Chapter 5: Bittersweet Freedom
After he was freed from Azkaban, Regulus and Arcturus Black took Sirius to Arcturus' retreat. "What am I doing here?" Sirius asked.
"You're here because I thought you'd rather be here than at Grimmauld Place with your mother." Arcturus grumbled.
"I could have gone to my bachelor pad." Sirius argued.
"There are probably several wizards and witches waiting for you to go there so they can make you pay for your crimes." Regulus argued.
"I'm innocent, brother." Sirius shouted.
"Try telling that to the Wizarding World, Sirius." Arcturus defied his rebellious grandson.
"Dumbledore will listen to me." Sirius stated.
"Ha." Regulus scoffed. "He's so biased against our family he blindly accepted your supposed guilt regarding the deaths of your wife and daughter in spite of no evidence regarding that specific crime being found at all."
"He wouldn't do it after everything I did for the light!" Sirius defended the Headmaster.
"Then go talk to him, Sirius." Arcturus defied him. "Then you may come back for comfort when your light-aligned friends turn on you."
"Tea, Masters?" Tippy offered. Arcturus and Regulus accepted but Sirius rejected out of fear there'd be some potion in it.
Sirius apparated next to Hogwarts' grounds, where he was 'welcomed' by the groundskeeper. "What do ya want, Black?"
"First I want to talk to the Headmaster and then we'll talk about my flying motorbike, Hagrid." Sirius answered.
"Forget it, Black." Hagrid angrily replied. "You don't deserve yer bike back and the Headmaster has nothing to say to murderin' traitors."
"I am innocent and I want to see the Headmaster." Sirius demanded. "As Harry Potter's Godfather, I want to see my godson."
"YOU DARE USE HIS NAME AFTER BETRAYING HIS PARENTS, BLACK?" Hagrid angrily shouted.
"I am innocent and I want to keep things civil." Sirius replied. "However, if necessary, I'll use my Godfather power to take Harry from whoever took him from the Dursleys."
Reluctantly, Dumbledore welcomed Sirius into the Headmaster's office. "Sirius Black, what do you want?" Dumbledore asked without his grandfatherly voice.
"My godson." Sirius answered. "I'll understand if whoever took him from the Dursleys wants to keep him but I insist on regular visits at least."
Dumbledore didn't understand what made Sirius so sure Harry was no longer living with the Dursleys but saw no need to correct him. "And why would I permit it after you betrayed James and Lily?"
"Because I am innocent and I don't want Harry to think otherwise." Sirius answered. "I'm willing to answer questions under Veritaserum if that's what it takes to convince you."
"You must be able to resist Veritaserum if you want to use it, Black." Dumbledore steely replied. "I'll do everything in my power to prevent you from doing to Harry what you did to Athena and Acquila."
"How can you think I'm involved with that?" Sirius asked with a hurt expression.
"After what you did to James, Lily, Peter and those muggles, it's not hard to figure out you did it, Black." Dumbledore coldly answered.
"My Grandfather was correct about you, Dumbledore." Sirius stated. "You are biased against my family. Did you really believe what you said when you told me I didn't have to follow my parents' dark beliefs?"
"Yes, Black." Dumbledore sadly answered.
"As of today, I can no longer believe that answer to be truthful, Headmaster." Sirius replied. "Goodbye."
Hurt by Dumbledore's disbelief, he went to visit his cousin Andromeda for legal assistance. "What do you want, Black?" She rudely asked.
Sirius was shocked by her reaction. "Dromeda, I…"
"DON'T CALL ME 'DROMEDA', BLACK!" Andromeda shouted at her cousin. "YOU LOST THAT RIGHT WHEN YOU KILLED THOSE MUGGLES AND ORDERED THE DEATHS OF ATHENA AND ACQUILA!"
"Even you?" Sirius asked. "You know me better than that."
"Shut up, Black!" She shouted again. "There are too many witnesses!" She then shut the door at his face.
Dejected, Sirius returned to his Grandfather's retreat. "I can't believe it!" Sirius sadly exclaimed. "Even Andromeda wouldn't believe me. At least I can hope Moony believes me but simply couldn't do anything because of his…" He then remembered he was talking to people who didn't know about Remus Lupin's condition. "…furry little problem."
"Do you mean Remus Lupin's lycanthropy, Sirius?" Arcturus asked.
"What?" Sirius was shocked. "How could… Did Snivellus break his promise?"
"Oh, so Severus knows about it?" Regulus maliciously asked.
"Yes, Reggie." Sirius answered. "But how did you find out?"
"The clues were there for anyone who bothers to check the facts, Sirius." Arcturus answered. "That boy was always absent during full moons and we wouldn't have dismissed it as a coincidence; his father had a drastic change of view regarding werewolves before the boy entered Hogwarts; the Shrieking Shack only had screams during full moons back when your friend was a student; and there were rumors that werewolf Fenrir Greyback once escaped Ministry detection by passing himself as a muggle in spite of Lyall Lupin not falling for the trick."
"Greyback?" Sirius asked while feeling sad for his friend. Being bitten by any werewolves was bad for itself but Fenrir Greyback was eviler than the average werewolf. "One would think the Wizarding World's most infamous werewolf wouldn't be able to pull this trick."
"The Werewolf Registry was ill-equipped back then, Sirius." Arcturus explained.
"What about you, Reggie?" Sirius asked his brother. "Last time I checked, you were looking forward becoming a Death Eater."
"With you joining Dumbledore's Order of the Phoenix, Grandfather Arcturus and Grandfather Pollux didn't want to risk losing the only other way to continue the Black line, Sirius." Regulus explained.
"Figures." Sirius muttered.
"Anyway, Sirius, I presume you're going to see your godson now." Arcturus assumed.
"But how, Grandfather?" Sirius desperately asked. "Dumbledore will use his power to keep me from taking Harry in in spite of my rights as Godfather."
"Don't worry, Sirius." Arcturus reassured his grandson. "The Dursleys will let you visit him."
This certainly wasn't what Sirius expected to hear. "How do you know about the Dursleys? And why would Harry still be there with so many wizarding families willing to take him in?"
"The Headmaster believes Harry must live with someone related by blood to his mother so whatever magical protection she left behind won't wear off before he's seventeen years old, Sirius." Arcturus explained and Regulus then told his tale of how he chanced upon Harry.
Whatever trouble Sirius had with believing his brother and his Grandfather would defend him was nothing compared with what Regulus had just told him. "Regulus Arcturus Black, I can believe what our Grandfather explained about why Prongslet would still be with the Dursleys instead of it being a provisory arrangement as I initially assumed when I was told Harry would go to them, but I don't think Headmaster Dumbledore would leave a kid at somebody's doorstop without either knocking on the door or ringing the doorbell."
"Fine." Regulus replied. "Let's talk to them and you'll see I'm telling the truth."
After the three Blacks put on muggle clothes, which alone was worth the trip in Sirius' opinion, they went to the Dursleys and, while it's unclear what kind of reception Sirius expected, it certainly wasn't what he got. "Welcome back, Regulus." Petunia, or a woman who, in spite of not behaving like Sirius learned to expect from her, looked like her, said and then noticed Sirius. "Oh, good. I see your wrongful imprisonment finally ended, Sirius." Now Sirius was convinced she wasn't the same Petunia he knew. "And this must be your Grandfather Arcturus Black."
"Lord Arcturus Black, you… never mind." Arcturus stopped himself before he called Petunia a 'filthy muggle'. "May we get in?"
Petunia welcomed them in. "Look at that, Vernon!" She exclaimed. "Sirius is free! When did the trial take place?"
"There was no trial, Mrs. Dursley." Arcturus explained. "The charges against my grandson were dismissed for lack of conclusive evidence."
"You may call me Petunia, Lord Black." Petunia replied.
"And you may call me Vernon, Lord Black." Vernon added.
"And you both may call me 'Lord Black'." Arcturus replied. He might be willing to put up with muggles for sake of having an influence on Harry Potter but he's not willing to allow muggles to call him by anything less formal than 'Lord Black'.
Vernon then turned his attention to his nephew's Godfather. "Sirius, I understand you have rights over Harry but, unless you have a more reliable way than his mother's protection, I ask you to leave Harry here. I trust you're innocent since the protection didn't keep you away so feel free to visit him whenever you like."
"Thank you, Vernon, but we'll have to make it a formal situation." Sirius replied. "You and Petunia remain as custodians and I'll be his magical guardian in the Wizarding World."
In the next day, Sirius, Arcturus, Vernon and Petunia went to the Ministry to register Sirius as Harry's magical guardian while Regulus and Tippy watched over Harry and Dudley. "You want WHAT?" The witch in charge of Wizarding Family affairs asked. She already found it odd like the rest of the Ministry when Sirius Black and his paternal Grandfather showed up accompanied by muggles. "Mrs. Dursley, are you aware that Sirius Black is the man who betrayed your sister and her husband to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, don't you?"
"He's innocent." Petunia argued.
"Professor Dumbledore gave testimony to confirm Sirius Black was the Potters' Secret-Keeper." The witch argued.
"He only gave testimony that James and Lily intended to ask Sirius to be their Secret-Keeper." Petunia counter-argued. "He also left protections at our home that prevent any wizards and witches with ill intentions towards Harry from approaching. That Sirius approached us proves he doesn't intend to harm Harry."
"Or that the Blacks managed to bypass the protection left behind by Professor Dumbledore." The witch said.
"We'd rather believe Sirius Black is innocent." Vernon argued.
"And it's not up to you to judge our intentions." Arcturus arrogantly stated. "Just formalize the parchmentwork before we file a complaint against you."
"The Headmaster will hear about that." The witch declared.
"I'm counting on it." Sirius maliciously replied. Had he not still grieving over his murdered wife, he'd be flirting with her.
End chapter.