Resolutions

By Neurotica

Eleven

Two weeks after Mira Black was born, reality began to set in again. The time of year in which students began receiving their Hogwarts letters was quickly approaching, and Harry was growing anxious. His summer had seemed shorter than usual, what with all the activity around Number Twelve, and he'd only just started relaxing and settling into a daily routine. During the daytime, he spent many hours in his new god-sister's nursery playing with her, holding her, or just watching her. She really was cute and definitely the smallest person Harry had ever seen. Naomi had taught him how to warm her bottles to the right temperature and how to burp her after she finished the bottle. The only thing Harry wasn't too fond of in terms to the baby was changing her diapers. He still couldn't understand how such a small person could produce so much... stuff. And the smell... More often than not, his guardians would walk into the nursery and promptly begin laughing at the Bubblehead Charm he used to block out the stench.

Hermione and Ginny both adored Mira as well—Ron still stayed on the other side of the room, but every time he visited, he took a small step closer and Harry predicted that by the time Mira was ready to go off to Hogwarts, his best friend would finally be close enough to shake the girl's hand.

A week before, Remus had gone to the Burrow and performed the Fidelius Charm around the Weasley's property. Dumbledore had wanted it done sooner—at the beginning of the summer to be exact—but in order to perform the charm successfully, the wards around the land needed to be weakened to just the right strength (the wards didn't permit such strong magic to be cast within their bounds). Harry, who had never actually seen a Fidelius Charm cast, found it quite captivating to see his friends' home disappear before his eyes. Only when Remus whispered in his ear, "The Weasley family may be found at the Burrow in Ottery St. Catchpole, Devon, England," could Harry see the oddly-shaped house again.

He'd wondered a bit bitterly why the cottage couldn't have been under the Fidelius Charm, but never asked his guardians—Remus was still quite upset over the loss of his family home. Sirius had mentioned an idea to Harry that he'd had about rebuilding the cottage as a surprise to Remus and Emmeline for after their twin boys were born. Harry thought it was a brilliant idea—he and Sirius would finalize the plans over the next few months, and see how it worked out around Christmas.

"Hey, Harry," rang the sweet voice of Ginny. Harry lifted his head from his Charms book and smiled brightly at her. She walked over swiftly, leaned down over him in his chair, and kissed him boldly on the lips, leaving him with a rather dazed expression on his face when she pulled away a few moments later.

"Hey," he said dopily before clearing his throat. "What's up?"

Ginny grinned and pulled over a chair to sit beside him. "Nothing really. I was bored at home—Ron and Hermione are on the sofa reading—"

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Ron's reading?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Well, actually, Hermione's reading, and Ron is staring idiotically at Hermione."

Harry laughed and nodded. "That sounds more like it. So you just decided to come over and say hi?"

"Yes," she responded. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Not at all. I'm grateful for the break actually. Remus is finally making me do my summer work. He said if it's not done tonight, he's not letting me take my Apparition test on Friday when we go get my school stuff for the term."

"Did he really mean it?"

Harry shrugged. "Mostly," he said. "I've not done any of my homework at all since we've been home."

"How much do you have left?"

"Not much," he replied. "Only a Charms paper and I'm finished. Have you lot gotten your Hogwarts letters yet?"

She shook her head. "No. Mum says Dumbledore's got to deliver them because of the Fidelius Charm like he does yours. Oh, I wanted to ask Remus if he could tell Luna Lovegood how to come to our house. She owled the other day, wanting to come over, but since Mum's not our Secret-Keeper, she couldn't."

Harry nodded. "Remus should be back soon. He and Emmeline went to get a few things from Diagon Alley. Are you hungry? I haven't eaten lunch yet..."

"I've already eaten, but if you're hungry, feel free. It's not like I haven't seen Ron stuff his face regularly."

Harry laughed, rolled his eyes, and stood to lead Ginny to the kitchen by her hand. Sirius was sitting at the table holding both of Mira's hands tightly while she was perched on his knees. "Say Da-da," the wizard was saying. "Come on, honey, it's not that hard—Da-da…"

"Sirius, she's two and a half weeks old!" Naomi said in exasperation from the kitchen counter where she was making sandwiches. "We've still got a good eight or nine months before she even attempts to talk."

"You underestimate our daughter, my love," Sirius said, not taking his eyes away from Mira. The baby was smiling toothlessly at him. "She's going to be the smartest baby the world has ever seen, just you wait."

"Yeah, Naomi, she already knows how to try and poke Sirius' eye out." Harry grinned, going to the counter to make his own sandwich. "And she knows which end of a wand to chew on."

Naomi raised an eyebrow. "Whose wand has she been chewing on?" she asked, glaring accusingly at her husband.

"What?" Sirius said, sensing the glare. "I was trying to teach her how to do a Jelly-Legs Jinx on Remus."

"Give me my baby," Naomi said, going to the table and plucking Mira out of Sirius' arms. The wizard stuck out his bottom lip in a pout. In an instant, Naomi had her wand out and cast an enlargement charm on said lip. By the time Harry and Ginny had picked themselves up from falling on the floor in laughter, Sirius' lip was touching the middle of his nose, making it near impossible for him to make any sound besides a strange, muffled grunting noise.

He looked pleadingly at Harry when he realized his wife wasn't going to take the spell off herself. "Sorry, Padfoot, old man." Harry grinned, still sniggering uncontrollably. "Naomi would curse me if I took that off you. And she's a bit more of a threat than you are right now..."

"Do I even want to know what's been going on here?" asked an exasperated yet amused voice from the bottom of the stairs.

Sirius' eyes widened in relief at the sight of his best friend and quickly began gesturing and grunting a very muffled plea for Remus to counter the spell Naomi had used on him while both Remus and Emmeline looked at him oddly.

Finally, Naomi rolled her eyes and said, "He's just too pitiful." With a swift wave of her wand, Sirius' lip was back to its original size.

"Thank you," Sirius said to his wife. "And I'm sorry I let our baby play with my wand. It won't happen again. Not for a few more months, at least," he muttered under his breath. Before she could curse him again, Sirius kissed his wife soundly.

"You know," she said when he pulled away. "You're very lucky you're so good at that. Otherwise, I would have ditched you months ago."

"Thank God for small favors." Sirius grinned.

Remus cleared his throat loudly to remind the couple that there were others in the room. Sirius glared at his best friend, but the other wizard ignored it. "Hello, Ginny," he said, smiling at the young witch as he and Emmeline began unloading the shrunken packages they'd bought in Diagon Alley. "Come to join our three-ring circus for the day?"

"Yeah," Ginny said. "I needed a change from my own."

Remus chuckled. "I can imagine. Well, I'm glad you're here actually. We met Minerva at the Leaky Cauldron—she was on her way here to deliver Harry's Hogwarts letter. I've also got yours, Hermione's, and Ron's." He pulled out a stack of envelopes from his back pocket, handing one to Harry and the rest to Ginny.

Harry's brow furrowed as he examined the thickness of his letter. "Are seventh year letters always this bulky?" he asked.

Sirius looked away from his daughter, who was pulling at Naomi's lip, just long enough to see what Harry was on about. His jaw dropped. "No bloody way!" he said loudly.

"What?" the others asked, confused at his behavior.

The Auror didn't answer; instead, he went to stand beside his godson at the counter and pointed at the letter. "Open it," he demanded.

Harry raised an eyebrow at him and glanced over at Remus just as a look of realization crossed his face. The werewolf beamed proudly. Bewildered, Harry did as he was told—if he'd waited a second longer, he was sure Sirius would have reached over and ripped the envelope open himself. Glancing at Ginny's equally confused face, Harry pulled out the first sheet of parchment and examined that year's booklist before setting it aside.

"Read it aloud," Remus said quietly, still smiling broadly as Harry took out the second sheet of parchment.

"Okay..." Harry sighed. "'Dear Mister Potter, as you are coming upon your seventh and final year at Hogwarts, it is my privilege to inform you that you've been chosen to be this year's Head Boy?'" Harry stared at the words with his jaw dropped for long minutes.

Sirius took the letter from him, cleared his throat, and continued, "'This decision was based on years of leadership of your fellow students, merit in the eyes of your professors, and your capacity of patience for learning.' They must have lost their minds." Sirius grinned looking over the letter at Harry's shocked face.

"'As Head Boy, you, along with the Head Girl, will work alongside the professors at Hogwarts to ensure rules are followed for the safety of all within the walls of Hogwarts and the overall preservation of the school's ancient foundations are maintained. Should you have any ideas or thoughts for how anything could be improved, do not hesitate to speak up about it. You will be leading the Prefects of your year and below in their duties, and together will organize such activities as Hogsmeade weekends. I look quite forward to working with you, Harry—your mother and father would have been extraordinarily proud of you. Congratulations and enjoy the remainder of your summer. Yours sincerely, Albus Dumbledore.'"

The kitchen was silent as Sirius finished reading and lowered the letter. Everybody was staring at Harry's face. "But... I wasn't even Prefect..." he said weakly, wondering if there'd been a mistake.

"Neither was your father," Remus reminded him. "Congratulations, Harry."

Harry nodded distantly and didn't even react when Ginny leaned over to kiss his cheek. "I wonder who the Head Girl will be," Emmeline said.

This seemed to snap Harry out of his daze. He took the letters from Ginny's hand, sorting through them until he found Hermione's. "Thank god," he said, sighing in relief, finding his best friend's letter was just as thick as his had been. "I wouldn't have been able to handle it if it was anyone else but her."

Ginny laughed, taking the letters back from him. "In that case, I'd better get these home—Hermione will go into convulsions if she finds out I had them and waited to give it to her. Congratulations, Harry. I'll see you all later." She kissed Harry quickly, went to the fireplace, and disappeared seconds later in the flames.

Sirius reached for the abandoned Hogwarts letter on the counter and turned it over, a small badge falling into his palm. Shakily, Harry reached out for it and examined it. He remembered seeing Percy Weasley with a badge just like this—it was red with HB embossed over the Hogwarts crest. He'd never even thought about being Head Boy, just like he hadn't thought about Prefects before fifth year or Quidditch captain before sixth. If he had thought about it, he would have assumed Ron or some other Prefect would have gotten it.

But Remus was a Prefect in school, not your dad, but your dad was the one to get Head Boy in their seventh year, a voice told him. Why hadn't Remus gotten Head Boy? He'd been much more qualified than James Potter had been... Right?

"Well, this calls for a celebration, I think," Emmeline said happily. "What would you like for dinner, Harry? Anything you want."

Ignoring Sirius' hisses of "steak'"in his ear, Harry thought for a moment, smiled, and said, "Hamburgers and chips."

"Brilliant idea," Naomi said, brining Mira with her to stand with the rest of the family. "I haven't had a decent hamburger in months."

"Hamburgers it is, then," Emmeline said. "Harry, you go sit somewhere and we'll call you when dinner is ready." She walked to the side of the counter where Harry now sat on a stool, and kissed the top of his scruffy head of hair. Harry smiled as a sudden thought entered his mind—Sirius and Remus had always been the fathers he'd wanted, and Emmeline and Naomi were becoming something like mothers to him. This thought of his family along with the shocking news he'd just received put him in a very good mood for the remainder of the week.

Early on Friday morning, Harry was awake and showered, and ready to go to the Ministry with Remus, Sirius, and Emmeline. For a week and a half, he'd been preparing to take his Apparition test, and today, he'd finally get to try for his license. All the way through the Atrium and down the lifts, Sirius and Remus were giving him last minute tips about concentrating on his target and how not to get splinched while Emmeline looked on in amusement. As she led Harry down the corridor to the testing center, she told him to forget everything his guardians told him about Apparition.

"I've seen their files," Emmeline said. "Sirius failed his test the first time he took it after he Apparated on top of a table in the Leaky Cauldron and Remus has been splinched twice. The only thing you need to remember is that you don't want to be over emotional when you Apparate—that includes being nervous. Just stay calm, and you'll pass."

Harry nodded and sighed, trying to follow that last bit of advice by thinking about how he would tease his guardians about their Apparition history as he entered the test center alone. When he finished, he was to go up to the Auror department to tell his godfather how he'd faired and they would go get lunch. He sat down in a chair along a wall and tried not to look at the posters that depicted what happened when a wizard's Apparition went wrong. A few minutes later, a small, normal-looking door across from him opened and a dejected-looking wizard exited a small room, carrying his right arm and ear with him. An older wizard followed him, shaking his head. "Better luck next year, Seymour," he called in a wheezy voice.

Seymour used his left arm to raise his detached right to wave over his shoulder in acknowledgment as he went out the door. The older wizard spotted Harry and smiled. "You must be Potter," he said.

Harry nodded. "Yes, sir," he said.

The wizard turned around, gesturing for Harry to follow him into the small room. "My name is Wilkie Twycross, and I shall be overseeing your Apparition test today. Normally, our tests are administered outdoors in the real world to get the full effect of a wizard's abilities, but since the world is currently in danger, the head of Magical Transportation along with Head Auror Sirius Black and the Minister of Magic have deemed it unsafe to have the test outside the Ministry at the present time." Harry decided not to mention how close he was with the two mentioned department heads—Twycross didn't seem too happy about the changes the Apparition test had undergone.

"I will need your wand, Mister Potter," Twycross said, gathering a piece of parchment and a quill. "You'll have no use for it during the test, and it's standard procedure to ensure the one being tested does not attempt to increase their chances of success by cheating." Harry reluctantly surrendered his wand. Sirius' first rule for when Harry went out anywhere was to always keep his wand close at hand and not to surrender it under any circumstances. But this was the Ministry of Magic; what could possibly go wrong?

You'd be surprised, said a grim voice in Harry's head that sounded a lot like Remus.

"This way, Mister Potter," Twycross said after attaching his sheet of parchment to a clipboard. The old wizard led him to another plain-looking wooden door he hadn't noticed before. Twycross opened it, ushered Harry inside, and the younger wizard's eyes widened. No matter that he'd grown up around magic most of his life; no matter that he'd seen what magic can do... The room they'd entered was about twenty times bigger than the last two he'd just been in. There were no desks or chairs or posters in this room—it looked to be an exact replica of downtown London. Twycross stood beside Harry and waved his wand—a meter appeared before them which ranged from expert to intermediate to beginner. Twycross touched the meter with a long bony finger, bringing the level down from expert to beginner, and the scene changed to Hogsmeade village. The two wizards were standing on the rocky path that led to all the shops, and it was so realistic that Harry was sure that if he looked over his shoulder, he'd see the tall turrets of Hogwarts Castle looming over them, but he didn't have time to check before Twycross began speaking again.

"Your goal, Mister Potter, is to Apparate to the door of Zonko's Joke Shop to that tree beside the Shrieking Shack to just under the sign that says Three Broomsticks, around the corner to the Hog's Head Inn, down the lane to Gladrags, and back to the exact spot you are standing on right now. You will have thirty seconds to complete this successfully, at which time, you will be given your Apparition license. Take a few moments to prepare, and signal me when you're ready to begin. Any questions?"

Harry shook his head. "No, sir," he said, trying to remember the places he had to Apparate to. He took a few deep breaths, recalling what Emmeline had told him about relaxing, and nodded to Twycross. The test administrator tapped the clipboard with his wand to hover before him, and Harry heard three short buzzers before a longer one signaled for him to begin.

He imagined the glass door into Zonko's that looked in on all of the pranking supplies he and Sirius loved to explore. With a pop, he was there. Grinning to himself, he repeated this technique — remembering times he'd visited the places with his friends or family — five more times with the tree, the sign, the shady pub, the robe shop, and ended by imagining himself standing by Twycross again.

"Stupendous!" the old wizard exclaimed, waving his wand through the air. A slip of parchment appeared from nowhere and Twycross caught it deftly, examining it closely. Nodding to himself, he took a few notes on his clipboard while Harry waited anxiously, He didn't think he'd lost any body parts—he ran through a mental list, making sure everything was in its proper place; thankfully, it was.

"Well, congratulations, Mister Potter," Twycross said, turning to shake Harry's hand. "You have successfully completed the course. If you'll just follow me once more, we will get you your wand back, fill out the necessary paperwork, and you will be given your license."

Twenty minutes later, Harry was making his way to Sirius' office, grinning down at the plastic card in his hand. The picture Twycross had taken wasn't the best—Harry had blinked—but it was a magical photo, so the face's expressions changed often. Currently, it was grinning smugly up at Harry.

The boy entered Auror Headquarters, saying hello to the Aurors he knew, and made his way to the back of the department where his godfather's office door stood open. Inside, Mad-Eye, Tonks, and Proudfoot were talking quietly with the Head Auror, all looking grim, but stopped immediately when they noticed Harry.

"Well, how'd it go?" Sirius asked eagerly while the others cleared their throats or closed file folders they'd been looking at. Harry ignored this and held up his license with a grin. "Brilliant. Knew you'd do it on the first try."

"We'll finish this discussion later, Black," Mad-Eye said, standing heavily. "Congratulations, Potter," he said on his way out. Harry was sure that his magical eye was clearly focused on him. "Now if you get into trouble, which you undoubtedly will, you can get out of it quickly."

Harry raised an eyebrow at the wizard as he muttered, "Constant vigilance," under his breath.

"Don't listen to him, Harry, he's gotten a bit more paranoid in the past few months." Tonks grinned. "I'd love to stay and chat, gents, but I've got dark wizards to catch. See you later."

"Be back 'round three, Tonks!" Sirius called after her. "I want you and Proudfoot to go out to Azkaban with me."

Proudfoot left a few minutes later, and Sirius sat back in his chair, looking exhausted, even though it wasn't even ten in the morning yet. "You sure you still want to be an Auror, Harry?" he asked wryly.

"It can't be that bad, can it? Nothing's really happened in months," Harry said. "Well, except what happened to you," he added hastily at Sirius' raised eyebrow.

The Head Auror automatically ran a finger across the long, painful-looking scar that ran vertically on his neck. "Things have been heating up since that day," he said. "Voldemort's rather miffed that we've got his top guy, and though he hasn't made his irritation public yet, it's only a matter of time..."

Harry nodded. "Why do you have to go out to Azkaban?"

"To question Malfoy." Sirius sighed. "I've not been out there since his capture and I've got a few things I'd like to ask him."

"Will this before or after you beat the hell out of him?"

Sirius smirked. "Depends on how he cooperates."

Harry chuckled and opened his mouth to say something else, but a loud siren cut through the office, startling both him and his godfather into silence. The wizard's looked at each other in wide-eyed confusion until the cool, female voice from the lifts very calmly began to speak as though she was standing in the room with them. "Attention Ministry of Magic officials," the voice said. "An intruder as breached the Ministry security wards and is currently on the Atrium level. All personnel are to report to the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic immediately with your wands prepared..."

The voice continued to repeat the announcement on a loop, but Sirius was already out of his chair, his wand drawn, and prepared to leave the office. He seemed to be having an argument with himself in terms of his godson. Finally, he seemed to settle on a decision. "Take the Auror Floo back to Number Twelve and stay there," the Auror said.

"Sirius, I can help," Harry said, withdrawing his wand.

"No," Sirius said firmly. "We don't know who's up there and I don't want you in the middle of this. Go home and stay with Naomi and Mira. This is no time for arguments, Harry. Just do it, alright? Please?"

Very reluctantly, Harry nodded in defeat. Sirius nodded back and began to sprint through Auror Headquarters behind the rest of his squads.

You know, you could go anyway, said a mischievous voice in the boy's head. What Sirius doesn't know won't hurt him.

True, Harry thought back. But when he finds out I've disobeyed him, he'll hurt me... Not wanting to risk the wrath of Sirius Black that day, Harry went to the fireplace, found the Floo powder, and headed back to Number Twelve.

Up on the Atrium level, chaos had broken out. In the short five to ten minutes since the alarms had sounded, stone pillars had been knocked down, the Fountain of Magical Brethren was nearly completely destroyed, and the air was thick with dust. Sirius fought his way through a crowd who was now just standing around. Whatever battle had broken out seemed to be over already—something that partly disappointed the Head Auror; he'd been hoping for a fight. Witches and wizards seemed to have only minor injuries, but so far, Sirius saw no dead.

Let's hope it stays that way... he thought darkly. His eyes traveled to one of the stone pillars and he thought he saw something beneath it, but his attention was drawn to elsewhere before he thought to investigate it.

"Sirius!" yelled a familiar voice. The Head Auror was quite relieved to hear his best friend and immediately went in the direction from which Remus had called for him.

"All right, Moony?" Sirius asked, approaching Remus and Emmeline. His eyes widened when he saw Emmeline holding a bloody cloth to her forehead. "What happened?"

Remus glanced up at him quickly before turning back to his wife. "She was hit with a piece of debris from the fountain when it exploded."

"And what caused it to explode?"

"Not sure," Remus replied. "The intruder, who's lying unconscious over there somewhere, in case you're wondering," he jerked his head to his left, "started casting Reductor curses in every direction. Charlie stunned him from behind and it was all over in less than three minutes."

Sirius nodded and knelt in front of the bench Emmeline and Remus sat at. "How bad is it?" he asked quietly, looking at Emmeline's eyes—she looked rather dazed.

"The bleeding's slowed down," Remus answered, conjuring another cloth and exchanging it for the bloody one on his wife's forehead. "I'm just trying to keep her conscious for a bit before I try to heal it. It was a pretty good-sized piece of rock, and I'm afraid she might have a concussion."

The Auror sighed. "You take care of her. I'm going to go see who caused this..." Remus nodded, and Sirius stood and turned away from them, making his way to another large crowd. Distantly, he recalled that the last time he'd done this, he'd lost his powers for nearly six months. Won't be making that mistake again, he thought, pushing his way through the onlookers.

Proudfoot and Dawlish had bound their captive—a tall, blond boy around Harry's age with a too-familiar face. Sirius shook his head in disappointment. Don't know why I'm so surprised, he thought. Malfoy probably taught his boy Unforgivables before he went into Hogwarts...

"He's got the Mark," Proudfoot said, lifting the left sleeve of Draco Malfoy's robe. "This is Lucius' kid, isn't it?"

"Yes," Sirius said briskly. "Take him down to the holding cells for now. I want to question him before taking him to Azkaban." Proudfoot nodded, stood, and floated the boy's unconscious form onto a stretcher, conjured by Dawlish, down to the holding cells on the DMLE level.

"Dawlish, I need you to get the more injured people gathered and get them medical attention. Remus Lupin's wife is pregnant and she's possibly got a concussion—make sure she's seen by a Healer quickly." Sirius expected the other Auror to start making a fuss about he job he'd been given, but to Sirius' great shock, he didn't, and went off to do as he was told.

Sirius turned and looked around the Atrium. A Death Eater, no matter how young, had gotten into the Ministry and caused all this damage. And he's probably only a few months older than Harry, he thought. Thank God we raised him right—I wouldn't be able to handle it if Harry ever did something like this. Not that he ever would, of course... He realized with a loud mental groan that somebody had to contact Narcissa and that somebody would probably be him—

His thoughts stopped abruptly as his eyes found the stone pillar on the far side of the Atrium he'd been looking at earlier—something was beneath it. His heart stopped beating as he sprinted over there, pushing people forcefully out of his way. He felt the bottom of his stomach drop to his feet when he saw it was just what he thought initially, though it hadn't registered: a head of thinning red hair.

It was Arthur Weasley.