Disclaimer: Not mine, tragically, except for the plot and characters that you don't recognize
So this chapter is pretty long, to make up for my rather extensive absence, so here you guys go!
Read, Review, and Enjoy,
Stars.
I want to be back on the ground
Where my feet touch my shadow
I want to dig my heels in the dirt
Feel it break between all of my toes
Take a breath
And push the anger down
Try to remember calmness
Big boys don't cry
They don't ask why
~The Driver, Bastille
"Amelia, all we want is our Godson. His aunt and uncle abused him, and last time I checked, it's the Department of Magical Law Enforcement's job to protect every witch and wizard under the domain of the Ministry. I mean, I'm sure things have changed since I was in Azkaban, but not that much." Dany idly watched Sirius speak with Amelia Bones, a woman who had been a wonderful friend to both of them before the Potters' deaths and remained a companion to Dany while Sirius had been in jail. She could tell her husband was becoming more and more agitated as time ticked by, yet she refrained from interfering.
"Sirius…I understand, and I believe you, I really do. Unfortunately, neither the Wizengamot nor my department cannot go off of good faith alone. As a man trained to be an Auror, I'm sure you remember the legality issues we could all face. Of course, as your Godson is Harry Potter, things are moderately more complicated. No corners can be cut, no shortcuts made. Everything must be perfectly legal, should someone contest the adoption, and everything will be under public scrutiny. And while both you and Danilynn have mostly honorable reputations, there is still a stigma around you both, despite your release from Azkaban, Sirius." Dany watched Sirius' reaction closely for any kind of erratic emotion. When she found none, she asked her old friend quietly,
"What would be the first step in this 'perfectly legal' process?" Amelia rubbed her temples and closed her eyes from a moment.
"I would have to contact the Department for the Protection of Magical Children. Their head is Priscilla Dupont, who I'm sure will be more than happy to listen to you. She will want to talk to each of you individually, with Harry alone, and all three of you as a family. From there, she would make a decision on whether you both are good candidates for adoption. If she decides you are, she will come out to your home to inspect it, make sure it is child friendly and safe. If everything passes her exams, the decision will be made by her recommendation and by the Wizengamot during a hearing. If he was truly abused as you say, you may also choose to pursue legal recourse on that front as well. But let's not worry on that for now." Dany exchanged a look with Sirius, who looked back at her with a stony look in his eye that reminded her very much of the look Charlie Potter had worn when he had told the Blacks that as a matter of fact, no, they couldn't have their son back. The only thing that was said after that was Dany's lingering statement of,
"Make the call and leave the Wizengamot to me. We're getting our Godson."
"What do you mean they could take me back? You said I could stay with you!" Harry exclaimed. Dany sighed. Telling her Godson that they were going to the Ministry to attempt to get permanent custody of him was neither fun nor easy.
"Harry, I don't think they are, they have no reason to. But you have to understand that it is a possibility. Mr. Weasley is going to meet us there because we have to go talk to Ms. Dupont without you and he's going to sit with you when one of us can't. Then you'll go talk to her on your own. She'll probably ask you questions about us, about the Dursleys, about how you've been treated here. Then we'll all go talk to her together. Hey, but listen, Kiddo, nothing is being decided today. And most of all, you have to be 100% honest with Mrs. Dupont, okay? No matter how much you want to lie, don't. They could take you away from us if you do. It's okay to be scared, but try to calm down" Sirius walked into where Dany was talking to Harry, already dressed in a dress shirt and pants. Dany placed a kiss on her Godson's forehead and touched her husband's shoulder lightly as she said, "I need to go get dressed, I'll just be a minute. Then we'll Apparate in."
She got dressed quietly and looked at herself in the mirror. She wished more than anything that she didn't have to go to bat for custody of Harry. She wished more than almost anything that Lily and James were still here. She adjusted her dress one more time and returned to where Harry was sitting in Sirius' lap. They both looked up and Harry got up from Sirius' lap. Dany grasped Harry's hand in one of hers and she felt Sirius take her other hand. They disapparated with a crack. Seconds later, they appeared in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic.
"Harry, hold onto my hand and Dany's. We don't need to lose you." Sirius moved to Harry's other side and took his free hand. "Where are we going?"
"Level two. Arthur said he'd meet us there." Together the three walked towards the lift. Once they were on, Dany said, "Love, why don't you pick him up? You remember how these things are." Sirius lifted Harry into his arms. "Harry? How you doing, Buddy?" He wiggled closer to his Godfather and Dany vaguely heard,
"This is the Ministry?"
"Yep. This is it. Don't worry, not all of it is as big as the Atrium. I'll tell you what, after we're done talking to Ms. Dupont, we'll go see," she lowered her voice to a whisper, "Mad-Eye Moody." Harry pulled his face away from his Godfather's shirt to look at her with big eyes,
"Really? Bill and Charlie said he's the best Auror there's ever been!" the Weasleys had become an integral part of their lives in the month that Sirius and Dany had had Harry. Sirius chuckled and remarked as the lift came to a halt,
"He'll love this." As the door opened Dany winked. Harry was put back on the ground and took both of his Godparents hands. Sirius stopped suddenly and pointed to a door, "this is it." He pushed it open to reveal a child-friendly room with toys on the ground and people milling around, some looking worried, some beside themselves with happiness. Before anyone had a chance to do something, Arthur waved the three of them over from where he was sitting in one of the grown-up sized chairs.
"Hello, you lot. Harry, call me crazy, but I do think you've grown another inch since I last saw you!" Harry stood up straighter and dropped his Godparents hands at this.
"I'm a big kid now!" Mr. Weasley smiled at him,
"You certainly are! I see some interesting looking toys over there, why don't you and Padfoot go check it out?" Sirius smiled at him thankfully as the boy was instantly distracted and relaxed,
"Come on, Harry." The two wondered off and Dany sat down next to Arthur.
"Thank you for coming, Arthur. It really means a lot to all of us. You and Molly have been beyond amazing over the past month."
"Please, don't worry about it. I can't imagine the kind of situation you two are in. You didn't have the nine months we did to prepare for our first. You all of a sudden had an eight-year-old boy to take care of. Parenthood is a big change." Dany watched Sirius entertain Harry with a couple of puffs of color from his wand and the various toys on the ground,
"It certainly is." Just then, a woman came out and said,
"Danilynn Black." The room went silent and stared. Harry immediately stopped playing with Sirius and as Dany went to follow the woman to the back room, ignoring the stares of the other people, Harry grabbed her leg.
"Don't go, Dany!" she leaned down to his eye level,
"Hey, Harry, we talked about this, remember? We all have to go talk to Ms. Dupont on our own, and then together. That's why Mr. Weasley is here, remember? It'll be okay. I'll be right back, I promise." She made eye contact with Sirius over Harry's head as he hugged her and said to the lady sternly,
"You make sure that she comes back, okay?" The woman, who Dany assumed was some sort of secretary, looked amused. Harry caught his Godmother's eye and added on, "Please." The woman smiled and said,
"Of course. She'll be right back. No more than half an hour, I promise, Harry. And nice manners." Harry relinquished his hold on Dany and Sirius scooped him up to go sit with Mr. Weasley and him. Dany followed to woman back to the rooms behind the door to the waiting room. Almost immediately the woman turned to face her and held out her hand,
"Lady Black, my name is Priscilla Dupont, and I'm the head of the Department for the Protection of Magical Children. It's a pleasure to meet you." Dany shook her hand, rather surprised, "You must be wondering why I came and got you personally. I do with some of the children to see how they react to the removal of one of the potential foster parents. He seems quite attached." They entered a room that looked like it was used exclusively for interviews. Dany took a seat and folded her hands in her lap.
"His Aunt and Uncle are less than kind people. He's met very few adults that have shown him any kind of respect or kindness. He's very close to the Weasleys, as well. We all are." Priscilla Dupont took her seat across from Dany,
"The Weasleys are a good family. Gosh, how many children do they have now?"
"Seven, I think. Bill, Charlie, Percy, the twins…so yes, seven. But we're not here to talk about the Weasleys, are we?"
"No, we're not. Tell me, Mrs. Black, you're an Auror, is that correct?"
"Danilynn or Dany, please. And I am. I have been since I was seventeen, about twelve years now."
"And, your husband, he was also an Auror?" Dany hesitated and answered carefully,
"He was, before the Potter's deaths. He plans to return once things have settled down with adopting Harry. Alastor Moody said he'd be more than happy to take him back."
"Speaking of Alastor Moody, he definitely had only good things to say about you. You father and brother certainly left big shoes for you at the Ministry, but from what he says, you fill them in your own way."
"I try, but I somehow feel like Rhaegar could find something to criticize. It was his job as an older brother." Dany lightly joked and the other woman smiled slightly.
"You certainly have quite the family line, Danilynn. However, as I was reviewing your work files, something was slightly disconcerting: before the fall of You-Know-Who, the amount of people that…well, um—"
"The number of people I killed?" Priscilla cleared her throat awkwardly as a confirmation,
"We were in a war, we were desperate and my friends and family were dropping like flies. You remember how it was; we were all scared. Look at the past seven or so years and you'll see a completely different pattern. War leads people to extremes." She nodded,
"I could hardly forget those times. The number of children whose parents were killed in the raids was unbelievable. Some of their stories still haunt me sometimes."
"Voldemort is gone now, it's over, and hopefully, a time like that will never come again." Dany said absently, even though she certainly did not believe that Voldemort was gone for good.
"You say his name."
"Of course I do. It's just a word. It holds no power and only makes one fear the object more than you would otherwise."
"I see. Do you enjoy having Harry?"
"I don't appreciate it when he draws on the walls, but he's Lily and James' son, our Godson. I love him, even when he draws on the walls. He's lived a life too hard for being only eight, well almost nine, and deserves the best home that he can be given. But that still doesn't give him free reign. He helps Sirius clean up dinner sometimes and I show him how to crack eggs and roll cookie dough. He's too young for much else, for now. Chores are rather pointless when you need constant parental supervision." Priscilla nodded as she wrote down something and stood up,
"Well, Danilynn, that will do it. Let's go get you back to your Godson before our thirty minutes is up, shall we? Speaking of which, he has remarkably good manners."
"That's the Lily in him. We try to encourage them, though. It's good for later in life." The two women reached the door and Dany walked back out only to be slammed into by Harry, who collided with her legs at maximum force. She laughed and pulled him off her legs to get a good look at his face, "You didn't bruise did, you? I'd rather my kneecap not give you a black eye." Sirius caught her eye and she shrugged slightly as if to say, 'it went alright, I guess'.
"Sirius Black." The entire room went quiet once more and Harry fearfully watched his Godfather leave. Priscilla said to Dany,
"I'll have someone call him back in in about fifteen minutes or so." She nodded and sat down with Arthur and Harry.
"How did it go?" Arthur asked,
"Alright, I suppose. She asked a lot about my job, and about the war. She apparently talked to Moody about me and went through my files. She asked a little about if I liked having Harry and a few other things." He nodded and Harry filled the silence with chatter about some silly game that Sirius had been playing with him while Dany had been in the back room. She would have continued it with him, but had no idea what it had been, and Harry was rather dismal at describing the premise to her, so she sat and spoke to Arthur and Harry, who occasionally would say something. About twenty minutes later, another woman came out and said in a bored voice,
"Harry—Harry Potter." Harry looked surprised, the woman looked marginally more interested at this, and Dany nodded at him encouragingly,
"Go ahead, Sweetheart. It'll be alright." Harry followed the woman warily and moments after the door swung shut, it opened back up to reveal Sirius. Dany glanced up from her conversation with Arthur as he sat down next to her.
"How'd it go?"
"Good, I think. She asked a lot about the war, she wanted a firsthand account of the Secret Keeper fiasco and wanted to know about how Harry is at home. I told her the truth: we were Aurors, we did a lot of killing because we were scared and that's what war does to people, and I told her everything about Peter and the whole mess. And of course I love having Harry around." Dany nodded and leaned against his arm, which he placed around her shoulder. Arthur smiled and said,
"It appears that you've got it under control and I best be getting back to work." He stood and Sirius and Dany stood too. Sirius shook his hand and said,
"Arthur, we can't repay you. Thanks, man." Dany hugged him lightly and the head of the Weasley family took his leave with a reassuring smile. The Blacks sat back down and both idly stared at the door Harry was behind. He was back there almost forty minutes, when a woman appeared once more and said,
"Sirius and Danilynn Black." They both stood and followed her to the same room, where Harry was sitting in a chair that looked much too big for him. Once he saw his Godparents, he ran up to them and Sirius scooped him up, being the only one strong enough to do so. He sat in a chair and Harry stubbornly refused to leave his lap. Dany took the chair next to them.
"So, now that I can finally speak to all three of you at the same time, I'd like to say how thoroughly impressed I am with the way you have all handled this. Sirius, Danilynn, neither of you had time to prepare for parenthood, but you have both handled it with as much grace as anyone could manage and Harry, it takes a very brave boy to come here and to talk to a stranger about your Aunt and Uncle Dursley. What they did was very, very wrong and if you three wish to pursue legal action, this department will stand behind you 100%. I think that you both would make wonderful parents to this boy. It appears that Lily and James Potter made a very good decision when they made you his Godparents." Dany relaxed and she saw Sirius visibly do the same, "Now, I will have to come out to look at your home to make sure it's adequate, if you're staying in one of the old Masters houses, I'm sure it will be more than satisfactory, and after that it's mainly formality." Both the adults nodded and Harry pulled on Dany's hair lightly, to get her attention. She looked down at him and said,
"Yes, sir?" He giggled and said,
"Does that mean I get to stay with you?" Dany looked at Priscilla, who nodded slightly in confirmation.
"Yep, you're ours now." Harry smiled a real smile, so big that it looked like it might just break his face into two pieces.
"Your stuck with us, Buddy, whether you like it or not." Harry laughed at Sirius' joking statement and Priscilla said,
"How about I drop by say, this Thursday at about noon?" Sirius nodded and said,
"Sounds good, Dan, are you working Thursday?" Dany thought for a second and said,
"I should be but I think Moody will be okay with me taking a personal day, if it's necessary that I be there."
"It's not absolutely vital, but it would be good for you to be there, so I can speak to both of you." Dany nodded and made a mental note to talk to Moody about it, "Now, I'll let you three go to enjoy this beautiful Monday afternoon. I'll see you Thursday, and I'll be in touch for your home address." The three of them said goodbye to Priscilla, left the Department for the Protection of Magical Children, and reentered the normal bustle of the Ministry. Sirius and Dany once more held onto Harry's hands and Harry said,
"Dany? Can we go see Mad-Eye Moody now?" Dany laughed and said,
"We sure can, if we can find him, just don't call him Mad-Eye to his face, okay?" Harry nodded and Dany led her husband and Godson down the hall of level two, and entered a set of double doors labeled, "Auror Department". There were people everywhere, men and women all chattering to one another, and they all carried a haunted look in their eyes. The first person to notice them was Kingsley Shacklebolt. He approached with a smile and Dany carefully handed Harry to Sirius.
"Masters. I thought you were taking the day off."
"I am, we're just stopping by on our way out," she gestured to Harry, "Child Services."
"Ah, well it's a good thing you're here. Simmons and Parker are just about ready to lose their jobs." She laughed,
"Those two are always about to lose their jobs, I swear." Kingsley laughed and said,
"Sirius Black. It's good to see you. You look better than the last time I saw you, man." Sirius shook his hand and laughed,
"Yeah, turns out the Ministry has some potion that's their contingency plan in case they chuck someone in jail accidentally. I hear you're Dany's protégée. She's not being too hard on you, is she? She can be a real drill sergeant."
"Hey! Harry, don't listen to your Godfather. Sirius give him to me." Kingsley laughed and answered as Harry was transferred to Dany's arms,
"She only gets on my case when I'm not doing my job right." Dany smiled and said,
"Don't sell yourself short, Shacklebolt, you're one of the best this Department's seen in years."
"Yeah, since you two and the Potters. And before you, Moody."
"My mom and dad?" Harry suddenly asked. Kingsley looked at him and smiled,
"Yeah, your mom and dad were some of the best Aurors ever. Some of the youngest, too. They were great people."
"Do my eyes deceive me? Is that Masters with a kid? Does this mean she actually has a heart? And in a dress? Do wonders ever cease?" Dany put Harry on the ground as she rolled her eyes and said dryly,
"Yeah, just not for either of you two. I hear you two just got fired."
"We were?"
"Not yet, but if you don't start doing your damn job and work like you're supposed to, that's next." Simmons and Parker both glared at Kingsley,
"You told her. I can't believe you told her." The other Auror just shrugged at them,
"We're not in school, you idiots. People could die if you don't do your job, so yeah, you're damn right I told her. Besides, would you rather Masters know, or Moody?"
"Speaking of, Masters, I hear you're not actually Masters anymore, hm? I hear that you're Danilynn Black." Dany rolled her eyes and said,
"I have been, you two, now get back to work before I reassign you under Moody. You think I'm a dictator? Please. You've never experienced anything quite like the regime of Alastor Moody." They both walked off and Kingsley laughed,
"Speaking of Moody, he's in his office. I'll see you later; I was just given the Pettigrew job. See you back to work tomorrow, Black."
"Hey, Shacklebolt! Can you hang onto Harry for a little bit? We need to talk to Moody." He winked and walked off with Harry, with a clap to his boss's shoulder. Sirius glanced at her,
"Um, who were they?"
"Who? The two guys? They work for me. Well, technically, we all work under Moody, and they work under me."
"So you're what? Second-in-command?" She shrugged,
"Sort of, I guess. Come on, let's go see Moody." Sirius and Harry followed her to an office door, which she knocked on.
"Huh? What?" She opened the door and poked her head in,
"Alastor? Can I come in, I have someone with me that you'll want to see."
"Oh, Masters, I mean, Black. Come on in," Dany motioned to her husband and the two of them walked in, "Sirius Black, boy is it good to see you."
"How have you been, Moody?"
"Good, I've been real good. What about you, Black? Ready to come back to work? Someone's gotta back up your wife's crazy ass."
"If you'll take me, I'd love to. I didn't realize that she's still such a loose cannon." Dany rolled her eyes and said,
"It's not that bad, you two."
"I'd say you wouldn't believe me, but you probably would. Shacklebolt can keep up most of the time, but she needs a partner as reckless and talented as she is. One with a little more field experience, too. And maybe you can finally smack some sense into Parker and Simmons. They won't listen to Danilynn worth a damn. I still think it's because she's a woman." Sirius raised an eyebrow at his wife, who shrugged,
"I think it's because I wiped the floor with them both during Hell Month." Sirius chuckled again and Dany vaguely remembered their Hell Month. It was the first month of Auror training and during that time period of four weeks, the already-initiated pushed the potentials to their absolute limits, physical and mental. Almost everyone hit his or her breaking point in some way, almost everyone. The Blacks hadn't, and neither had the Potters, which had earned all four of them spots in Alastor Moody's hearts forever. Alastor Moody had been a close friend to Daniel Masters when he had been Minster and as such, considered the youngest of the family to be damn near family.
"That, you did, girl. Now, how about we talk about the logistics of bringing your husband back to work for us?"
"Alastor, he's my equal, that much, I won't bend on."
"Well, to be sure that he's still in form, we've got to put him back in the Sim with you." Dany raised an eyebrow at her husband, who shrugged slightly, "Follow me." They both followed him down to where the simulator was kept. Moody turned to them both and said, "You remember, the premise is simple: the scene will simulate a fight, a raid. No magic, hand-to-hand and knife work only. Stay alive for as long as possible. Go on, you two, and be warned, I'll be pushing you both hard. You better damn hope that you're as in sync as you were a decade ago. And Danilynn, go change, I'm not sending you in there in a dress." Dany rolled her eyes and left to go to her office to change her clothes into exercise clothes, a tank top and leggings. She returned a moment later, and they both walked in together, after handing their wands to Moody and Dany heard Sirius whisper to her,
"Please tell me that you've got a knife for me somewhere." Dany nodded slowly and pulled one from under the waistband of her pants and handed it him. She pulled another out and flipped it in her left hand.
"This is going to be a mass exhibition, the entire department's watching. Moody's going to try to freaking kill us, I hope you realize." Immediately as she said that, the scenery changed in the room and people were everywhere. Dany felt behind her and caught Sirius' arm. She felt him touch her waist on the other side and she ran though the lessons she had not only learned, but also taught.
One. Keep an eye on your partner, but a hand is better. Two. Don't get separated. Three. Go for the easy takedown, not the pretty one. Four. Survive. Five. No mercy. She took a deep breath and felt Sirius shift under her hand. The first Sim attacked and she allowed herself to get lost in the fight.
It seemed to last forever. Moody hadn't been kidding about pushing them both to their limits and even though both Dany and Sirius were highly skilled naturally and trained extensively, that didn't stop them from being punched in the face when distracted. The closest call was when Sirius had been distracted and one of the Sims had managed to disarm Dany and grab her as hostage. Sirius had hesitated for a split second before sending a knife, flipping end over end, straight into the Sims forehead. Dany was pretty sure that her shoulder was dislocated, if nothing was broken, and by the looks of it, Sirius had suffered some pretty bad head trauma.
"How long have we fucking been doing this?" He snarled to her as she wrestled with a Sim on the ground and managed to snap its neck with her knees.
"No clue. Must be close to an hour by now." She stabbed a Sim in the stomach with her knife and suddenly, it all stopped, the room changed back to its default appearance and they exchanged a look and cautiously stepped outside of the room, only to be met with the eyes of the entire Auror Department, leaving Dany wondering where they had left Harry.
"Shacklebolt, where did you put Harry?" he looked at her like she was nothing short of mad, but answered anyways.
"He's in your office, I give him a game that my sister loves and he's happy as can be. Jesus, you two, how are you not dead?" Sirius shrugged with a wince,
"I feel it, believe me. Damn, Moody, how long were we in there?" Alastor looked at him with one of his rare, genuine smiles that said, "I'm proud of you, kid",
"Almost two hours. Damn went and blew away the record." Sirius glanced at Dany and said,
"Well, who knew? And is your shoulder okay? It looks like it might be dislocated." Dany poked it experimentally and said,
"It probably is. Damn that hurts."
"I can set it, if you want." She shrugged, well tried to and he gently took her shoulder and probed the area sensitively, "On three…one…two—"crack. Apparently Sirius wasn't planning on waiting until three and snapped her shoulder back into place with a more practiced hand than what was probably considered normal. She groaned in pain and once he removed his hand she rolled her shoulder experimentally and found it responsive and no longer as painful.
"Thanks…how's your head?" she examined his face, looking for signs of concussion and found none, which was fortunate. Kingsley cleared his throat,
"Are we not going to discuss this at all? You both just destroyed the Sim."
"Man, I'd be bragging so hard, right now, if I was either of you two. That was killer." Parker exclaimed to the two older Aurors. Moody snapped at him,
"That's why they're better Aurors than you and Simmons. Because they don't brag. They get the job done. That's also why Sirius Black is going to be hired in as the partner to his wife, Danilynn, and you two are going to be answering to both of them now. Shacklebolt, you'll be with me on jobs, but Masters—er, Black will still be your mentor." He nodded and Sirius grinned at his wife,
"I guess we've still got it."
"Apparently…are you sure you don't want me to fix your head?" He laughed at that,
"There are some things you just can't fix, Babe." Dany rolled her eyes and said,
"Oh, yeah, yuck it up, Sirius. Alastor, can I have my wand?" Moody handed it to her and she tapped her husband on the head with it and he rubbed his forehead experimentally and nodded that it had worked, "Oh, and Moody, there's someone who really wants to meet you." Alastor nodded and followed the couple to Dany's office, where Harry was sitting in an armchair, playing with a presumably Muggle contraption, judging by the flashing lights. Harry put it down on her desk carefully and said,
"Dany! Padfoot! Where have you been?"
"We've been talking to Auror Moody. You want to meet him?" Harry nodded excitedly at his Godfather and Dany motioned out to her old mentor.
"Harry, this is Alastor Moody. Alastor, you know who this is."
"Spitting image of his old man, except for the eyes. Those aren't Potter eyes. Lord knows I've seen enough of that family to know."
"We know. It can be a little disorienting sometimes." Sirius admitted.
"Auror Moody? Bill and Charlie told me that you're the best Auror since forever." Harry said, trying to hide hid excitement from the man. Alastor raised an eyebrow at the other two adults and Dany mouthed 'Weasley' to him and he nodded,
"Well, that's awfully nice of them to say, Harry. Could you tell them thank you for me next time you see them?" Harry nodded, "How old are you now?"
"Eight, sir. But I'm turning nine in about two weeks!"
"You're getting to be Hogwarts age, then? He is going to Hogwarts, isn't he?"
"He's got two more years at home." Sirius said, "Molly Weasley teaches him during the day with her seven. We let her use our house every other week. But then, of course he's going to Hogwarts."
"Good, I hear Snape is teaching there, now?"
"Potions Master, and from what I've heard from the older Weasley kids, he hasn't changed much since the war." Dany answered carefully.
"He doesn't strike me much as one to change. Harry, have you done accidental magic yet?"
"Yep! It started a couple years ago." He brightly answered. He had discovered that this was a big deal, after mentioning it in passing to the Weasley children and they had all been incredibly impressed.
"At six? That's impressive. When did you two start?"
"I technically started at four, but went on a two year dry streak until I was six after bringing my dinner to life one night…and Sirius you started when? Six, too?" Sirius nodded in confirmation,
"Yup. So he's right on time with both of us."
"Damn there must be something in the water because six is incredibly young to start accidental. The Longbottom's son, Neville, hasn't started yet, they're thinking he might be a squib."
"Alice and Frank's boy? I doubt it. They were both late bloomers, he'll grow into his own eventually." Sirius said, with a shrug.
"Alastor, why don't you drop by ours this Saturday for lunch? We're going to be having the Weasleys over anyways, and I'm sure Shacklebolt would come if we could catch him in a good mood." Dany asked him. The older Auror thought about it for a moment and nodded,
"I don't see why not. You still in your old place?"
"No, we're back up in Scotland, about two hours outside of Ottery St. Catchpole," He nodded again and Sirius caught Dany's eye and nodded towards Harry, whose eyes were starting to droop shut, "We best be going, looks like the little one is just about done for the day." Sirius picked up Harry and Dany held the door to her office open so they could exit and turned back for a moment to say, "One more thing, Alastor. I need to take Thursday off. Custody inspection at home. Is that alright?" He nodded and said,
"Just remind me before you both take off on Wednesday. Speaking of which, Sirius Black, I expect you here and ready to work, bright and early tomorrow morning, understood?"
"Uh…yes, sir."
"Good, well you three best be off. See you tomorrow morning." Dany and Sirius, who was still holding Harry, walked through the Auror Department and Dany noticed that people, especially the younger ones, were staring. She realized as she held the door to left Sirius and Harry out of the Department, that many of them had never actually seen her fight. Work that the Aurors participated in now, post-war, paled in comparison to how they had been forced to live and fight and kill, something that those who had joined up after Voldemort's fall never really realized. They had seen the youngest Masters arrest people and point her wand threateningly at people but they had never actually seen her, or anyone else, likely, stick a knife into someone's head or break a neck with her feet. They entered the lift back to the Atrium and she said to Sirius,
"They probably thought we were crazy, after they saw us fight."
"I mean you taught them, they couldn't have been that surprised."
"Sirius…Aurors, we almost never kill anymore. It's a different world. I mean, sure, I taught them how to, in theory, but anyone there who joined up after the war never actually has. Honestly, I think a lot of them thought that I was in the position I'm in because of my family. They all think that I'm respected by people older than me because my dad was Minister."
"Yeah, they probably don't think that anymore. Dan, you're an amazing fighter and you don't get enough credit for it, not from the younger kids, clearly. I have a feeling that that just changed, though."
The next chapter is coming sooner rather than later, and we get a look at just what happened the night Dany's parents were killed. Here's a sneak peak:
She knocked the wand from his hand and before she could think too much about the fact that he probably had a family somewhere, she cut his throat.