Author's Note:

A few of you have asked about Neville and I did mention him a few chapters back. I've had every intention of somehow bringing him into the story. Well, the seed has been planted so to say, but I have a few other things I am looking into at the moment as you will soon see.

Thanks to Steel for reminding me that I forgot this little scene.

Reviews and Comments: To E-Dett: Thank you! Harry did have fun and yes, Sirius and Althea certainly got steamy! To Claire Fraser: I certainly thought it was a great birthday present, who opposes that? Thank you. I think Harry should be friends with all of them, including Percy. It's a good thing. 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 THIRTY-THREE:

The One Where Harry Asks About Boobies

The next morning, Sirius took Harry to his final appointment to see Healer Thea for his shots and final check up. He sat happily in the patient room, his legs swinging off the table as he pulled his shirt off. Sirius reassured him once more that Healer Thea was just going to check him over and Harry only nodded.

Althea smiled warmly at him when she came into the room. "Good morning, Harry. How are you doing today?"

"Good," he told her, still swinging his legs around.

"Good. Today, I am going to check you over like we did last time, but this time I have some potions for you as well, okay?"

He nodded and stayed still, his eyes on Sirius as Thea checked his ears, his heart, his eyes, his back, his throat, and checked him all over. She weighed him, pleased that he was up to nineteen kilograms, telling Sirius that was normal and pleased to see that he had grown a full seven and a half centimetres. His eyes looked good she told him, no change in his sight, and she was pleased to see that he had a scraped knee and little normal bruises of a child who had been playing and having a good time.

She left to get the potions for his immunizations and returned a moment later with six different potions. She explained to Sirius what each one would do and promised Harry that if he drank all of them he would get a treat. The first one, which was to prevent Dragon Pox, made him burp purple smoke, and he giggled afterwards. The others: To prevent Scrofungulus, another to stop Vanishing Sickness, another for Spattergroit, a fifth one to strengthen his immune system against the Magical Flu, and finally a last one to prevent him from catching any Muggle ailments (anything from Whooping Cough to Measles to Chicken Pox) further strengthening his magical core. Harry drank them all slowly, only almost vomiting once over the Vanishing Sickness one, which caused steam to erupt from his ears.

Sirius told him how good of a job he did as Thea checked him over once more to make sure that potions had taken and then let him choose a lolly. Harry eagerly accepted an orange one, grinning at her.

Sirius kissed the top of Harry's head. "You did great, Prongslet!"

Harry smiled as he happily ate his treat.

Thea smiled back at Harry. "Everything looks great, Sirius. You're taking great care of him. His height and weight are averaging in the normal zone for a six-year-old-boy. Everything looks good and the signs of malnutrition are gone. Those potions will last until he's ten and then he'll have to another dose of them. I suggest getting them taken care of before he goes to Hogwarts."

Sirius smiled at her. "Thanks, Castellanos."

She nodded and said goodbye to Harry. Sirius put Harry's shirt back on as he ate his orange lolly before telling him that they were going to Diagon Alley next. They left the hospital and took the London Underground to Diagon Alley. They made a stop at Gringotts Wizarding Bank first and Sirius took with him the paperwork and important documents concerning his guardianship of Harry and the Black Family Estate, placing them in his vault. He showed Harry where his own vault was and what the key looked like, before placing it back into his wallet. Harry loved the cart ride down into the vaults, laughing and grinning the whole time.

After the bank, Sirius needed a few things from the Apothecary to restock his own first aid kit. He needed some more owl food for Persephone as well as some dog food for Marauder. He took Harry into Gambol and Japes Wizarding Joke Shop for some fireworks and other fun things to replace the products that he had given to Fred and George the other day.

When they went into Flourish and Blotts, Sirius told Harry he could pick out one new book since he had been so good all day and had been such a good boy for the healer. When he turned the corner he almost ran headfirst into a tall stately woman wearing a rather ugly vulture on her hat.

He recognized her immediately and smiled. "Lady Cumbria — how are you?"

Augusta Longbottom stared at him for a moment. The vulture on her hat seeming to stare up at him as well, its beady and intense gaze making him a little uncomfortable and then she shook her head in surprise. "Sirius Black, I heard that you were finally released from prison."

"Innocent of all charges."

"Stupid Ministry, they never could make any decisions properly. The Auror Department needs to sort out its priorities and start arresting the people who need arresting and not tossing in good men like yourself."

Sirius nodded, rather flattered that she considered him to be a good man. "I agree. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I was actually just talking about you a few weeks back with Remus Lupin. He was telling me that you're raising Frank and Alice's little boy now. I'm terribly sorry for your loss, I only just heard what happened to them."

Mrs Longbottom nodded, her eyes sad. "They don't even really know who he is, you know, when we go and visit. It breaks my heart — but I want him to know his parents. He wants to go see them and his heart just bursts in joy when Alice and Frank hug him close, but I'm not sure if they know who he is either."

"I can't imagine," he said honestly as Harry hurried over to him with a book in his hand.

"This one please, Uncle Sirius!"

Sirius ruffled Harry's hair. "Sure, Prongslet. This is Lady Cumbria, Harry."

"Oh, piss-posh with the lady stuff — Mrs Longbottom is fine, Sirius," she said with a smile. "Hello to you, young man!"

"Say hi to Mrs Longbottom, Harry."

"Hello, Mrs Longbottom," he said politely.

Mrs Longbottom's eyes widened slightly at the name. "Is that — you're raising him then?"

"I am. Remus and I were discussing maybe getting him to meet your grandson. Is he here with you today?"

Mrs Longbottom shook her head. "No, he's out fishing with my brother Algie. But that sounds like a nice idea. Neville is awfully shy around other children. It would be nice to try to toughen him up a bit. I'm worried that he might be a Squib to be honest. He's so shy and reserved, hasn't shown the slightest bit of magic at all."

Sirius smiled at her. "Give him time, Mrs Longbottom. With parents like Frank and Alice, he's going to be a great wizard one day, don't you worry. I'll send you an owl one day next week and he can come over and play with Harry."

"That sounds lovely. I think James and Frank would have enjoyed it if their children were friends," she told him, a small smile on her face.

"I do too," Sirius told her.

He said goodbye and paid for the book that Harry wanted as well as two books on gardening that he was hoping could help him out with his own planting ideas and a new cookbook for some variety. They stopped at the Owl Post Office next and Sirius sent their packages home with a delivery owl after placing a featherlight charm on everything. He didn't want to carry them through London.

They went through The Leaky Cauldron and into Muggle London next, Harry holding Sirius' hand as they stepped out onto the busy street.

"We have one more stop to make, Prongslet," Sirius told him.

Diagon Alley was only a short underground ride from his childhood home, but before they arrived there, Harry claimed he was tired, so Sirius let him crawl onto his back to piggyback ride him the rest of the ten minute walk from Angel Station. When they stepped onto the familiar street of Claremont Square, Sirius could feel his gut clenching in anxiety.

It was the last place that he wanted to be.

But it had been over a month now since the woman at the Ministry of Magic, Darcy Floras, had told him that he had inherited the house along with the entire Black Estate. Remus was right, he needed to do something with it and he needed to figure out what the hell to do with Kreacher. He couldn't leave the house elf alone in this dusty abandoned house with no one to speak with but his mother's nagging and insane portrait, but he didn't exactly want to take custody of him either.

"Who lives here?" Harry asked curiously as Sirius stepped up onto the porch and the house seemed to appear out of nowhere, squeezing itself into existence between numbers eleven and thirteen. "How did it do that?"

"I used to, Harry. And by magic of course," he said with a grin. He took a deep breath and placed his hand on the lock. The blood magic spell recognized him the same as before and the door opened and they stepped into the blackness.

Harry's grip tightened a little around Sirius' neck.

"It's alright, Prongslet," Sirius reassured him, knowing that Harry didn't like the darkness. He muttered 'lumos' and his wand illuminated the dark hall and the portrait on his left immediately began to scream.

"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE YOU FILTHY DISGUSTING BLOOD TRAITOR! YOU COMPLETE DISGRACE OF THE BLACK FAMILY NAME! YOU ARE NO SON OF MINE!"

Sirius tugged the curtains closed to block out his mother's screams and made his way down the hall and down the steps into the kitchen. It was warmer in here, the gas lamps lit, and Sirius sat Harry down on the kitchen table. He had a peculiar expression on his face.

"What is it, Prongslet?"

Harry reached for him, hugging him tightly. "I don't like it here."

Sirius kissed his cheek and hugged him close. "Me neither. I'm sorry that picture yelled at us. We won't be here too long, Harry. I just… there are some things that I need to do here, all right?"

Harry nodded and stayed sitting on the kitchen table, his hands folded in his lap.

Sirius walked around the kitchen for a moment. There was a decent amount of dust collecting around the room, he noticed, but for the most part, it didn't look that bad.

"KREACHER!" he yelled out.

With a loud crack, Kreacher appeared before him. Harry's mouth opened in surprise as he took in the ugly creature wearing a dirty toga, pinned with the Black Family Crest on his right shoulder.

"Master Sirius calls for Kreacher," he said, his voice full of disdain.

Sirius stared at him. "I was here a few months ago, Kreacher — why didn't you tell me that my mother was dead?"

"My poor mistress, how Kreacher misses her terribly — and now her disgraced son comes back into her house. Oh, my poor mistress," he groaned sadly.

"Kreacher, I asked you a question," he demanded.

Kreacher's eyes met his. "You did not ask me last time."

Sirius stared at him for a moment. "I demand that you stop letting this house go to rot. Get back to work and make it clean and habitable again."

"Yes, Master Sirius."

He disappeared with a loud crack again.

Sirius let out a slow breath. He turned to Harry who was looking at the spot where Kreacher had just stood in confusion. "Harry, that was a house elf. Rich, wealthy, old families have them as servants in their homes. They cook and clean and take care of the household for the family. Kreacher is the house elf of the Black Family."

"But he doesn't come to our house and your name is Black?" Harry told him, looking up at his godfather in question.

Sirius shook his head. "No, we don't need him there."

Harry nodded. He stood up on the table where Sirius had sat him and walked over to the end, wrapping his arms around his godfather. "It's okay, Uncle Siri, don't be sad."

Sirius hugged the little boy, his heart melting a little. Harry sensed his emotions and that made him smile. "Thank you, Harry. I didn't like growing up here and coming back here makes me a little sad."

"Why is it so dark? It's like my cupboard and I can't see the sun!"

Sirius nodded. That was one of the many things that he didn't like about living in this place. It did seem like the sun was hidden in a large portion of the house — though it didn't help that his mother's decorating had included thick black velvet curtains so heavy to even move, let alone let in any sunlight.

"I know. Come on; let's go check out all of the rooms and see what surprises my dear mum left us."

He put Harry onto his back again and they left the kitchen and headed into the rooms on the first floor. The library and the study that belonged to his father were pretty decently taken care of, he noted. The living room and parlour were greatly neglected, the curtains full of so much dust that Sirius suspected they might be full of doxies. When they headed up the stairs, Harry gasped at the heads of the house elves hanging on the walls.

"Sorry, Harry, one of my relatives many years back decided that it was a good idea to cut off the heads of our former house elves after they had served us and mount them on the wall," he said in disgust. "There's going to be a lot of stuff in here that we might see that looks scary, but you are safe with me, all right?"

Harry kissed the top of Sirius' head. "I know."

He checked out the bedrooms; dusty and abandoned. He knew better than to start opening cupboards or dressers in any of the rooms. His parents were more than capable of hiding all sorts of dark artefacts or curses within furniture and objects and he didn't want to risk hurting Harry while he examined them. He finally made it up to his old room, pushing open the door.

It looked the same as when he had left it a few months ago.

"This used to be my bedroom, Harry, when I was little boy."

Harry jumped down and moved to sit on Sirius' bed as he looked around. "This is much nicer."

Sirius chuckled. It was by far the nicest room of the house in his opinion and only because he had made it so. The walls were still a dark black velvet as were most of the walls in the house making everything seem darker then it actually was, but he had lightened it by putting Gryffindor posters on the walls and his Muggle posters of naked girls and motorbikes.

"Uncle Padfoot?"

"Yes, Harry?"

"Why do you have a naked girl on your ceiling?"

"Shit," he said covering Harry's eyes with his hand. "Don't look up there!"

"But I already saw it! And you said a bad word!" Harry protested, struggling to remove his godfather's hand. "She has very big boobies, Uncle Padfoot."

"Harry!" he exclaimed with a laugh, his eyes moving up to the topless blonde poster he had pinned up on his ceiling when he had been fourteen.

"She does!" Harry insisted.

Sirius laughed and let go of his godson. He had already seen it anyway so what was the use, he thought. He had used permanent sticking charms on all of his posters so that his mother wouldn't be able to rip them down when he had been away at school. The trick about a permanent sticking charm was that it was permanent to every person except the one who cast it. He pulled his wand out and quickly floated all of his old posters down into a pile in his hands. Maybe he'd put them up in the shed where he kept his bike and his tools along with his other posters. He was still rather fond of these old posters, especially the blonde, who — as Harry had so eloquently told him — had big boobies.

The Gryffindor banner came down as well. He checked inside his closet next. When he had been released from prison, he had come and only taken the small suitcase of stuff that he originally brought with him after his fall out with Remus before everything went to shit. He was pretty sure everything else was gone from his room, but he checked the closet anyway and under his bed and in his dressers. Everything was empty. He shrunk the posters and the Gryffindor banner down and put them inside the empty school notebook he had left on his dresser. He checked his nightstand as well and found a pack of cigarettes that made him smile.

He hadn't smoked in years. He had thought it was cool and started when he was fourteen, mostly because it was a Muggle thing and it annoyed his parents; something he took pride in doing as much as possible when he had been home. Once he had moved in with the Potters, he quit. He hadn't liked the taste that much and a few of the girls he had snogged mentioned how much they didn't like it. But it had infuriated his mother so he kept it up, smoking a lot in his bedroom when they were home.

He pocketed the cigarettes to toss them and picked up Harry again, his eyes on the photo Lily had taken of him in sixth year in his whatever tee shirt. Looking back now, he had to admit — he hadn't been as cool as he'd thought he'd been. He glanced into his parents' bedroom briefly and then continued on his way until he stopped at his brother's door. He pushed it open, his eyes going to the yellowed newspaper clippings on the walls of Voldemort and his Death Eaters' attacks. He felt the familiar pang of regret. He had failed his little brother in so many ways and now he was dead.

He made his way back down the stairs and into the kitchen, stepping into the boiler room to look at the pile of blankets in the cupboard under the sink where Kreacher usually slept. His eyes fell on the glint of silver reflected in the gas lamp light and he reached towards it wondering why Kreacher had anything that was silver in his possession at all.

"You are a disgrace and you'll never amount to anything!" Walburga bellowed. "Crucio!"

He jolted slightly at the memory, but then Harry's shout made him freeze.

"NO!" Harry exclaimed suddenly, grabbing his forehead. "Ow!"

Sirius slid Harry around his body, his eyes full of concern. "What is it, Harry? What hurt you?"

Harry was rubbing his scar, tears in his eyes. "It hurts."

Sirius' eyebrow rose. Harry had never once mentioned anything about his scar hurting before. He tugged Harry's hand away from his forehead, taking his glasses off to examine the scar more carefully. The scar was its usual soft pink, a perfect lightning bolt that draped down through his eyebrow, but it didn't look inflamed or anything. He kissed it softly and Harry buried his face in Sirius' shoulder.

"It hurts, Uncle Padfoot."

Sirius sat down on the floor, his hand brushing the locket and as he did so, Harry yelped, his hand grabbing his forehead again. Sirius looked at Harry in alarm and then his eyes moved back to the locket.

"Harry, Harry, look at me," he waited until the green eyes met his. "Does it hurt when I touch this?" He picked up the locket and Harry's eyes filled with pain.

"Put it down! Put it down! It's bad!" he shouted, tears in his eyes.

Sirius dropped the locket and stood up, cuddling Harry close and hurried out of the boiler room. As soon as he stepped into the kitchen, Harry seemed to calm down. He looked back into the room in confusion. Why would an old locket make Harry's scar hurt like that? It didn't make any sense.

He sat Harry down on the kitchen table. "Harry, I need to get that locket in there. It's very strange that it hurts you, so we can't leave it here if it's not safe. Okay?"

Harry looked terrified, his eyes wide as he shook his head desperately. "Don't go back in there! It's bad, Uncle Padfoot! It's bad!"

Sirius kissed Harry's forehead. "I know, Prongslet. It's going to be okay, I promise."

Harry rubbed his eyes and nodded solemnly.

Sirius stepped back into the boiler room and Harry Apparated in front of him, his hands stretched wide up and his eyes panicked.

"Uncle Siri, no — it's bad!"

Sirius, who had only just fought back the unmanly scream that tickled the back of his throat at Harry's sudden Apparation, scooped him up into his arms and held him close.

"Prongslet, it's okay! I know that you just want to keep me safe." He kissed him and carefully placed him back on the ground. "Back into the kitchen, okay? I'll be right back. I promise."

Harry stared up at him, his bottom lip trembling. His fingers gripped the doorframe tightly as he kept his eyes on Sirius the whole time.

Sirius nodded at Harry and turned around to pick up the locket just as Kreacher came bursting into the room.

"NO! That was Master Regulus'!"

Sirius looked down at the locket, his eyes meeting Kreacher's. "What is this, Kreacher? Why do you have it down here? Tell me!"

Kreacher burst into tears. "Master Regulus told me to destroy it! But — I — can't!"

"What do you mean, Kreacher?" Sirius asked him, turning the locket in his hand. It was old and bronze, ornate looking with a jewelled S in the middle of in what looked like emeralds. It was held by a silver chain. "Why did Reg have this? Where did it come from? Why did he want you to destroy it? Tell me!"

Kreacher stared at him for a moment. "It belonged to the Dark Lord."

Sirius' eyes widened and he glanced back to the kitchen where Harry was waiting for him. "Kreacher, I am going to bring Harry home and then I am coming right back for this locket. You are going to tell me everything. Do not touch this locket. Do not leave this house. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Master Sirius."

Sirius dropped the locket back onto Kreacher's bed and hurried back into the kitchen, scooping Harry up into his arms as he stepped into the Floo, spinning home. He sat down on the couch, cuddling Harry onto his lap for a moment. "Harry, does your head still hurt?"

Harry shook his head. "I saw bad things."

Sirius' eyes glanced at him in alarm. "What do you mean by that, Harry?"

Harry kept his face buried against Sirius' chest as he spoke. "There was lots of green light and a woman screaming my name. I didn't like it, Uncle Padfoot. Then my head hurt. And I could feel Uncle Vernon hitting my head against the wall. I didn't like it at all!"

"Shh," Sirius soothed, kissing Harry's head and rocking gently with him in his arms. "It's okay. I'm here. You're safe." He kissed Harry's scar again, rocking him gently. He glanced up at the clock, it was almost dinner time. Once Harry had calmed down a bit, he smiled at him. "I need to go back to talk to Kreacher, Harry. Can you go over to Uncle Moony's for dinner?"

"Don't go there, Uncle Padfoot. Bad things are there," he said, his eyes wide.

Sirius smiled and kissed his forehead. "I'll be back later tonight, I promise."

He Flooed to Remus' house and dropped Harry off with his friend. He quickly explained that something had come up and that he would explain everything when he got back, but that he might need Harry to spend the night.

Remus' eyes narrowed, his gaze on his friend. "Is everything all right?"

Sirius sighed deeply. "Yeah, just… something strange. I'll tell you later. And Rem, Harry might need a little extra attention today, yeah?"

Remus only nodded. "No problem."

Then Sirius Disapparated and returned back to Number Twelve to interrogate a house elf.

End Author's Note:

Thank you to my Beta, Bex, for her advice on Harry's little accidental magic outburst there — Apparition. And thank you Bex for all of your hard work thus far — 33 chapters of the old stuff edited!

Thank you reading and please review!