Hi there!

I'm back with chapter 7.

Thanks to inupup92 for reviewing. I really appreciate your review. I wouldn't have thought of it that way. ;-)

So here's your update.

For the disclaimer look into chapter 1.

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7 Dead?

One evening, a few days later, Harry and Hermione were sitting together in front of the fire, while Tonks and Remus were spending some time alone. Harry told Hermione about the encounters he had had with Malfoy and the truce they had made. Hermione was suddenly very excited and grabbed Harry's arm pulled him out of his armchair and dragged him out of the room and into the library. The emerald-eyed boy was at a loss for words and just stared at his best friend, waiting for an explanation of her strange behaviour.

"Harry, you mean, that Draco Malfoy is on our side now? We can trust him?" she asked.

"I don't know how far he can be trusted but he really seems to have changed. But please, don't tell Ron. He will get overexcited about it."

"I know that. I'm not stupid, you know!"

"But why are YOU that excited about Malfoy?"

"Oh Harry, I can't tell."

"What in Merlin's name do you mean, you can't tell?

"Look, I just can't. Not now." With that she began filing through the books in the library once again and Harry sighed and then left the room, being a bit disappointed, that he spilled his secrets, while she didn't.

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The next afternoon Hermione disappeared for a few hours and came back all excited again. But still she didn't tell Harry what about. Instead she grabbed Tonks and Remus and the three of them vanished to the library.

"Great!" Harry thought, "Just great, what in Merlin's name is so exciting? And why can she share it with Tonks and Remus but not with her best friend? And where was she all day?"

Moping he went into his room and slammed the door shut. He talked to Fawkes and Hedwig for a while and went to sleep early.

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The next morning he went downstairs and entered the kitchen. He started preparing breakfast as the others were still asleep. When he had finished everything and set the table, he called into the hall, that breakfast was ready. A few minutes later Hermione appeared in the door frame. She was still all excited and Harry was about to tell her off for it as she pushed him into a seat without a word.

He started to protest when the kitchen door opened again and the Chosen-One couldn't believe what he saw. That was just not possible. No way. He blinked and then shook his head but the image was still there. Standing in the door frame was his dead godfather.

"What… how… Sirius?" he stammered. Sirius hurried over to his godson and hugged him tightly. "Believe it," He simply said, "and thank Mione. She figured out, how to free me."

"But… how? I was told you died that night in the ministry. I saw you fall."

"You're right, I fell. I was stupefied, not dead. I entered the nothingness behind the veil but different from the others I still had a living body. I'm afraid if it wasn't for Mione here I would have been in the nothingness for eternity."

He smiled at his godson's best friend, who returned the smile slightly blushing and then began to tell what happened:

"See, Harry, Professor Dumbledore told me, that Sirius is not dead. As he himself had died, he could detect, that Sirius was not really dead. And he asked me to research a way to bring him back. And as you know, research I did. I found a vague possibility, which did not seem passable for us though, as it required three relatives to retrieve a person out of the nothingness."

"Then you found another way?" Harry asked.

"No, I didn't. You found another relative, Harry. You found the third Black descendant we needed to get Sirius back."

"I did?" Harry looked bewildered from Hermione to Sirius. And as he saw the silver eyes of his godfather it became clear to him. "Malfoy? He helped? Voluntarily?"

"He did," Sirius said, "I couldn't believe it as well, when I came out of the veil. He was lucky I didn't hex him at once."

"We just managed to stop him," Remus told as he entered the kitchen, "so, what about breakfast then? We can tell you the whole story, while we're eating."

"Moony, you're right I haven't eaten for more than a year now." Sirius smiled at his old friend.

While they sat at the large table and ate, Hermione told the whole story, how Dumbledore had told her about Sirius not being dead and asked her not to tell anyone, how she had researched and was all disappointed, because the only way she found was not passable until Harry told her about Draco changing sides. How she had looked up what else was needed, how she had gone to Hogwarts and talked to Prof. Dumbledore's portrait again and to Draco afterwards. How she had purchased the necessary items in Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley in Hagrid's company. How she had let Remus and Tonks in on the plan, because Tonks and her mother were Black descendants and Remus was the oldest friend who was required for the ceremony as well. How she had not believed, to be the fifth person required, the so-called pure one.

"That was the point where our genius here had nearly failed. Not only Prof. Dumbledore but also Tonks and I had a lot of persuasion to do until she was ready to believe it," Remus interrupted teasingly.

"I just couldn't believe to play such a role," she answered back, blushing again, and resumed to the story. She told how they had flooed to contact Andromeda. How they had entered the Department of Mystery in the ministry the same way as they had done that night a year ago, when they had first set out to rescue Sirius. How they drew a pentagram in front of the veil and placed the magical items she had purchased at the right places and then positioned themselves at the five vertexes. How they had said the incantations, one each and then five more together. How every one of them had to cut their own fingers and give a drop of blood to the vertex, they were standing on while saying their incantation. How they had held their breaths afterwards until Sirius was pushed out of the veil.

"And we had to be rather quick to stop him from hexing Malfoy as soon as he was out," Remus chipped in. "His reflexes surely didn't decrease behind the veil. You look absolutely healthy altogether, Padfoot, better than I have seen you in a long time."

'That's true,' Harry thought, but did not say it aloud, 'it seems that all the untimely aging caused by his years in Azkaban has vanished. Sirius looks so much younger now than I ever saw him.'

"I feel as if I was on a long holiday," Sirius confirmed.

"You know, what's best?" Harry asked, "Did anyone tell you? You are free! Your name is cleared."

"Really? Are you serious?" his godfather asked.

"No, you are Sirius, not me" Harry couldn't resist to resort to that old joke, "but I'm in dead earnest. They saw Wormtail that night at the ministry. So Fudge had no chance to do otherwise. We only need to undo the heritage."

"Oh, that… it should have been reversed automatically with my re-appearance. But I'm not sure, how we can verify this."

"This is easy," Harry said smiling, "just call Kreacher. I ordered that dreaded creature to work at Hogwarts to have him out of the house. If you got back everything, I had inherited; he will have to obey your call."

So the house-elf was once again used to clear the ownership of the Black property. The elf was not happy to see Sirius back as his master, not happy at all. But as he was sent back to Hogwarts as soon as his task was done, they had not to listen to his squeals for too long.

So the marauder had been right. As he was no longer 'dead', his last will was no longer working and everything had gone back to his possession.

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Besides all the research they did and the lots of training for Harry and Hermione they had a lot of catching up to do. Sirius had missed one whole year after all. When he discovered the relationship between Tonks and Remus he was totally thrilled. His cousin and his best friend! So Remus would eventually be real family one day. He wished them all the best and couldn't help making fun of Moony, who had been anxious about his reaction. It had taken him so long to accept this relationship himself because of the age difference, that he had been afraid, his friend would think along the same lines. Maybe he thought the werewolf was not good enough for his cousin?

Remus was really relieved, that Sirius was okay with them.

Sirius on the other hand was ardent, that Harry was now living at Grimmauld Place as well as Remus, and that Hermione and Tonks were with them most of the time. He was glad about having his godson and best friend with him. He had been alone for so long, first in Azkaban, then during his flight with Buckbeak, then in this empty house and at last behind the veil, so now he could not have enough company around himself.

But to Harry it seemed, this was not the only reason, that Sirius was happy to have them all around. Sure, he enjoyed spending time with his old friend, his godson and his cousin, but most of all he seemed to savour researching in the library with Hermione. And that was a little strange in itself. Sirius, the restless Marauder, sitting in the library with Hermione, the bookworm, for hours on end. Remus and Harry often joined them but always felt a little out of place in there with them. Not that it was that obvious, nor did they openly show, but Sirius and Hermione seemed to understand each other without words. So Harry decided to ask Remus, if he had made the same observation.

"Remus", he asked, "don't you think it is a bit odd, that Sirius is spending sooo much time in the library? I can't help but feel a bit weird, when I'm in there with them. What do you think?"

The werewolf smiled and answered: "I know, what you mean, Harry, and I think, you're right. I'm not sure, they have noticed it themselves, but I would say, that they most certainly found a liking for each other."

"Yes, that's what I thought," Harry said. "Oh, how I wish, that they notice it soon. He has been alone for too long and Hermione could do with someone to help her loosen up a little."

"Maybe Padfoot knows already," Remus said, "he made a little too much fun of my problem about age differences, you know. It was more than one would expect even of him. So it seems, there was more to it than just the difference between Tonks and me…"

"You're right," Harry interrupted, "he overacted that part way too much. And now, that I think about it, Hermione normally does not blush, but she did, when Sirius smiled at her…"

"Yes, and not only once, she blushed a lot, within the last few days," the werewolf added.

"Too true! I'm so happy for them!" Harry exclaimed delightedly. His godfather and his best friend! And there he had always been thinking that Ron and Hermione would end up together. In the light of the recent events that thought seemed really stupid to him. In the end they were best friends all three of them and that was no basis for romantic involvement in any way.

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After another order meeting, Prof. McGonagall took Sirius aside and spoke to him in private. When they joined the group at the living room fire, Sirius looked very serious and deep in thought. They bade the headmistress good-bye and she flooed back to her office, while Sirius sat down with them. He stared into the flames for some time then sighed and looked around into the faces of his best friend, cousin, god-son and crush. His eyes lingered a little longer on Hermione than they did with the others, who secretly smiled. He straightened up and looked at the Boy-Who-Lived: "Harry, McGonagall just told me the whole story of what happened to Narcissa and Draco. And she said, the boy can't stay at Hogwarts any longer. Narcissa is still in a kind of coma and he can't go home to Malfoy Manor, as it is very likely, that Voldemort or at least his Death Eaters are still there. To make it short: he has nowhere to go, where he would be safe, so she asked, if we could take him in here at Grimmauld Place… And I said he could come. I hope you're ok with that. But I felt, I owe him that much. After all, he had no need to help bringing me back…."

Harry felt, he needed to interrupt his godfather: "It's okay, Sirius, he was very civil towards me and we actually called a truce. Now he can show, if he meant it. For security's sake it might be wise, not to tell him the address, but blindfold him and lead him in. Just to be sure…"

Hermione, being her typical self, couldn't help but throw herself at Harry, hugging him and congratulating for 'acting so grown-up'. Remus and Tonks sniggered about her motherly behaviour, while Sirius obviously couldn't really classify it and seemed a bit unsure. What if they were more than just best friends?

Harry winked at him over Hermione's shoulder and smiled. "Hermione," he said, "I couldn't wish for a better surrogate mother than I have in you." At that comment Sirius blushed as well as Hermione. And though Harry hadn't purposely implied, that she should marry his godfather, it seemed that both had understood it that way. Remus and Harry saw the joint blush and burst out laughing. Remus couldn't help to make fun of his best friend and saw it fit to say: "Why, Padfoot, haven't you asked her yet?"

That only made them both blush more. Sirius opened his mouth to answer, but didn't find a remark and so closed it again. Tonks now seemed to have caught up with the situation and found it a good idea to 'leave the love birds alone and prepare dinner'. Harry and Remus immediately followed her to the kitchen, still laughing.

Sirius joined them in the kitchen after a while and asked Harry, if he had plans for the following day. As Harry denied that, Sirius suggested, that they should go shopping. He would buy Harry new clothes as it was high time to throw away Dudley's old outworn ones. Sirius joked, that he would have spent all of the inheritance in new clothing, if he would have had to wear such things. And as Harry did not do so, he saw it as his godfather duty, to finally get the teenager into fitting attire.

With this dialogue he avoided discussing Hermione and himself further. And they all ate a quiet dinner, when she joined them a little later.

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The next morning they went to Gringott's by floo to get some money (wizard and muggle) out of Sirius' vault. They left Diagon Alley through the Leaky Cauldron and went shopping in muggle London. Harry had never been into any boutique, except Madam Maulkin's, and did not really know, where to start. Luckily his godfather was with him and methodically Harry was provided with stacks of underwear, shirts, jeans, other trousers and so on. They even bought shoes for every occasion they could think of. Whenever they left a shop, Sirius secretly shrank everything, so that it fitted into one bag.

When they couldn't think of anything else to buy, they apparated to Hogsmeade, and had Lunch at the Three Broomsticks. Madam Rosmerta was shocked at the sight of Sirius at first, but believed him at once, when he told her, that not he but Wormtail was the traitor. After all she had always disliked the sneaky boy, when he was still at school with them. And as she had said four years ago: "Of all the people to go over to the Dark side, Sirius Black was the last I'd have thought …"(1)

After Lunch they did some more shopping, because Harry also needed new robes, a cloak, quills… At last they walked to the Shrieking Shack and took the secret passage to Hogwarts. They went to McGonagall's office and Harry took the floo from there, while Sirius picked Draco up. The headmistress had a house elf pack Draco's belongings and bring them from the dungeons to the main gate. Sirius shrank them as well and blindfolded Draco. Then he apparate sidelong with Draco in front of his house and entered through the front door.

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Draco tried to fit himself into the daily routine at Grimmauld Place. And although he couldn't take part in the research, because it didn't seem wise to tell him of the Horcruxes, he participated in the different trainings Harry and Hermione had every day. They learned curses, hexes and defences from different order members as well as other spells and potions which could be used in a fight.

Over the weeks they achieved auror level on many parts of their training. Harry still had more problems with wandless magic than Mione and Draco, while he was quicker with hexes than they were. The Slytherin's knowledge of potions in addition to Snape's old book and some other books they found in the library were a real help for Harry to understand 'the subtle science and exact art of potion-making'(2) at last.

The hours Mione and Sirius spent researching in the library, Harry and Draco used to either get to know each other better or else train Draco in the things, Harry had taught the DA before.

Only occlumency still was a real problem for the Gryffindor. Though he had resumed to his training with Kingsley Shacklebolt and it wasn't nearly as horrible as it had been with Snape, it still just wouldn't 'click'.

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(1) JKR GoF, p. 151

(2) JKR PS, p. 102