like to play pranks. The boys are a bit more serious.'
'What do they look like?'
Harry picked up a picture from his desk and handed it to Sirius, 'See for yourself.'
Sirius looked at the picture of Harry, Sally and their five children, 'Another girl as well.'
'Yes, her name is Jasmine, she's just turned a year old.'
'She's beautiful, all your children are beautiful. But the boys look exactly like you except with blond hair.'
'Yes, they do. But we're lucky, all our children have Sally's eyesight.'
'You're not wearing glasses anymore.'
'Muggle laser surgery. I heard you married Amelia Bones.'
'Yes, we spent so much time together, first with trying to stop old Voldy, then when the queen decided she needed to be more involved with the ministry of magic. We ended up falling for each other. For a while we thought because of my years in Azkaban that I couldn't have kids. But two years ago, Amelia gave birth to our daughter, her name is Jamie, Jamie Susan Black.'
'We had the same idea for our daughters.'
'We did, but she looks just like me, poor kid. Amelia did ask me to tell you how sorry she is.'
Harry waved Sirius' apology off, 'No need. I know who was to blame, three are dead and I'm just waiting until the old man finally decides to cross over. I don't blame anyone else, well, Fudge I do, but I heard he died right before Voldemort showed himself.'
'They wanted Lucius Malfoy in the position which would make it easier for Voldy to take over. I have to know Harry, when you left that day, where did you go?'
'I had Dobby go empty my vault, I couldn't touch the other one at the time. But when I had that changed to muggle money, I realised I had enough to live on for ten years or more. I already worked out a few things before I left. I planned to stay with the Dursley's just long enough to strengthen the wards. I don't care if they die but I didn't want to be responsible. So I spoke with Dobby before leaving Hogwarts. With everything I went through I knew I couldn't stay with the Dursley's, but I also knew I had to go somewhere that the death eaters or Voldemort couldn't find me. Dobby wanted to bond with me, then I had him buy me a magical tent, along with everything we might need for a long stay. When the dementors turned up, I knew it was time to leave. I couldn't wait until the wards strengthen, not when they minister wanted to snap my wand. I stayed in the tent for a year before I sent a letter to the prime minister. I'd been reading about the attacks and deaths, I figured I could at least give him information. A week later, two MI5 agents picked me up for a meeting with the prime minister and the queen. When they found out I was living in a tent, they worked on a secure house for me. I lived there until the school was built.'
'We all speculated that someone was filling in the muggles, we just never thought of you.'
'I'm sure some would believe it was me. But I was feeling guilty, I had info that could help so I decided it was time to speak with someone that might be able to do more than the ministry and Dumbledore. I figured if my letter was read, it would have gone to someone in the military. I never expected to be in many meetings with the queen and prime minister. I was asked a lot of questions, they even had a pensieve so I could show memories. When the MI5 and the colonels were concentrating on the memories, the queen asked me about Hogwarts. She had heard stories but nothing was ever confirmed. Once I explained how Hogwarts was run, the subject, teachers, houses, all that, she then told me about how many muggleborns ended up back in the muggle world, mostly they joined the military since they didn't have proof of a muggle education. She wanted a school where there was no prejudices with the pure bloods and where you could get your magical and non magical education at the same time. So she spoke with a few magical people who said they could work on ways to find muggleborns before they ended up at Hogwarts. The school was up and running within a year. I finished off my education, but also did my muggle education at the same time. I went travelling after that, met Sally who was on holiday's.'
'Harry explained about the new school, I instantly asked if I could help out somewhere. I left Hogwarts after my first year, due to many reasons.'
Sirius watched as Harry put his arm around his wife and knew that something terrible had happened to the young woman when she was a girl at Hogwarts. Sirius knew that many of the kids from old pure blood family's always got away with anything, it seems Sally-Anne may have been one of their victims. Sirius knew Snape allowed his Slytherin's to get away with anything and Albus never punished anyone, except with detention. Sally-Anne had been a victim and the ones that hurt her never got any real punishment, so like many others before her, she left.
