So, Chapter 5. This ended up being longer than I thought, and included several scenes that I hadn't planned on. The original title was going to be Reunions; Happy and Otherwise, but I quickly realized that this chapter was far more slanted towards confrontations than reunions.
The scene with Dumbledore at the end completely came out of the blue, and I was not expecting it in the least, but I thought it turned out well. This is not a Dumbledore bashing fic – in fact, I hate bashing in general, so although some people will be showed less favorably than others, there will be no bashing. That's not to say that Dumbledore will be the good guy; in fact, he will be getting in the way of the good guys more often than not. But what he does, he does for legitimate reasons, and I've never bought into the "greater good" manipulator theory for Dumbledore.
So, without further ado, Chapter 5, Confrontations and a Reunion.
Disclaimer: I don't own this.
Getting custody of Harry wasn't quite as simple as just reading the will, of course. Even after signing the initial paper that Madam Greenhold gave him, Sirius had to stay in the small office for nearly an hour filling out paperwork. About half an hour in, just as Sirius was getting to the end of the paperwork for guardianship of Harry, Bogrod the Goblin returned through the Floo, presumably from Gringotts, with a whole set more of paperwork for the townhouse that the Potters gave him.
As he was working, Sirius noticed Bones, still standing by the door, shifting her weight back and forth between her feet as she warily watched the hallway.
"You're really taking this seriously, aren't you?" he asked.
Bones turned to glare at him. "Well, I'd much rather not be here right now with you, admittedly. But I was given a job to do, and I will do it. Whatever that bloody Fudge thinks."
Sirius felt a headache coming and just turned back to the paperwork instead of responding to Bones' angry comment. He hated this kind of thing; it was even worse than schoolwork. At least with schoolwork there was some kind of point, but paperwork was just invented to get in the way. Not to mention that he was still having trouble keeping his hands from shaking, even several days and a whole lot of chocolate past Azkaban.
Fortunately Madam Greenhold was there to help him, or else he felt sure that he'd be lost in the paperwork for days. These things were written as if their drafter had intentionally made them as obtuse as possible.
When they were finally done, Sirius stood and kissed Madam Greenhold's hand again. He normally tried his hardest to stay away from any behaviors that would remind people of his Pureblood family, but kissing a lady's hand was different, somehow. Besides, Sirius had noticed how kissing Madam Greenhold's hand had irritated Bones when they had first arrived, and he couldn't resist the chance to tease the uptight Hit Witch.
"Thank you for your help, Madam Greenhold. I don't think that I would have been able to do this without you."
"It was no problem to help a nice young man such as yourself," she responded, smiling. "If you need anything else, don't hesitate to ask."
"I don't at the moment, but I'll remember to keep that in mind," Sirius responded. "And I promise that the next time I visit, it will be a social visit."
"You're too kind, Mr. Black," Madam Greenhold said. "And you, Miss Bones, take care of yourself, and I will always be happy to help you as well."
"Thank you, Madam Greenhold," Bones said. The smile on her face disappeared as she faced Sirius again. "Come on, Black. Let's head to the Apparition point. We'll get some lunch, and then we can go get your godson." Under her breath, she added, "Merlin help us," almost plaintively.
Sirius was confused. Just the previous night, Bones had said that she believed he was innocent. Suddenly she seemed hostile again, as if she still thought him a Death Eater.
They walked out of the MWRD, and began going back through the halls of Level Two, which was mainly occupied by the offices of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Around them, Aurors, Hit Wizards and Ministry officials bustled back and forth, shouting greetings to their fellows as they went about their job. Bones had brought Sirius into the Ministry early enough in the morning—too early for a civilized person, in Sirius' opinion – that they had seen almost no one when they had arrived. Apparently the Ministry was now open for business.
Sirius noticed that only a few of the DMLE personnel in the halls greeted Bones, and most of those were noticeably older than the average. Several looked at her, and then quickly looked away, and at least a few gave her a rather unfriendly look. Bones didn't give any sign that she noticed the attention, and Sirius wasn't sure if she honestly didn't notice or if she was just ignoring it.
Unfortunately, far more of the Aurors and officials around noticed Sirius himself, and he got quite a few hostile glares. One Auror looked like he was going to pull his wand out, but Bones glared at him and he backed off. To be honest, this attention bothered Sirius more than a little, particularly since he'd once thought that he'd like to be an Auror himself. But he could just pretend that he didn't care, and he could almost convince himself of that.
This approach worked fairly well until he spotted a very familiar face coming out of the lifts directly in front of them.
"Frank!" Sirius said, happily. "I didn't get a chance to—"
"Black." Frank Longbottom said, coldly. "I see the Prophet was right."
Sirius looked at his friend in shock. "Frank, I didn't do it. I would never—"
"Bones," Frank said, turning his gaze to the Hit Witch in front of Sirius.
"Longbottom," she responded evenly, ignoring Sirius' spluttering.
"I expect you to bring Black back to Azkaban, where he belongs."
"If I see him do something illegal, I will arrest him. But I will not send a man to Azkaban for a crime he was acquitted of, whether you think he did it or not."
Frank looked searchingly at Bones for several seconds. What he saw appeared to satisfy him, for he nodded curtly. "That's all I can ask." Frank turned to Sirius, and the coldness Sirius saw in his friend's eyes scared him. "Black, if you get near my family, I will kill you."
"But Frank," Sirius said, pleadingly. "I didn't—I wouldn't—James was my best friend."
Bones moved in front of Sirius as Frank drew his wand.
"I don't want to curse you, Longbottom. But it's my job to protect Black."
Frank ignored Bones, glaring at Sirius with ferocity. "You have no right to say that name. He was your best friend, and you betrayed him. Rotting in Azkaban is altogether too good for you."
Sirius' friend – or former friend – brushed past them as he walked into the Auror Offices, studiously ignoring Sirius. Sirius just stared after him, appalled.
"He didn't…why couldn't he…?" He fell silent, staring at the Auror's Office. Once he had dreamed of being an Auror, working out of that office. Now, the Aurors all either feared or hated him, or both, and thought he was a Death Eater. And his friends didn't believe him; they thought he was a Death Eater too. Why couldn't they believe him? He had been their friend for years, did they really think that he had changed that much?
He shook his head. "Let's go find Harry," he said, getting his thoughts under control. "And let's get out of here."
He ignored Bones' sideways glances, and marched into the lift quickly, not looking back at the dream he had now forsaken.
When they finally got to the Ministry Apparition Point, Bones turned to Sirius, looking almost apologetic.
"I'll have to Side-Along Apparate you," she said. "We should get lunch, but we're going to eat in Muggle London so we don't have to worry about anyone attacking you. Besides, I don't want to tell you which Apparition Point we're going to, or someone might overhear."
Sirius gaped at her. "Are you kidding?" he asked, incredulously. "You're really saying that you're afraid someone will overhear what Apparition Point we're going to, and…what? They'll follow and attack us?"
"Yes, that is a potential worry. Someone who wants to attack you won't have any qualms about doing it in the Muggle world – no witnesses, at least none who can't be easily Obliviated."
Sirius couldn't believe what he was hearing. This woman was absolutely mad, and a total and utter paranoid. Is he going to have to deal with this for…she never did say how long she was going to be assigned to protect him, did she?
Abruptly, Sirius grinned. "Well, I see what you mean. I have a solution, however. You might not like it, but it will make me feel much better." He had always hidden his feelings with humor before, so why not try it again now?
Bones looked dubious. "What solution is that?"
"This." Sirius reached out and grabbed Bones' shoulder, and Apparated himself, bringing her along with him for the ride.
When they arrived at their destination, an Apparition Point in a small alleyway about five blocks away from the Ministry, Sirius let go of Bones shoulder, expecting her to hit the ground, hurling up her breakfast on the cement. Side-Along Apparition always did that to him, at least.
Apparently she was of stronger stuff than that, for instead she just turned to him, back straight as a wand, mouth set in a thin line.
"Don't do that again, Black," she said, sternly.
"Oh, come on, Bones, loosen up. You did it to me, when we left St. Mungo's yesterday. Turnabout is fair play, right?"
"I am not joking around, Black. You couldn't have known this wasn't a trap. For all you knew, there were five wizards here, wands leveled at your chest, and you just incapacitated your protective detail – that might have been the stupidest thing I've ever seen. Those two seconds of disorientation, even leaving aside the fact that I didn't know the layout of the place we arrived at, could have been life or death in a combat situation."
Sirius was taken aback. "Is that what they teach Hit Wizards nowadays? I think you might be a bit over-cautious about this. People have more important things to do than try to kill me."
Bones looked a little more sad than angry, now. "Well, it wasn't exactly in the Hit Wizard training courses, that's true. A friend of my father's, Alastor Moody, offered to train me and my siblings while we were growing up. One of the first things he taught us was that we should always assume the worst. My father was one of the first people to realize what a threat You-Know-Who was, but he didn't worry about it enough, and… well, my parents were some of You-Know-Who's earliest victims."
Sirius felt bad for bringing up such an obviously painful subject – and to be honest, he felt a little bit bad about the Side-Along Apparition too. Not too bad, but a little bit. He gave the Hit Witch a minute to collect herself before walking out of the alley with her to a small restaurant he knew. Unlike many others, this one didn't have any painful memories of eating with James or Lily, or even with any of his other friends. He had eaten at this place once on his way to the Potters that summer he ran away from home. Well, maybe a few painful memories, but this was more of a second-hand association with those memories, so he could probably stand it.
The food was about as he remembered it – not great, but not bad either, although the chips were a little bit soggy. Bones claimed the coffee was very good, although Sirius couldn't attest to the fact, since he never drank the stuff. He would have gotten a cup of tea, but he didn't think that extra caffeine would help the jitters that he was beginning to feel.
The pair made rather awkward small talk as they ate their meals, dancing around the subjects that were currently occupying their attention. Unfortunately, there wasn't much small talk they could discuss without getting onto subjects that were inappropriate to talk about in a Muggle restaurant, and one could only discuss the weather for so long before it became annoying.
Eventually they settled into an uneasy silence as they finished up the last of the meal, and, to Sirius' disapproval, Bones paid for the food. Of course her point that he didn't actually have any money with him was true, but it still rubbed him the wrong way to have to rely on someone else's charity. The fact that the charity was offered by a witch just made it worse.
Finally, the unlikely pair left the restaurant and headed back to the Apparition Point. "Okay, Black, now we'll go get your godson. Where will we find him, anyway?"
Sirius stopped in his tracks at that question. He'd been so caught up with the excitement of finally being able to see his godson that he hadn't thought far enough ahead to consider how he would find the boy in the first place.
"I don't know," he admitted, hanging his head.
"Well," Bones asked severely, "seeing as you went into this without the faintest idea of a plan, where could he be?"
Sirius leaned against a wall of the alley, feeling terrible. "I'm not sure."
"Come on, Black. Just give us something to go on, some possibilities at least."
"I don't know, okay, Bones," he said, angrily. "I didn't think that far ahead, is that what you want me to admit? I was so caught up in the idea of getting to see my godson for the first time in over a month – a month I spent in Azkaban – that I didn't even think about where he'd be. I mean, I don't even know if I should get custody of Harry. Maybe he's living with a good family who'll take better care of him than I ever could."
"Black, you signed the custody papers. Do we need to go back to the Ministry and have them nullified?"
Sirius sighed. "No, I don't want to do that. I'm just…scared? Nervous? Unsure? Something like that."
It was now Bones' turn to sigh. "Okay, we can go back to my place for a bit until you're feeling better. Give you some time to collect yourself."
"No!" Sirius startled himself with his vehemence. "I want to see Harry, I don't want to wait."
"Make up your mind, Black," Bones said, obviously annoyed.
Sirius nodded. "I do want to find him. When we find him, if he's happy where he is, maybe I'll leave him alone. But I have to see him, for James and Lily's sake at the least."
He began thinking furiously. Where could Harry be? Sirius' memories of that awful night were rather blurry, but he remembered loaning Hagrid his motorcycle before going after Wormtail. Where would Hagrid have taken Harry? Surely to someplace that Dumbledore wanted him to go…somewhere safe, hopefully. That's what he would have done, at least, to protect Harry from the Death Eaters, who were mostly still at large.
Where would Harry be safest? Hogwarts? Maybe temporarily, but Sirius doubted that even Dumbledore would think that raising Harry in the castle would be a good idea. Somewhere else with good wards, then, so…
"Blood wards," Sirius said.
"What?"
"Sorry, I was just thinking. Dumbledore probably brought Harry to somewhere with very good wards, but he wouldn't have wanted Harry to become a target by placing him with a well-known Wizarding family."
"But blood wards? I thought you said the Potters didn't have any surviving family."
"Well, Lily had a sister, but she was a Muggle."
"Really, Black?" Bones asked, angrily. "I thought you said you didn't agree with that kind of Pureblood philosophy? 'Had a sister, but she's a Muggle.'" The sarcasm in her voice was audible.
Sirius shrugged. "Well, it's not like she was going to try to contest the will, was she? She wasn't even in the Potter's will, if you hadn't noticed."
"That's not the bloody point," Bones said. She seemed to collect herself, reigning in her temper with a struggle. "Anyway, even with blood wards, a Muggle home wouldn't be as safe as a Wizarding one with good wards. Merlin, my apartment probably has better wards than even Dumbledore could put on a Muggle house."
"Your apartment probably has better wards than the majority of wizards' homes, right?"
Bones gave a small smile. "Well, yes."
"Besides, that's how Dumbledore thinks – even though he's the most powerful wizard I know, he always preferred not to test himself directly against You-Know-Who. He sent the Potters into hiding rather than just protecting them at Hogwarts because he thought that it would be better if no one knew where they were in the first place." Sirius let out a laugh that was at least halfway to a growl. "Fat lot of good that did them."
"So you think that Dumbledore put Harry in the Muggle world, with his Aunt, hoping that no one would find him and that the blood wards would stop a Death Eater if they did?"
"Possibly. I'd have thought he'd learn his lesson from James and Lily's deaths," Sirius said bitterly.
"Well, in his defense, that's not totally a bad idea. Blood wards are some of the least noticeable wards you can erect, and if a Death Eater was looking for Harry, the first thing he'd look for would be homes which were warded more than they'd expect. And no matter how well you think you're protected, there's always someone who can beat your defenses."
"Is that some more Mad-Eye Moody training?" Sirius asked, a small smile breaking through his gloom.
"Well, yes," Bones admitted. "But it's true. So assuming that you're right and Dumbledore placed Harry with this sister of Lily Potter's, where would we find her?"
"I don't know," Sirius said. "Lily and Petunia were never really all that close. I don't think they really ever kept in touch after Lily graduated and left their parents' house."
"To be honest, Black, it seems like 'I don't know' is coming out of your mouth more often than we'd like if we want to find your godson."
"I know, I know," Sirius said, frowning. "I just…I'm just having a hard time even wrapping my mind around the fact that James and Lily are dead. I keep thinking that I can just Floo to their house in Godric's Hollow, and they'll offer me a tea and we can laugh about this bad dream I've been having about You-Know-Who killing them. It's kind of hard to think about where Harry might be when half of me thinks I just have to go to the nearest fireplace and I'll see him in seconds."
Bones looked sympathetic for once. "I understand." Sirius must have looked skeptical, for Bones continued, "No, I really do. You-Know-Who killed a lot of people, Black, not just your friends."
"I'm sorry," Sirius said. "I didn't mean to…"
"Forget it," Bones said abruptly. "So, we have to locate this woman. What's her last name?"
"Evans, that was Lily's name…wait, no, Petunia got married, I think. Lily was really sad because Petunia didn't invite her to the wedding, just sent a short note a month later."
"I'm guessing you don't know the name, though."
"Actually, I kind of remember it. It was something really odd, a very Muggle name. It was…Dubley, Dulley, something like that. Her husband was named Vernon."
"Vernon Dubley." Bones said, thoughtfully, "You're right, that is a pretty weird name. It's probably not too common, either, so maybe we can just look it up."
"Look it up where?" Sirius asked, dubiously. "It's not like the Ministry keeps a record of all the Muggles who are related to Wizards, or anything."
"It's not just the Ministry which has records," Bones responded. "You really do have that Pureblood mentality, don't you?"
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked. He didn't like to be told that there was anything in common between him and his Pureblood relatives.
"I mean we can look at Muggle records. There's probably a central record hub or something, the Muggle equivalent of the MWRD. At least it's a place to start."
"It's worth a try, at least." Sirius wasn't sure whether this would work out, but it was definitely the best idea they'd had so far.
As it turned out, finding Harry was far easier than they had thought. They hadn't even needed to go find some Muggle record place, for as they were walking away from another Apparition Point, this one in central London by a Muggle police station that Bones said she could get some answers from, or at least a lead on where to find some answers, Sirius had a sudden brainstorm.
"Bones, wait, I've got an idea."
Bones looked at him curiously. "Well, Black?"
"Lily received a letter from her sister, right? Well, that means that she must have mailed the letter to a Wizarding post office, which could then send it on by owl post. There is no way that Petunia would ever mail a letter by owl."
Bones nodded slowly. "Which means that we'll probably be able to find out where Harry is by finding out where the letter came from." She looked surprised as she agreed. "That was a very good idea, Black."
"Thank you," he said, somewhat irritated by her surprise. "Let's go, then. I assume you know where the Wizard post office in the Muggle world is?"
"Yes, I do. I'm surprised you do, though."
Sirius grinned suddenly. "James and I went there once, the summer after our fourth year. He decided to try and find out where Lily lived by asking the workers there. Of course, they wouldn't say anything to a pair of Hogwarts students, but you probably will be able to find out."
And of course Sirius was right. Bones had no trouble convincing the postal employees to go into their records and find a letter by a Petunia 'Dubley' from around a year previously. When they checked, it turned out that Lily's sister was actually named Petunia Dursley, not Dubley, but far more importantly, they found out where she lived—on a street called Privet Drive, in Surrey.
Sirius' happiness at finding Harry – hopefully, at least – was barely abated by the suspicion that the postal workers regarded him with, or the low-voiced conversation between the head wizard and Bones, punctuated by frequent glances at him.
If this lead worked out, Sirius would be able to see Harry again for the first time in a month. If he was doing well at the Dursleys' home, then Sirius would have to decide what to do at that point. However, from what he remembered hearing about Lily's sister, he guessed that at the least Harry wouldn't learn about magic from her. So there was certainly a place for Sirius in Harry's life, even if it wasn't necessarily direct guardianship.
Sirius and Bones Apparated to the nearest Apparition Point to Number 4 Privet Drive, the abode of the Muggles named Dursley. The Apparition Point was a few blocks away, but the weather was fairly warm for early December, and the walk was a pleasant one. While they walked, Sirius could feel himself simultaneously getting incredibly excited to see Harry and being totally afraid of what the meeting would mean. Would Harry be all right? Maybe he would rather stay with these Dursleys than with Sirius. Did he have nightmares about the night…that night?
"You all right, Black?"
"What?" Sirius asked, startled out of his reverie.
"I asked if you're all right. We're almost there."
Sirius looked up and saw that Bones was right. They had just passed Number 12, so the Dursleys' house was only about a block away.
"I'm fine," he said. "Just, well, nervous."
Bones didn't say anything, just nodded, and the two walked the block in silence, finally arriving at Number Four Privet Drive.
Bones walked forward and knocked on the door. After a moment, a thin, bony woman opened the door and froze, staring at them.
"Are you Petunia Dursley?" Bones asked, politely.
"Why do you want to know?" the woman asked. "What does a freak like you want with a normal woman like me?"
"Freak?" Bones asked. "I'm not sure—"
"Look at what you're wearing!" the woman exclaimed. "If that's not freakish, I don't know what is."
Sirius looked at Bones, and then at himself, and noticed that they were still wearing robes, not Muggle clothing. Well, that explained some of the odd looks they had received at the restaurant earlier, although no one there had seemed to care as much as this woman did.
"Look, Mrs. Dursley, we just wanted to ask a few questions about your nephew Harry."
"Harry!" she shrieked. "We took him in like you freaks wanted, out of the goodness of our hearts. That doesn't mean we have to treat him like he's our son, or like he's normal!"
Sirius felt elated as he found out that his guess was true, and that Harry was actually living here. He also felt guilty about how happy he felt that Petunia obviously didn't want to keep Harry around.
"Mrs. Dursley, I'm Sirius Black, Harry's godfather. I'd like to see him, if that's possible."
"The freak is around somewhere. Come back later, my husband and son are out at the moment," Petunia said. "On second thought, don't come back at all, I don't want freaky people like you wandering around my house."
Bones was obviously angry, but it didn't show in her voice. "Mrs. Dursley, I work for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry of Magic. Mr. Black here has been awarded guardianship of Harry Potter, and we'd like to see him."
"Don't say that word!" Mrs. Dursley said, snarling.
"What?" Sirius asked, surprised. He looked at Bones, who shrugged back, clearly as lost as he was.
"The M word. You know, m-m-magic," she said, her voice breaking as she tried to say the word. Sirius and Bones both looked at her as if she were crazy. She opened the door suddenly. "Come inside, quickly, before someone sees you."
Sirius complied, walking inside the small house. It looked very boring, very much the way he imagined a Muggle house. He noticed a large number of pictures which seemed to be of a baby, but that baby was clearly not Harry, as the boy in the pictures had blond hair, not the black hair of James' son. Where was Harry?
When he asked the question, Mrs. Dursley got a pinched look on her face, and her eyes shifted back and forth in an obviously worried manner.
"Where is Harry?" he repeated again, raising his voice.
"I'll get him," Mrs. Dursley said.
"I'll come with you then," Bones said. It was not a request.
Mrs. Dursley's reaction confirmed that he was right to be suspicious, as she looked panicked and said, "No, that's quite all right. There's no need of that."
"Yes, there is," said Bones, dangerously. Sirius almost laughed at how scary she looked, but his worry for Harry over-ruled any half-baked urge to show mirth.
"Alright, come along, freak," Mrs. Dursley said. "It's not like we even wanted him anyway, so why should we treat him as if he were our son?"
Sirius, angered beyond words by her words, stepped forwards. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he had to do something. Perhaps fortunately, Bones raised her hand to stop him before he had taken more than one step.
"Stay here, Black," she said. Sirius glared at her, but she held firm. "If this is what I think it may be, I need to be an impartial witness. You are far from impartial."
Mrs. Dursley looked worried at that, but she couldn't really do anything, so she ignored the exchange and led the way up the stairs, Bones following behind.
Sirius collapsed onto a couch, holding his head in his hands. To think, less than five minutes previously, he had been happy, in a sense, to find that Petunia hadn't wanted Harry. And now, well, if Bones was right in what she obviously suspected, then Petunia indeed wasn't 'treating him like her son.' Sirius felt guilty, as if his hope that Harry would be better off with him had somehow caused this. Of course, it wasn't certain that anything bad was happening – maybe Petunia was just upset about seeing 'freaks' around in her house, and Harry was fine.
But the last time he had felt a gut feeling, he had prayed to Merlin and the Founders that it was just a false alarm, prayed that Peter had just gone out for a bite to eat or something. Instead, he had found the bodies of James and Lily, and given Harry to Hagrid before trying to hunt down the traitor. And now he had discovered that giving Harry to Hagrid might have been even more of a mistake than trying to hunt down Wormtail, and that choice had landed him in Azkaban.
Sirius, fed up with waiting and filled with anticipation and not a little fear about what condition Bones would find Harry in, stood back up and began walking towards the stairs. Before he could take more than a few steps, however, he saw Bones come back down, holding a bundle in her arms.
"Harry!" he exclaimed, stepping closer.
Bones handed the boy to him, and he looked in happiness as he saw Lily's green eyes and James' black hair. But Harry felt thin, smaller than he had been just a month before. He didn't seem to notice Sirius, just stared straight ahead lethargically.
"Why does he feel so light?" Sirius asked. He glared at Petunia, who stood on the second step of the stairs, looking down with thin lips pursed.
Bones told him where she had found Harry, and Sirius drew his wand on Lily's Muggle sister. "A cupboard?" he shouted. "You put my godson in a cupboard? Why in Merlin's name would you do that to a baby, and your own nephew?"
For the third time, Petunia said, "I agreed to take him in, not to treat him like our own son. He's a freak, just like you, and just like my sister."
Sirius saw red. "Levico—"
"Black, no!" Bones knocked his wand down before he could cast a spell. "No matter how much she may deserve it."
Sirius glared at Bones for a second, before nodding slightly. He turned back to Petunia. "I will be taking Harry with me. I wish you the worst of the rest of your Muggle life."
Bones turned to Petunia as well. "There will be an investigation," she said. "As young Harry's guardian, Black has the authority to ask for recompense for harms done to his charge."
"You freaks stay away from us!" Petunia shrieked. "We've done nothing wrong."
"Nothing wrong?" Sirius shouted, raising his wand again. "You left my godson in a cupboard and didn't feed him well enough! Just be glad you didn't do anything more, or I'd hex you into next year."
"Black," Bones said. Sirius ignored her, staring at the white-faced Muggle with hatred. "Sirius," Bones said, more softly. "Let's go."
Sirius put away with his wand, still glaring. "Okay," he said. As they turned towards the door, Sirius adjusted his hold on his godson, looking down at the sleeping face.
Just as they walked onto Privet Drive, Harry's eyes seemed to focus suddenly, looking sleepily up at his godfather. "Pa'foot," he said, smiling.
"Yes, Harry, it's Padfoot. I'm here for you now, don't worry."
Amelia Bones was not someone who was easily angered. She could be irritable on occasion, she would freely admit it, but anger was not something that came naturally to her. However, as she walked out of that Muggle home, half a step behind Black and his godson, she was furious as she had ever been. That Muggle, how could she? When she had followed the woman up the stairs of her house, and seen her unlock—unlock!—the door to a small cupboard under the stairs to draw out little Harry Potter, she had nearly cursed the Muggle right there and then.
It was only her sense of duty and right that kept her from doing so, and it was a near run thing. Still, though, cursing a Muggle smacked of Muggle-baiting and other unsavory, Pureblood things that she held no truck with, even a Muggle as odious as that one.
She would, however, certainly follow through on her threat to send an investigation. A woman who treated a child, and the Boy-Who-Lived at that, like an unwanted creature, she deserved to be sued for all she was worth. To be honest, she deserved some time in Azkaban to reflect on her sins, but that would never happen for a Muggle, no matter the crime.
Abruptly, a thought struck Amelia, and she paused. "Black," she said, "bring your godson back to my apartment. You know where that is right? I just need to check on something."
"Sure," Black said, with a bit of doubt in his voice. "How long will it take?"
"Not more than a few seconds. And the wards in my house are sufficient to stop pretty much anything for long enough for you to get clear."
Black nodded, and proceeded down the street to the Apparition Point, and Amelia turned back towards the house. Blood wards, Black had surmised, and that was certainly a likely possibility. To be honest, Amelia had assumed that Black was just grasping at straws, that Dumbledore wouldn't leave a child in the Muggle world. But now that Black's guess had been proven correct, Amelia wanted to check and see how strong the wards were, and see if there were any bits of it she could re-use in her own wards.
With Harry in Black's custody, the pair would become a target of both sides, and she needed to be sure that she wouldn't fail in her duty to protect Black, no matter what Fudge actually wanted.
"Whoa," she said in surprise, staggering backwards as her diagnostic spell revealed an incredibly complex and strong set of wards. How was that even possible? There was no way that a Muggle household could have the kind of power that a ward like that would require. There wasn't anything to anchor it on, and even if Dumbledore himself set wards of this strength, it should have mostly disintegrated within a day or two.
Unless it was anchored to a person, rather than a thing. If it was anchored to Harry himself, then perhaps that would increase the staying power of these wards, although they shouldn't be this strong, even then. But if they were keyed to Harry, then Apparating away should…
And all at once, presumably at the same time as Black Apparated away with his godson, the wards collapsed in a brilliant spray of light, spilling inwards on themselves until they vanished altogether.
Well, that was slightly unexpected. There were serious disadvantages to anchoring wards on a person, rather than an object, not least of which was that the wards would fall when the person got too far away from the protected area. Well, this was a surprising twist of events, now, wasn't it?
Amelia turned away to return home and meet Black and Harry at her apartment. Not much information there, was there? Still, it was certainly an interesting sight, and one that she was glad to have seen, as wards falling for loss of their focal point wasn't a very common sight. It was just lucky that she had already had a diagnostic charm up when the little boy left –
Crack! Came the sound of an Apparition, and Bones swirled, drawing her wand as she did so, mentally preparing a spell to deal with a Death Eater trying to –
Dumbledore! Before Bones could even try to put her wand away, it was flying out of her hands, and into the hands of the Head of the Wizengamot.
"Professor Dumbledore, sir," she said respectfully.
"Bones, isn't it?" Dumbledore asked, the usual twinkle in his eyes absent. "What happened here?" Bones noticed that the Professor hadn't stopped pointing his wand at her.
"Sir, I removed a young boy from a family that was not treating him well. Those Muggles were leaving him in a cupboard."
Dumbledore's expression barely changed, but Bones thought that she caught a wince. He did lower his wand, to Amelia's relief, but he didn't return her own wand to her.
"And what were you doing here in the first place, Miss Bones?"
"I was assigned to be the protective detail for Sirius Black," she responded. "He was granted custody of his godson, Harry Potter, this morning. When I realized the family situation, I left Black behind so I could retrieve the boy and be able to offer unbiased testimony to the investigators when they prosecuted these Muggles for neglect."
Dumbledore's gaze grew stern behind his glasses. "Miss Bones, you don't know what you have done," he said. "You have just taken away the best protection available for Mr. Potter, and handed him over to his worst enemy."
"Professor Dumbledore, I have been assigned as the protective detail for Black. As his ward, I intend to protect Harry Potter as well. And if that means protecting Mr. Potter from Black, then I will do so."
"The best way you could protect Mr. Potter would be to turn Black back over to the Ministry and send him back to Azkaban."
"I do not intend to send a man to Azkaban on a whim, Professor Dumbledore," Amelia retorted sharply. "If I see him doing something illegal – and that includes mistreating Harry in any way – then I will send him to Azkaban, and happily. But before that, I will not."
"I hope you do not live to regret that decision," Professor Dumbledore responded, lowering his head.
As Amelia looked at Dumbledore, she began to wonder herself. The self-doubt she'd been feeling for the last few days grew, as she thought of the possibility that she was actively aiding a criminal and mass-murderer. Sure, he had been acquitted, but there were witnesses, and everyone knew, including Professor Dumbledore himself, that Black had been the Potters' Secret Keeper.
No! Amelia thought suddenly. I will not break my principles! If Black is guilty, then I will turn him in at the time I find it out, not any time before. Besides, this wasn't about Black, in any case, this was about little Harry. And she was not in the least guilty about taking Harry away from that nest of awful Muggles.
"I hope so too, Professor Dumbledore," she responded, a little of her doubt seeping into her voice despite herself. "In any case, I am neglecting my duty. I must return to watch Black."
"Very well, Miss Bones," Dumbledore said. "Don't let me keep you. I must inspect what is left of my wards. Incidentally, here is your wand back."
Amelia accepted the wand from the Professor, and turned to return to the Apparition Point. Perhaps Professor Dumbledore himself could ignore the rules and Apparate into the middle of a Muggle street, but she would go to the hidden Apparition Point like a good witch.
Albus Dumbledore stood where Miss Bones left him, peering after her in dismay. Well, it was always so, wasn't it; even the best plans could be laid awry by unforeseen things.
When he had first realized the wards of Privet Drive had fallen, he had feared that Black was even more of a black wizard than he had first thought, to be able destroy the blood wards that had been placed over young Harry Potter. Of course he had suspected Black—who else could it have been, when young Harry was threatened less than a day after Black was acquitted?
Instead, however, Dumbledore found that Black was even more evil and cunning than he had feared, that the man had somehow convinced another to do his bidding. There was no one as dangerous as a man who could convince others to do the wrong things for the right reasons.
Dumbledore could tell that Amelia Bones truly believed what she said. Even a surface use of Legilimency showed that Amelia was indeed worried about Black, but that she also believed it wasn't her place to turn him in unless she saw him do something illegal. She also obviously believed that Harry had been in danger at the Dursleys, and that removing him was for his own good.
And that was a subtle way to get past his wards, wasn't it? How had Black realized that the wards only stopped people who meant Harry harm? Once he had realized that, it wouldn't be terribly difficult to convince an honorable but naïve witch like Bones to remove Harry from his Muggle family. It was made easier by the troubling nature of the Dursleys, of course, but Dumbledore had not doubt that Black would have managed to convince Bones anyway.
How had I not seen it? Dumbledore asked himself. How had he never realized the true nature of Sirius Black? Had Black been lying to everyone throughout his years at Hogwarts? Or had the laughing troublemaker been brainwashed by his family sometime during the summers he spent at home before he ran away? Had even that been just a sham, a play by the Blacks to get Sirius close to the Potters?
Dumbledore suddenly felt all of his many, many years. He'd always known that he couldn't save everyone, couldn't protect everyone, but too many times, he'd seen promising young people grow up and throw everything they had away. Tom Riddle, such potential, such genius, but also so much anger and hatred in him. Severus Snape, who turned to the Dark Arts to salve his insecurity, and only been brought back from the brink by love. Sirius Black, that young boy who wanted to rebel against his family, but eventually was just used by them in their plots. And, of course, his original failure, Gellert Grindelwald.
Just as his misjudgment of Grindelwald had caused the death of Ariana, so had his misjudgment of Sirius Black caused the deaths of Lily and James Potter. Dumbledore resolved to ensure that he would keep little Harry Potter from following his parents into death at the hands of a traitor. He would wait a few weeks, and then recruit Miss Bones to join him in protecting Mr. Potter. While Black would surely not be so bold as to harm Harry while Bones was still on 'protective detail,' that meager protection would not last, as surely Bones would be reassigned eventually. But Black would certainly show his true colors, too, and an honorable and good witch like Amelia Bones would surely see that.
Mind resolved, Dumbledore strode towards the Muggle house of Petunia Dursley, to inspect the damage to his wards – probably not recoverable, but you never knew – and to see what she herself had been thinking. He had never imagined that she would actually treat her young nephew as badly as Bones clearly believed she had. Yet another failure to lay at his feet, and one that he was in Miss Bones' debt for solving, no matter what other problems it might lead to.
As he hurried towards the Muggle house, he resolved to carry out his business here quickly. The sooner he was finished, the sooner he could be out of the December chill and back in his warm office, with thick woolen socks on his feet and a hot chocolate in his hands.
