I'm back with a new post! And I still don't own Harry Potter.

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Harry robotically walked after McGonagall, lagging slightly behind her as they moved down the halls.

McGonagall looked back at the boy.

"Mister Potter, please don't believe what people say about Mister Black."
Harry tensed,

"W-what do they say, professor?"

McGonagall gave him a peculiar look, then shook her head,

"Never you mind. It's not important."
Harry looked slightly green as they reached the headmaster's office. Right…he just needed to remember what he'd read with Hermione.

Remember the plan…remember the plan…remember the plan…

Fuck. What was the plan again?

"Musk sticks."
Harry looked up when McGonagall muttered the password.

That was a weird password.

McGonagall muttered something about telling Dumbledore off for making her say something so weird.

"…is that even a candy?"

Candy? Harry wondered, then his mind snapped back to the reason he was climbing up the secret stairs towards the headmaster's office to begin with.

"Come in." Dumbledore's voice came from inside the room, filtering through the doorway.

McGonagall opened the door and entered the office.

Harry tensed.

A very pale looking man with yellow teeth and long, black hair turned around in his seat. He might have been handsome…if not for those two key factors.

Harry shook a little.

"Ah, Harry." Dumbledore smiled at the boy benevolently, "I would like you to meet your godfather, Sirius Black."
"Y-you know he's a godfather and…and you still let him into the school?" Harry's eyes widened.

Sirius Black looked quite confused at Harry's reaction.

Dumbledore hummed. He opened his mouth, then closed it, tilted his head to the side, then reached across his desk to a bowl full of hard candy and popped a lemon drop in his mouth.

"I invoke my ignatum right!" Harry quickly remembered the plan.

Dumbledore choked on his candy, then ended up swallowing it whole.

Why was Harry trying to call on the protection of the magical mafia?

"Where did you learn about something like that?" Sirius wondered, "And why are you trying to use it?"
Sirius's grandfather had often done business with members of magical organised crime groups so he was familiar with some of the terminology.

Could it be? Had Harry heard about the Black family and was scared that Sirius was a dark wizard?

Well, he supposed that was a reasonable reaction, trying to come up with a smart way to defend ones self…but to make a deal with the magical Mafia?

James and Lily would be rolling in their graves! (Yes, they were, but from laughter)

"Harry, I will never hurt you." Sirius said, "I'm different from the rest of my family."
Harry shot him a suspicious look.

So, he admitted he was part of the Magical Mafia? And in front of Dumbledore no less! Maybe the headmaster wasn't as trustworthy as he'd originally believed.

"Oh yeah?" Harry frowned, "Have you ever killed a man?"
"Wha? Of course, not!" Sirius's eyes widened.

Just what was it that people had been saying about him? Was this about Pettigrew?

"Look, the thirteen muggles that exploded was a frame-up!"
Harry's eyes went wide.

He'd killed thirteen people?

"That's why Pettigrew is gone now."
And he killed that guy named Pettigrew as well?

"Anyways," Sirius let out a sigh, "I went over to your relatives house to have a talk."
"W-what did you do to them?" Harry asked him palely.

It wasn't that he loved his relatives, but still, he wouldn't feel too good if they'd been killed because of him.

"We just talked!" Sirius sputtered, "About your custody. Anyways, you'll be living with me from now on."
He'd gotten custody of him? Just how far up was he to have that sort of pull?

Harry then started weighing his options in his mind.

"Will I still be allowed to attend Hogwarts?"

"Of course!" Sirius wondered why he thought he wouldn't be.

"When I live with you, will I be given three meals a day?"
"Wha? Yes! Why wouldn't you?"

He decided to push his luck.

"Do I get my own bedroom?"
"Yes…" Sirius was starting to worry.

What kind of life had Harry lived that he thought he wouldn't get something so basic?

He made a mental vow to prank the hell out of the Dursleys the next time he went around to visit.

Harry in the meantime was starting to think that, at the very least, being under the protection of the Mafia didn't sound too bad. And if Death Eaters attacked they might start a war with organized crime, and surely they wouldn't risk that, especially if Sirius Black was as high ranking as he seemed.

"Okay, fine." Harry said, "But I don't want to be involved in anything illegal and you won't use me as a drug mule."
Forget pranking, Sirius was going to murder the Dursleys.

But how to get away with it…

Dumbledore looked between Harry and Sirius and popped another lemon drop in his mouth.

He wasn't entirely sure he was following along, but he had a vague suspicion that this was Lavender Brown's doing.

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As Lavender left for her Christmas holidays, she couldn't shake the strange feeling that she'd forgotten to tell Harry something.

Oh well. It probably wasn't important.

All the children unloaded off the Hogwarts Express, rushing off to meet their families.

Harry approached Sirius Black on the platform. Another man was there waiting with him.

"Hello, Harry. I'd like you to meet Remus. He was a close friend of your dads and a really good friend of mine." Sirius introduced the two.

Harry looked Remus over warily.

He looked run-down. His robes were somewhat tattered, and he had a tired look about him.

Maybe it was because he'd seen things, Harry thought.

"Are you…a member of Sirius's family?" He decided to ask.

He didn't know that he should talk about the Mafia while they were in a train station full of people.

"Not by blood." Remus told him, "But we're as close as brothers."

"Really?" Harry wondered.

He hadn't expected him to be a high-ranking member as well.

"And…my parents were…like that?"
Remus furrowed his brow in confusion at the wording.

Like what exactly?

Lavender passed them by, chatting happily with her aunt when she saw Harry.

Oh, right! She remembered now what she was supposed to tell him. She looked between Remus and Sirius, then back over at Harry and shrugged her shoulders.

Well, he'd probably figured it all out by now anyways.

Her and her Aunt Ness continued along their way out of the train station and Lavender once again forgot about the joke she'd played on Harry which had (unknowingly) gotten completely out of hand.

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"Lavender!"

Lavender was scooped up into a hug when she got home by her mother.

"Oh, I missed you so much! How was Hogwarts? Did you make lots of friends?" She pulled away from her daughter who had been just about starting to suffocate.

"I made a ton of friends! I even got a rival!"
"A rival?" Her mother wondered questioningly.

"We did receive a lot of letters from Hogwarts." Ness recalled, "Especially from a rather irate gentleman who insisted he wasn't Satan. Rather peculiar…"

"He's our potions professor." Lavender supplied helpfully.

"I…see…" Ness said, an odd look on her face.

He hadn't written out his real name and she found the letters most confusing. Lavender had put a propulsion engine underneath the chair or one of the teachers and sent them flying? Their Lavender?
That didn't seem right…

"I made cookies!" Lavender's mother said excitedly.

"Chocolate chip?" Lavender asked her.

"Of course!"

….

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"Sirius? Is something wrong?" Remus asked after Harry had been sent to bed for the night.

"Well…you might think this is strange, Remus…but I think Harry might be involved with the magical mafia."

"What?"

…

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The kids all returned to Hogwarts after New Years. Harry's eyes were sparkling and happy. He'd never had a holiday like that before! Hell, he'd never had a Christmas like that before! He'd gotten presents and Sirius…well, his godfather had actually gone a bit overboard, if Harry were being obvious.

He'd bought Harry a whole wardrobe of clothes, toys, books, and candy. Then there were the presents he'd gotten from his friends.

Ron's mother had gotten him a homemade sweater and fudge. Hermione had gotten him a copy of Hogwarts: A History and Lavender had gotten him a book demonic contracts titled How to Outwit the Devil.

He did wonder if she really believed Snape was Actually Satan or if it was all an act.

Ron just thought she was barmy.

When Harry explained to Sirius why Lavender had sent him to the book, he'd burst into uncontrollable laughter.

Why this was so funny, Harry didn't know.

And, of course, he'd also received an invisibility cloak which had apparently once belonged to his father according to the note he'd gotten with it which had been unsigned. Sirius had confirmed that the cloak had indeed belonged to his father.

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"Hey, Lavender." Harry greeted his friend and rival.

"Hey, Harry." Lavender grinned at him, "Are you getting pumped for our duel? The time is fast approaching."
"Oh. Right." Harry said.

He'd been practicing dueling with Flitwick. He wondered how Lavender was coming along with her dueling practice with Snape.

"Hm, guess I'll have to push myself hard for the day of the duel." Lavender grinned, "Maybe I could practice in the Room of Requirements."
"The Room of what?" Harry wondered.

"Hey…" Lavender suddenly thought of something, "That's an idea…Sorry, Harry, I just thought of something! I need to run."
And with that, she rushed off to who knows where.

"Hey, Harry."
Harry turned to see Ron.

"How was your winter break?"
"Pretty good." Harry said, "Yours?"
"It was good." Ron said, "Say, you know, I asked my mother about godfather's over the holidays and what they were…"

….

For those of you wondering, Musk Sticks are indeed a candy. As are all the other passwords to Dumbledore's office. I thought I should clear this up since someone asked about it.