Author's Note:

I did some research and figured out that in the world of Harry Potter, a professor roughly makes between £32, 000-£47, 000 a year. When you convert that to wizarding currency it is equal to about £40, 000 which is 13, 273 Galleons 14 Sickles 5 Knuts

365 days a year, 52 weeks; 4 days a week of teaching = 208 teaching days as homeschooling means also educated in the summer;

40, 000 ÷ 208 = £192 per day which one then converts to wizarding currency

13, 273 Galleons ÷ 208 = 63.8 Galleons

14 ÷ 4 (days per week) = 3.5

5 days, 5 Knuts, 1 Knut per day

Daily wage: 64 Galleons (round up), 4 Sickles (round up) and 1 Knut

For some reason, I really wanted this to be accurate and I spent a ridiculous amount of time figuring it out with the help of the website: Muggle Currency Converter of Gringotts Bank. And since Harry is being homeschooled so to speak - he is learning every week - so no summer vacation to speak of because he is at home already. My friends that were homeschooled learned this way and I agree with it so that's the route I took.

Also, I think that I mentioned it before, but I feel like most of us agree that Sirius came from a similar background of abuse in his own home and I wanted to go into more detail about that. Pottermore lists the death of Walburga Black being in 1985, so in my story, she died when Sirius was still in prison.

Reviews and Comments: To turnthepage21: Thank you! Sirius is already teaching Harry how to be a troublemaker! To Ugly-Duckling123: I think it's the curiosity of a five year old and definitely Sirius' influence lol. But no, let's not relocate him! To lojosmom: Thank you! I think wanting to kill the Dursleys is a completely valid response. I love having his father sing to him in a memory and his godfather singing to him in the present. I thought it was a nice parallel. To Claire Fraser: Thank you! I'm happy I made you chuckle out loud and of course Sirius boldly picks up the mantle with the same song. He and James were brothers and he's comforting his brother's son just as much as honouring the brother he lost. Thank you!

Thank you very much for reading and please, please review!

Your reviews give me life! They give me inspiration! And they make me want to keep writing for more than just myself! Thank you!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN:

The One With Professor Moony

After Harry's help all week in putting the classroom together, Sirius had decided to slowly start implementing some daily chores for Harry into his routine. Every morning after breakfast, he showed Harry how to make his own bed before he got dressed for the day. And he put Harry in charge of setting the table before each meal. They were small things, but he wanted Harry to get used to doing them and he could see how eager the boy was to help out in any way that he could. He remembered how much he liked being able to help Euphemia and Fleamont when they had taken him in. Being useful was more helpful to one's mental health than one would imagine.

By the third day, Harry didn't even have to be asked, He made his bed all on his own (albeit a little lumpy, but he did it) and he had climbed up onto the chair to get the dishes for breakfast before Sirius had even figured out what they were having. It made him smile. They were adjusting well to each other and he hoped that Harry was finally realizing that this was his home.

After breakfast that day, Sirius was taking Harry to see Healer Castellanos again for his second check up. They Flooed to St Mungo's as Harry giggled at the spinning in the flames before they stepped off into the hospital and made their way down to the children's ward.

A healer let them in immediately and Sirius sat next to Harry on the high padded table when the door closed.

"You remember Healer Althea Castellanos, Harry?" Sirius asked him, gesturing for him to take off his shirt in preparation for his examination.

Harry nodded, pulling his shirt off and passing it to Sirius. "Yes."

"She's going to check you over again and just make sure that everything looks good, all right? I don't want you be worried."

Harry smiled at him as if to say that he wasn't worried.

When the door opened and Castellanos stepped in, Sirius had to grin at her widely. He had forgotten just how pretty she was or he had convinced himself that she wasn't actually as pretty as he had remembered. Either way, he had been wrong. Her golden blonde hair was pinned back with a clip today, loose tendrils sweeping her face. She smiled warmly at both of them as she closed the door behind her.

"Hi, Harry, how are you today?"

Harry gave her a small smile. "Good."

Castellanos smiled at Sirius. "How's his eating?"

"Good. We have a good routine going, I think. He has breakfast and then a snack, usually about three hours later, lunch around one, a little nap, and sometimes a snack when he wakes up. We have dinner around six and he's in bed by eight thirty or nine." Sirius explained to her, smiling warmly. "And he almost always cleans his plate. Snacks sometimes include biscuits or ice cream, but usually he has cheese and crackers or fruit."

"Excellent," she said, making some notes on her clipboard before placing it down on the table by the door. She pulled her wand from her sleeve and smiled at Harry. "Harry, I'm going to check you over like I did the last time, okay?"

Harry nodded and followed her instructions as she checked his heartbeat. She poked his ribs, looked at the thin scars on his back - mostly healed over, but lightly left imprints were still visible and probably would be there his whole life. She checked his ears and checked his throat. She weighed him and measured his height, writing down the results with a smile. When she was finished, she handed him his shirt and he tugged it back over his head.

"Everything looks really good. He's put on three kilograms in the four weeks since I've seen him which is a great start. Ideally, if he could put on another four to six that would be wonderful. You said that his father had a similar build?"

Sirius nodded, watching as she tugged a quill from behind her ear and grabbed her clipboard. "James was always scrawny and skinny up until we were about thirteen. Then he finally started to fill out, you know?"

"Family history should be taken into account with his weight," Castellanos explained as she made her notes. "He's getting healthy and I can see the improvement in his nutrition and in his demeanour, I'd say that you're doing a very good job, Mr Black."

"Sirius."

"Hmm?" she retorted, her eyes looking up at him from the over the clipboard she was scribbling on.

"My name — it's Sirius."

She only stared at him for a moment. "As I said, Mr Black, Harry's looking great. Keep up what you're doing. Keep up with his diet of nutrients: Fruits, vegetables, calcium, and protein. Has he been taking vitamins?"

Sirius nodded. "Every morning, right, Prongslet?"

"The red candies?" Harry asked, his green eyes smiling. "I like those, Healer Thea."

"See, every morning," Sirius said with a smile.

"Good. I can see that he's progressing well. Unless something comes up that is concerning you, I don't think that I need to see Harry again for another three months. I'll check on how he's doing and he'll be six by then?" At Sirius' nod she smiled. "We'll have some immunization potions for him by then. Six is the normal age that we implement a few key ones such as dragon pox and spattergroit which helps build up a child's immunity to the disease. Also a potion for scrofungulus and vanishing sickness. They won't stop him from catching them, but if he contracts them he will already have an antibody in his system fighting the disease which can only benefit him in the future. I'll have the front desk give you some literature on them for our next meeting. Until then, Mr Black."

"Castellanos," Sirius said, putting his hand on the door to prevent her from opening it. "What I wrote to you about, is there a day coming up where I can visit your brother about the you know what for you know who?"

Castellanos turned around to look at him. "I'll talk to him tonight and owl you the details."

"Thank you," he said with a grin, reaching up to gently tuck a tendril of her hair back behind her ear. "Maybe we can talk it over one night, over dinner perhaps?"

Castellanos only stared at him cooly. "I'll see you at Harry's next appointment, Mr Black."

Then she hurried out, closing the door behind her.

Sirius merely grinned. Not the result he had been hoping for, but he supposed he was out of practice.

Besides, she hadn't actually said no.

He turned back to Harry and smiled. "Ready to go home, little man?"

~ ASC ~

Harry had his first day of school with Professor Moony, as Uncle Padfoot affectionately told him to call his new teacher, that Friday. Harry was excited about the prospect of going to a school that wasn't really a school. He ate breakfast, oatmeal with berries, and smiled when Sirius helped him pick out his clothes for the day.

"I'm going to be gone most of the day, Harry," Sirius told him as he helped him button up the plaid shirt that he was wearing. "But Uncle Moony will be here. You'll see me for dinner, all right?"

Harry nodded. "Okay."

He brushed his teeth, hugged Sirius goodbye, and watched him ride off on his motorbike before he made his way into the sunroom where he would be learning from now on. Uncle Remus was already there, writing on the chalkboard that he had helped Sirius build.

"Good morning, Harry," Remus said, smiling at him.

"Good morning, Professor Moony."

Remus chuckled. "Harry, you don't have to call me professor."

"Uncle Padfoot told me too," Harry told him as he took a seat in his chair.

Remus smiled. "Well, if you want to, of course, but uncle works just the same." He dusted the chalk from his hands and smiled. "So, I know that we've been working on reading this week while we've finished up the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but I think that we should start with writing today."

Harry nodded, looking up at the alphabet that Remus had written on the board both capitalized and small letters. He had also written a list of random words and names next to the alphabet: Harry James Potter, Sirius Orion Black, Remus John Lupin, Padfoot, Moony, Prongslet, Prongs, Lily, Persephone followed by dog, cat, house, classroom, school, pencil, quill, godfather, uncle.

Harry stared at the board in interest.

"Come over to the board, Harry. I want you to write your name for me, can you do that?" he asked, holding a piece of blue chalk out to the child.

Harry accepted the chalk with a smile and carefully printed his name on the board. Remus grinned at him. "Perfect. Looks like we're off to a great start."

By the end of the first week, Remus had focused mainly on writing and reading skills. Harry would write out sentences as requested and spell out new words at the end of each class. By the second week, Remus started him on numbers, distinguishing between Roman numerals and Arabic numerals and he was surprised to find Harry picking up on both with no problem.

By the third week, Remus had formed more of a general schedule from nine am to three pm. They would spend the morning working with math, taking a break outside around ten thirty and then moving onto writing and literature where he would have Harry read aloud from whatever story that they were using at the time; followed by new words of the day and sentence structure. After lunch, they would spend half an hour outside, running and playing and doing whatever Harry wanted before he would have a nap. While Harry napped, Remus worked on his next lesson.

He had decided to teach Harry history since the boy loved stories and what was history if not great stories? He had always been fascinated and since his mother had been a Muggle and Hope Lupin had always shared her love of history with him as a child, he had quite a bit of knowledge on the subject. He wanted to teach them side by the side - that is Muggle history and Magical history - to give Harry a thorough understanding of the world.

After Harry woke up from his nap, they would have a snack, and then Remus would quiz him on his spelling words. They would spend the last thirty to forty minutes of their time together learning the beginning fundamentals of Latin.

Sirius and Remus had decided that they didn't want to overwhelm Harry, so Remus would teach him every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and every other Friday from nine to three. The days Harry didn't have school, he would hang out with Sirius or Remus either at the house or go out with them wherever it was that they needed to go or do.

So far it was turning out to be quite a success between the two of them.

Harry had also spent some time at Remus' house; a few hours here and there throughout the week, playing in the forest with Remus or going through his books. He'd asked to visit and it made Remus smile to know that Harry was comfortable enough with him now to want to spend time with just him and to come to his house to do it. Sirius had even helped Remus turn his spare room into a second bedroom for Harry for when they decided it was time for Harry to have a sleepover. Remus painted a map of the world on one wall and Harry picked out his own sheets and bedspread.

Sirius spent most of the time away from the house while Remus was with Harry. When he was home, he was in the garden, blasting Muggle rock as he worked on his motorcycle. He had taken apart his 1970 Triumph Bonneville T120, buying new parts for it and completely rebuilding the engine and adding special features to it, such as safety mechanisms for when he drove with Harry. He had extended the seat, adding a removable child seat. He painted the bike all black with silver accents and polished the chrome to a shine before he played with the charms.

He increased the pressure and speed of the bike with the hover and levitation charms, combining the two to help the balance of the motorbike. The invisibility charm was still going a little wonky as it tended to only last for short periods of time. Sirius fiddled with the charm, working it into the engine and adding a disillusionment charm to decrease the chances of being seen if the invisibility charm acted up.

He was having the time of his life doing it.

True to her word, Castellanos had sent him an owl about her brother's puppies the day after Harry's healer appointment. His dog was due any day now and he promised to owl Sirius the moment that she had given birth. It was only two days later when that owl arrived and Sirius headed out to the house to visit the puppies.

Apollo Castellanos greeted him warmly when Sirius knocked on his front door. He had the same blonde hair as his sister, but his was darker and Sirius put him as a few years older.

"Come in, come in!" he greeted, ushering Sirius inside. "Sorry about the mess, but with so many animals in the house at the moment it's hard for Medea and I to keep up on it. The puppies need a lot of attention right now."

Sirius followed him through to the back of the house, smiling at the small brunette who stood up, wiping her hands on her pants.

"Hi, you must be Sirius. Thea told us about you. I'm Medea, Apollo's wife."

Sirius shook her hand with a smile. "Nice to meet you. Thea told you about me, eh?"

Medea laughed. "She said that you asked her out."

"I did," Sirius said with a grin. "She never answered me."

Apollo grinned, reaching down to scratch the ears of a large retriever with a golden brown coat. "She can be stubborn when she wants to be," he admitted. "This is Zeus, he's the proud papa of the puppies. His mate is Aphrodite, my golden beauty sleeping over there. She had ten puppies yesterday."

"Ten?" Sirius asked in surprise, following Apollo over to the bed that he had prepared for the dog. She was sleeping peacefully, her ten puppies snuggled against her.

"Yes. Average for retrievers is to have between eight and twelve, guess we got lucky." Apollo said with a smile. "And as much as Medea and I love animals — we also have two cats so we can't keep ten more dogs around. We don't have the space for one thing. We agreed to keep two. Both female we think… we haven't decided yet to be honest."

Sirius nodded, grinning as he bent down to look in on the pups. "They're beautiful." Each puppy was an interesting mix of gold and bronze, some lighter and some darker than others and some with a reddish tinge to their coats.

"Thea mentioned that you were looking for your son?"

"Yeah. He'll be six at the end of July. He… he's my godson technically and before I got custody of him he was living in a bad way and he's a little shy and he's been through a lot. I thought having a dog might help him in more ways than one, plus give him a loyal friend to love."

Medea smiled warmly. "He'll love it."

"I think so too. I am very interested in one of those puppies if you're looking to sell when they're old enough that is," Sirius told them. "I want a male."

Apollo grinned, still scratching Zeus behind the ears. "We have seven males in the litter so you will have your pick. Why don't you stop by again next week and you can take another look, maybe hold and feed a few before you make your decision?"

Sirius smiled as he looked down at the adorable litter of puppies before him. "Sounds great. Maybe you can tell me how I can get Thea to give me an answer on that date?"

Medea laughed and linked her arm through Sirius'. "Oh, honey, you're on your own there. Thea is too stubborn for that."

Apollo smirked. "And then some." He opened the ice box and pulled out two beers, offering one to Sirius. "What do you want to know about my sister?"

When Sirius left an hour later, he was feeling very good about Althea Castellanos. Apollo had told him that he was the fourth child of five in the Castellanos family, Thea was the youngest. They had three older brothers: Acheron, Aristokles, and Adonis. They had grown up in Athens and moved to England when their father Alexandros was hired by the Ministry of Magic as the Greek Ambassador for International Magical Relations when Althea had been fourteen, but all of the Castellanos children had continued to attend the Durmstrang Institute. Althea had always dreamed of being a pediatric healer and had been accepted into the Healer's Academy right out of school.

Althea was also single; living in London near St Mungo's in a flat with her best friend and fellow healer, Priya Dara. She was twenty-three and the proud auntie of nine. And according to Apollo, was too stubborn for her own good. Apollo had also mentioned that his sister had a weakness for Muggle films and seven veils gelato.

Sirius took that to mean that Apollo approved of him and would keep it in mind for the next time he saw her again, which he hoped would be soon.

In the meantime, he visited Apollo and Medea once a week to check on the puppies. He discovered that Apollo also had a fondness for motorbikes and while they played with the dogs; they often became lost in discussions on how the engine ventilation breathed in the '70 Triumph Bonneville, something it solely lacked in the '68, and how much better the smaller oil-filled ignition coils were in the '70 Triumph. Medea only rolled her eyes when the two of them started talking about motorcycle anything.

It was nice to find someone as interested in the inner mechanics of automobiles and motorbikes as he was.

Sirius had also gotten back into a workout routine. Three days a week, he found himself without anything to do from nine to three so he needed to keep himself busy and active. He felt his screaming underused muscles from years of imprisonment start to rebuild their stamina through a routine, made him feel better. He did push-ups and sit-ups every morning when he woke up, but he could feel the muscles in his arms working hard as he fixed up his bike, lifting tires and parts and rebuilding the shed in the backyard to store his tools. He hung up his motorcycle pin-ups along the walls and thought it was really starting to feel like his home.

He had also taken to digging out the garden in the back; getting rid of the dead plants and planting new seeds. Ted had sent him an envelope full of seeds to plant of various flowers and vines with a note promising that Andromeda hadn't even touched the seeds, which made Sirius laugh. He wondered what it was about his cousin that plants took such a disliking too.

Sirius went to Gringotts as well, organizing a private account for Harry and putting the rest of the Potter fortune into a trust until Harry reached the age of seventeen. He sorted out a direct deposit fund from the Potter Estate to Remus Lupin, as professor to Harry Potter. After talking to McGonagall about what a decent wage for a professor was based on annual salary, Sirius calculated that if Remus taught Harry four days a week, every week for the year, Sirius should be paying him roughly sixty four Galleons, four Sickles and 1 Knut per day. He arranged to have the payment of two hundred and fifty six Galleons, sixteen Sickles and four Knuts transferred weekly into Remus' bank vault.

Remus' splutter of protest was met upon deaf ears.

Sirius knew that James and Lily would expect him to do nothing less than to force the payment upon Lupin for his teaching and he wasn't going to let his friend try to talk him out of it. He knew how much Remus had struggled from the moment that he had graduated from Hogwarts. His father had left him the small cottage when he had passed and Remus had struggled to afford it. No one would hire him because he needed time off to deal with the full moon; too many sick days — and they considered it a poor trait in an employee when he never gave a valid reason why. Sirius wasn't going to watch his friend scramble to make ends meet when he could help out and Fleamont Potter had left the Potter vault with billions (if not trillions) of Galleons. James had always said that he and six generations could live off of the interest, and still be rich.

Therefore, paying for Harry's education by Remus Lupin from the Potter Estate vault not only made the most sense, but Sirius knew that the Potters would have approved wholeheartedly.

But the surprise came for him at the end of June when an owl arrived from the Ministry of Magic.

Dear Mr Sirius Black,

Please be at the Wizengamot Administration Services Office to see Darcy Floras at three PM this Friday, the 27th of June.

Sincerely,

Darcy Floras

Wizengamot Administration Services

Department of Magical Law Enforcement

Ministry of Magic

Sirius stared at the letter in confusion. Why would anyone from the Wizengamot Administration Services want to speak with him? He had received his payment for his wrongful imprisonment after being released from Azkaban. Why would they need to see him about anything, especially almost eleven weeks after he had been released?

When he had shown it to Remus, he had been equally as flummoxed. "I have no idea, Sirius. But the Wizengamot doesn't only deal with the courts system. And it says the administration office, I bet there's some paperwork that you need to file or deal with concerning the custody of Harry."

The thought still made him slightly nervous. Did something go wrong? Had there been a problem with his guardianship that was listed very clearly in the wills of both James and Lily Potter? He had finished all of the paperwork already. He was sure of it.

He felt uneasy about the entire thing.

When Sirius stepped off of the lift onto level two of the Ministry of Magic that Friday afternoon, he took a deep breath before making his way over to the Wizengamot Administration Services Office and smiling at the woman sitting at the front desk. He hung his sunglasses on his shirt and smiled causing the woman to smile back with an almost dreamy expression in her eyes.

Sirius only used it to his advantage. "Hi, darling, I'm here to see Darcy Floras for a three o'clock appointment."

The woman blushed, having caught herself staring and Sirius grinned. It was nice to know that he still had the power to charm women with his looks. He had always felt it to be a strong quality.

"Miss Floras will see you now, Mr Black."

He winked at her and she turned red, watching the saunter of his butt in the tight jeans he wore as he headed to the office.

Darcy Floras, a pretty brunette with square glasses smiled at him when he knocked on her office door. "Ah, yes, Mr Black, please come in."

Sirius stepped into her office, looking around in interest at the bookshelves and the paperwork that seemed to litter her desk. "Nice office."

"Thanks," she said, smiling warmly at him. "Please have a seat." Once he was seated in front of her, she crossed her arms over the desk, smiling at him. "I have two separate things to discuss with you today; both are needing your signature as well."

Sirius only nodded, leaning forward in his chair. "Can you tell me what they are in regards too?"

Floras smiled, her soft brown eyes lighting up in confusion. "Do you not know? Oh, I'm so sorry, Mr Black, I thought the reasoning was obvious." When he only continued to stare at her, she blushed and the grin he shot her way made her knees tremble. He was entirely too handsome for his own good — and he knew it. "It's about the custody of one Harry James Potter and the Black Estate."

"I'm sorry, did you just say the Black Estate?"

Floras nodded, shuffling folders on her desk until she found what she was looking for. "Correct. You are Sirius Orion Black, son of Orion and Walburga Black?" When he only nodded, Floras opened the folder and began to read aloud.

"The last will and testament of Lord Orion Black, Viscount of Falmouth. In the case of my death, I bequeath my entire estate and fortune to my wife, Walburga, with a trust left for my son, Regulus Arcturus Black, not to be received until his seventeenth birthday. If for some reason, times continue to be hard and Regulus is not around to inherit, then the entire estate and titles of the Ancient and Noble House of Black, home and fortune, will be entrusted to my eldest son, Sirius Orion Black."

She looked up at him, handing the copy of the will towards him. "It came across my desk at the end of last week, having been put aside due to your imprisonment."

"Due to my… I'm sorry, my father left everything to me?"

"Yes," Floras said, tapping her fingers on the will. "You are now the sole heir to the Black Family Estate."

"My-my mother?" he asked, completely bewildered by this rather sudden turn of events.

Floras looked sad for a moment, but she masked it. "I'm very sorry to inform you, Mr Black, but she died last year. Her will came forward in September, after her death, outlining that upon her death - the will of Lord Orion Black would come into play. With your brother and father having passed away six years earlier, you were the only living heir left. However, you were imprisoned in Azkaban. When you were released, the goblins at Gringotts immediately sent word that you needed to claim your estate and the paperwork was re-sent out having been held in trust by Lord Cygnus Black. I apologize that it took so long to come forward, but it was rather backlogged I'm afraid because of your circumstances."

Sirius was only partially listening to her. His mother was dead.

That was why his Aunt Druella had been at the trial and not Walburga; she had been there to see what the truth was. When he had arrived at Grimmauld Place, he had thought it looked a little dusty, but he had been so intent on getting his things and getting out of there that he hadn't really focused on anything else. Kreacher had been weird, he remembered, but nothing out of the ordinary. If he was living in that house all alone with no one to talk to but the portrait of his dead mother, that would explain a lot of things and a lot of the weird.

He waited for some form of grief to work through him. His mother was dead. The woman who had given birth to him was dead… but he felt nothing but a sense of relief. She hadn't really been his mother — only biologically. His real mother had been Fee and when Euphemia Potter had died of dragon pox, he had sobbed uncontrollably for days, feeling like his heart had broken into millions of pieces and exploded out of his chest. He and James had comforted each other in their grief and then when Fleamont had died less than week later, they had drank themselves into oblivion to mask their sorrow.

He closed his eyes and focused on the words that the woman in front of him was speaking.

"— So, if you could just sign here, we can get everything taken care of."

"I'm sorry, sign what?" Sirius asked, focusing his attention back on the pretty brunette. "I'm afraid I wasn't really listening."

Floras smiled sympathetically at him. "I only need you to sign here that you have heard and seen the will and then I can give you the key to the vault and the deed to the house."

Sirius nodded, signing his name and accepting the key and documents that she passed to him. "Thanks. What's the other thing pertaining to — about Harry?"

Floras shuffled more paper around, finding what she was looking for. "These are the papers detailing your official custody of one Harry James Potter. Everything is in order, the will of James and Lily Potter does specifically state that upon their death, Sirius Orion Black is to be the legal guardian of their son. I just need you to sign here stating that you have now officially filed all paperwork for guardianship and that's it."

"Seems like a lot of paperwork for so little," he mumbled, picking up the quill and signing his name.

Floras nodded, rolling her eyes. "Tell me about it." She stood up, offering her hand out with a smile. "Thank you for coming in, Mr Black. Everything is in order now."

Sirius accepted her hand, taking the key and the deed to the house in London off of the desk. "Yes, thank you."

When he Apparated back home, he found Remus making dinner in the kitchen. Harry jumped to his feet when he stepped in the house and had run into his arms. Sirius swung him up, making him laugh and carried him on his hip into the kitchen.

"Did you have a good day at school with Uncle Moony?"

Harry grinned and eagerly began to tell Sirius all about what he had learned that day: A new story about a girl named Dorothy who travelled to a place called Oz, conversational Latin - est tempus ad prandium? (is it time for dinner?) - and that in a place called Mesopotamia, there was a famous king known as Gilgamesh.

Sirius nodded along, smiling at Harry as he listened with interest. Harry really liked school and it made him smile to see it. He especially liked how Harry greeted him when he came home after being away. When Remus announced that dinner was ready, Sirius told Harry to go upstairs and wash up.

As he hurried off to wash up, Sirius placed the folder on the table. "My mother died."

Remus, who was in the middle of scooping the chicken Alfredo pasta into a bowl for Harry, stopped and stared at him. "What?"

"My mother — died. In September, apparently."

"Oh," Remus said quietly, continuing to fill up Harry's bowl and placing it on the table before he grabbed a second bowl for Sirius. "Are you sad?"

Sirius shook his head. "I don't even care." He stood up, slamming his fist on the counter and turning to look at his friend. "I'm angry with myself for not caring. She was my mother, shouldn't I fucking feel… I don't know… something?"

"Don't be," Remus said softly, placing the bowl of food on the table. "She wasn't there for you. It's not wrong to not be sad when she treated you like she did."

Sirius nodded, closing his eyes. "I know, but I was remembering how I grieved for Fee and Monty and… I feel bad that I won't grieve for her. But all I can think of is how she kicked me out of that house."

Remus sighed, his eyes on his friend. "She didn't deserve you, Sirius."

When Sirius walked into his house the first day of summer holidays after fifth year, he literally sighed when the door closed behind him and he was engulfed in the semi-darkness of the entranceway. The large portrait that his father had gotten of his mother the year before, life-sized and massive, immediately began to scream at the sight of him.

"YOU DISGUST ME! NO CHILD OF MINE WILL BE A GRYFFINDOR!"

Sirius ignored the portrait much in the way that he had all of last summer when Orion had hung it in the entranceway. He remembered how his father had merely winked at him.

"Listening to her nag and scream would definitely deter any robbers or assassins from this place; won't even need the warding."

Regulus had laughed. "Father, don't let Mother hear you saying that!"

He dragged his trunk up the stairs to his room as Walburga, Orion, and Regulus chatted about how great Regulus' school year had been, barely acknowledging him. It was how he liked it best most times. He wondered how long he would have to wait until he could go see James.

He plopped himself onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling, grinning at the topless blonde Muggle in denim straddling a 1973 Gilera 125 Strada. James had found the poster for him last year when he had gone to New York with Fleamont. Sirius had enjoyed using a permanent sticking charm and placing it on his ceiling just to spite his mother who would hate it for the nudity and the fact that it was Muggle. A Muggle who had great breasts, he thought, staring up at them.

His door banged open and he merely raised an eyebrow, his arms folded behind his head. "Hi, Mum, realized that I came home too?"

Walburga Black stood there, hands fisted at her hips and her lips curling into a sneer. "How many OWLs do you think you will bring home?"

"Couldn't say; won't get my results for a few weeks now, will I?"

"I assume you're doing well in your studies though Regulus says that you seem to spend a lot of time in detention. Why am I just hearing about this now? Your Head of House should be writing to me to inform me when you step out of line. I will be writing to Dumbledore about McGonagall's absolute incompetence in keeping me informed of your well-being," she demanded, looking around the room in disgust when her eyes fell on another Muggle poster, this one was a redhead in a purple bikini leaning against a 1964 BSA Thunderbolt. "And why must you decorate your walls with those awful Muggle machines?"

"I think they're cool," he told her. "McG doesn't write to you because she knows you don't care. I always get good grades, I'm sure my examination marks will be the same."

Walburga only stared at him. "Your father and I have been talking about your choices and your behaviour. In November, you're going to be seventeen."

"Aw, you remembered my birthday? I'm honoured, of course it's only June."

She was across the room and her hand slapping his cheek before he could blink. He sat up on his bed and grabbed her hand. "I'm not a child anymore, you better think again before you hit me."

Her eyes widened in fear for a moment before she masked it. "You will be seventeen this November and as the eldest son and heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, it's time for you to start to think about your future. The Dark Lord, he's approached your father and I about helping him build a better world. You should think about how you want to help him, Sirius. You would bring honour to your family."

"This so called Dark Lord is recruiting henchmen to kill and torture Muggles and Muggleborns. No thank you."

Walburga's eyes darkened. "He wants to build a world where the pureblood wizard is praised — is worshipped — and is treated with respect! It's about time that you realize what it means to be a Black. Your father and I have decided that you will wed Alecto Carrow. She's fifteen and a member of the sacred twenty-eight. You will marry when she turns sixteen."

Sirius' mouth opened in horror. "Or not."

"No, you will. I am tired of seeing my eldest son make terrible choices. It's bad enough that you were put into Gryffindor House over Slytherin and are hanging around with a Potter — blood traitors, the whole family has been for centuries — but to be seen with that half-blood Lupin and Regulus tells us that the redhead you hugged goodbye at the station is a Mudblood! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

"Don't call her that!" Sirius exclaimed, his anger rising. "She's an amazing woman and I would choose her over you any day."

Walburga merely smirked. "You will marry Alecto Carrow."

"No, I won't."

"You will marry her or I will get a message out to the Dark Lord about where this Mudblood of yours lives and we'll see how quickly you change your mind."

Sirius stood up, towering over her and pointing his wand at her heart. He didn't care that he was underage; he would use it if he had to. "If you touch her, I will kill you."

Walburga smiled. "There's the Black blood in you, my dear boy. Toujours Pur."

Sirius lowered his wand, a sense of disgust washing over him. He was NOT like his family. He wouldn't let himself be. "I'm not like you."

"Crucio!"

Sirius collapsed to the ground, biting his lip to keep from screaming as the curse brought him to his knees. When she lifted her wand, he breathed in relief, catching his breath.

"You will marry Alecto Carrow. You will produce at least two pureblood heirs, preferably male. You will graduate with honours and join the ranks of the Dark Lord as a proud member of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black," she demanded, her wand pointed at him. "And you will abandon all ties with that Potter boy and his traitorous parents once and for all. Have I made myself clear?"

Sirius wiped blood from his lip, spitting on the ground in front of her. "Screw you."

The curse hit him a second time and he screamed as it coursed through him. He felt like his insides were on fire, like someone was holding them in the midst of a burning flame and crushing them with rocks at the same time. His eyes caught movement in the doorway and his eyes met his brother's who was watching wide-eyed, hidden off to the side. When she finally let him breathe, he gasped for breath and rolled onto his side.

"It's about time you start showing respect to this family," she demanded, her eyes glaring at him with hatred and contempt. "You are an embarrassment!"

Sirius climbed to his feet, grabbing his bed frame to steady his shaking legs. "Better an embarrassment than to be like you." When she raised her wand he grabbed it, ripping it from her arms. "I'm not a child that you can control anymore. The Imperius stopped working on me when I was twelve and this is the last time that you will ever use the Cruciatus on me so I hope that you fucking enjoyed it! I am going to be seventeen in November and I am going to be in charge of my own future and my own destiny. I will not be marrying a pureblood bitch just to breed with her. And I will not abandon my friendship with the blood traitor Potter as it would be a tad hypocritical of me being that I also befriend Muggleborns and purebloods alike."

"This is your last warning, Sirius! If you want to be part of this family, you will do as I command!"

Sirius stared at her. "Then I don't want to be part of this family. I haven't been, not really, in a long time. You trying to make me now is a fucking waste of both of our time."

"You disgust me!"

Sirius merely shrugged. "So you're nagging portrait told me when I walked in the door."

"Get out! Get your stuff and get out of my house! You are no longer welcome here!"

Sirius only stared at her for a moment and then he simply grabbed the trunk that he had dragged up the stairs and pulled it behind him as his mother screamed at him all the way back down. He dropped his mother's wand at the foot of the portrait and the last thing he heard was his mother blasting his name off of the family tapestry as he stepped back out on to the London street and he never looked back.

"She wasn't my mother, Moony," he said as Harry came bounding back into the kitchen and sat himself down at the kitchen table. "A mother wouldn't treat her child the way she treated me."

He took the bowl of pasta from his friend and sat down across from his godson. He served a helping of salad to Harry, urging him to eat the fresh vegetables. He smiled as he stared at Harry and then over at Remus. He had a family and he had never once regretted choosing the family he had over the family he had come from.

Not once.