"Now remember, we're just checking on him"
"Uh-huh"
"We're just going to look in the window and make sure he's safe, right?"
"Yeah, sure"
"Sirius are you even listening to me?" Remus snapped.
"Huh? Oh yeah sure, I'm listening" Sirius said quickly.
Remus rolled his eyes at his friend as they slowly approached Privet Drive.
"Which is it again?" Remus asked.
"Number 4," Answered Sirius, "I think that's it right there."
He pointed in the direction of the neat muggle home that his godson currently resided in and the two began walking quickly toward it. Luckily, they had already cast the disillusionment spell on themselves or they would have gotten more than one stare for their wizard attire from the tightly spun neighbors. They made it to the Dursley home and treaded up to the window. They looked in to see the Dursley's kitchen. Mr. Dursley was sitting at the kitchen table reading a newspaper, and cup of coffee sitting in front of him. Dudley Dursley sat across from his father and was currently shouting something at his mother while she started coming down the stairs. Just what he was shouting, Sirius and Remus couldn't say since the window was tightly locked and they could not hear through it.
"Merlin," Sirius gasped when he saw Dudley, "Is that a child or a baby whale?"
Remus snorted but didn't tear his eyes away from the window, 'Where is he?' he wondered.
His question was answered when Mrs. Dursley began rapping at the cupboard under the staircase she had just come down.
"What is she doing?" Sirius wondered aloud.
"I don't know but I'm starting to think you were right." Remus muttered back.
Unfortunately, Sirius was right, as they saw when a much underfed and dirty looking Harry James Potter stepped out of the small cupboard. Sirius's eyes flared with anger at the sight.
"You see that?" he hissed at Remus, "They're keeping him locked in a cupboard! And by the looks of things, they haven't been feeding him much either, still think he's safe here Moony?"
Remus didn't answer, because at that moment he saw something that shook him to the core. Mr. Dursley was yelling something at Harry. Harry responded with something that must have anger Mr. Dursley as the beefy man suddenly picked up the tiny boy and began to violently shake him. Finally he stopped and threw, not dropped, threw him to the ground. Harry landed on his arm and they could she his face contorted in agony. Dudley Dursley was laughing and clapping his hands in sadistic glee.
"Okay that's it" Sirius shouted and stormed towards the front of the house.
"Padfoot hang on" Remus called after him.
Sirius turned and stared at his friend disbelievingly, "Remus, after what you just saw you're still going to make me leave him here?"
Remus's face was expressionless, "No, I was going to tell you that you can't very well break in if you still disillusioned." He answered and with that, removed the spell from Sirius and himself. "Not come on, let's go get Harry"
Sirius smiled at the werewolf and then once again begin heading for the front of the house. One minute, and a large reducto curse to the front door later, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin entered the Dursley home.
Mrs. Dursley screamed at the sight of them and Mr. Dursley's large face began turning purple. "Who are you?" he demanded, "What do you mean by breaking into my home."
"SHUT UP DURSLEY!" Sirius shouted pointing his wand at the man and making Mrs. Dursley squeak in fear as she clutched her fat son to her chest.
Remus found Harry lying on the floor where Dursley had thrown him. He appeared to have lost consciousness and the arm that he fell on was broken. Remus immediately scooped the boy up in his arms and moved back toward Sirius who still had his wand raised at Dursley.
"You're a couple of those freaks then aren't you?" Dursley sneered.
Sirius jabbed his wand at Dursley's throat making him shut up. Dursley gulped as beads of sweat began forming on his forehead.
"If by 'freaks' you mean Wizards, then yes we are, and you muggles have abused my godson for the last time!" Sirius yelled fiercely.
"G-godson?" Petunia Dursley stammered fearfully.
Sirius looked at her, and then back at Vernon Dursley as a smile came to his face. He retracted his wand and, to everyone's surprise, sunk into a low bow. "Oh how silly of me, I never introduced myself did I?"
He stood straight again and gripped Dursley's hand making him jump, "Sirius Black sir, Godfather of Harry Potter and convicted murderer of thirteen people."
At the 'convicted murderer' part, Vernon Dursley let out small frightened scream and quickly pulled his hand away.
"Now then, I'm not here to hurt you, I simply want my godson, now if you just let me take him peacefully, I promise you will never see him or me again." Sirius bargained.
Vernon didn't move or say anything out of fear, "and if we refuse?" Vernon quietly asked.
Sirius's expression darkened as he advanced on Vernon. "Then you get taken out of here by the muggle aurors in a matchbox" he muttered in a low voice that chilled Vernon and made him step back in fear.
Sirius's dark expression then quickly vanished and he grinned at Vernon once again. "So, what do you say?" he asked cheerfully.
Vernon had never been more scared in his life. "F-fine, take him and go away!"
Sirius's grin widened, "I'm so glad you're being so reasonable."
With that, the two men turned and started toward the door. But Sirius stopped short and in a quick motion, he spun back around and threw a spell at Dudley Dursley. Petunia screamed as her young son suddenly turned into a large pig and Vernon Dursley's purple face grew even more so.
Sirius sniggered loudly and continued with Remus out the door. When they got outside Sirius burst out laughing and almost fell to the ground.
"Padfoot why did you do that?" Remus snapped at Sirius angrily.
"C-calm down Moony," Sirius said between laughs, "The spell only lasts about an hour."
"I know that, I meant why did you tell them you murdered those people, you're innocent." Remus explained.
"I know that." Sirius said, "I know that, you know that, and the wizarding world now knows that, but they don't know that."
Remus couldn't help but grin at his friend.
When Harry woke up, he found himself staring up at a rather familiar ceiling. He smiled knowing that his plan had worked. He knew that once Sirius was free he'd want to get custody of Harry, and seeing as Harry was now lying in the hospital wing or Hogwarts, he was right.
Outside, Harry could hear a lot of shouting. He recognized three voices as Sirius, Remus, and Dumbledore. Harry figured they were arguing over his placement at the Dursley's since he managed to catch parts of their conversation such as, "Locked in a cupboard", "-malnourished', and 'stupid old man' which Harry figured Sirius had called Dumbledore.
In was then that Harry noticed that he was in the same bed that he had stayed in all the times before when he was in the hospital wing. 'It's like they save this bed for me' Harry chuckled to himself.
Harry tried to move his arm and for a moment, was surprised that he could. He was sure that Uncle Vernon had broken it when he threw Harry down. But then again, Madam Pomfrey could mend bones in a second. Harry couldn't help but smile at the memory. He didn't enjoy getting his arm broken of course, what he did enjoy though was calling Dudley a baby hippo.
The screaming outside was getting louder, Harry had never heard Sirius or Remus sound so angry. Dumbledore of course sounded very calm. Despite that Harry knew that Sirius and Remus were winning the argument. Harry grinned widely to himself, he had a good feeling that he would not be seeing the Dursley's again any time soon.
Finally, the doors to the infirmary opened and Dumbledore, Remus, and Sirius walked in. They saw that Harry was awake and approached him. Harry tried his best to look like an innocent, albeit frightened five year old.
"Hello there Harry" Dumbledore cheerfully greeted him.
"Who are you?" Harry asked faking nervousness.
"My name is Albus Dumbledore" Dumbledore began before gesturing towards Sirius and Remus, "and this is Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, how are you feeling Harry?"
"O-okay, where am I?"
"Well Harry, that's what I want to talk to you about, you see…"
One hour, and a lot of fake looks of shock from Harry, Dumbledore finished explaining the wizarding world and his heritage to Harry. He even told Harry about Voldemort, but didn't get too far into that.
"Um…if you'll excuse me, I have something to take care of," Sirius suddenly said and walked out of the hospital wing.
"So I'm a wizard?" Harry said in awe.
"That's right." Dumbledore answered simply.
"But Uncle Vernon says that magic doesn't exist."
Remus grimaced at the mention of the horrible man, "He's wrong Harry, magic is very real and you have it."
"Now then Harry, Remus and Sirius here tell me that your aunt and uncle don't treat you right, so I've decided that if you want to, you can go live with them instead." Dumbledore explained.
The little voice in Harry's mind cheered triumphantly that this news and Harry had to fight incredibly hard to fight of the grin attempting to form on his face.
"Will Uncle Vernon be mad at me if I do?" He asked innocently.
Again Remus's expression darkened a bit.
"No Harry, he doesn't mind." Dumbledore answered sincerely.
'Gee, I wonder why?' Harry thought sarcastically, "Well, Okay then."
Remus grinned happily at his best friend's son.
Sirius returned two hours later with a happy look on his face.
"Where have you been?" asked Remus.
"I had to go to Gringotts in order to get some affairs taken care of, and I've bought a house for us in a muggle community." Sirius explained.
"Muggle community?" Remus questioned his friend curiously.
"Yeah," Sirius sighed, "Way I see it, there are still some people out there who think I'm guilty and I figure it's best to stay away from that, at least for a few years until this whole thing cools off."
"Hm…I see what you mean." Remus muttered while nodding his head. "And what do you mean we?"
"Well, I was hoping you'd move in with us, I can't take care of Harry alone as much as I hate to admit it." Sirius answered quietly, "Come on Moony, please."
He pulled his lips into an exaggerated pout making Remus rolled his eyes and let out a chuckle.
"Alright alright I'll do it, just quit doing that pout thing will ya?" Remus caved.
Sirius let out a barking laugh and clapped his friend on the arm.
Valerie Pruitt stared out the window of her best friend Tammy's flat. For the last few days Tammy had been bugging her about finding out were Sirius was living and going to visit him. Valerie however did not want to go. She and Sirius had never gotten along very well; in fact, the only reason Valerie even ever spoke to him was because her best friend Lily was dating his best friend James.
If she was going to go back to the Wizarding world to see anyone, it would be her longtime crush Remus Lupin. Many of the songs she had written had been about him, even though for some otherworldly reason Tammy thought they were about Sirius. She had been attracted to his quiet and reserved nature much more than to the cocky, arrogant mannerisms of one Sirius Black. Those same mannerisms were ironically the reason that Tammy thought they were a perfect match.
Valerie disagreed however, there was no way she and Sirius Black could ever get together. Now her and Remus…
"Valerie, I'm just saying, you've got to at least want to see Harry, he is your godson you know." Tammy goaded her.
"I know he is and I do want to see him, just not Sirius." Valerie explained for the umpteenth time.
Tammy let out an exaggerated sigh and rolled her eyes. "Come on Valerie, when are you going to get of the denial train and realize that you like Sirius?"
"Never, because I don't, you know that I like Remus." Valerie snapped, annoyed.
"But you and Remus have no chemistry." Tammy insisted. "He's a nice guy and all, just not your guy; that guy happens to be Sirius Black. Take it from me; I know what I'm talking about."
"I know you do" Valerie muttered.
Valerie hated to admit it, but it was true that Tammy knew what she was talking about. Back at Hogwarts, Tammy had loved giving the other students love advice (whether they asked for it or not) and had managed to get ten couples together before leaving Hogwarts, and eight of which ended up getting married shortly after. But Valerie was sure that Tammy couldn't always be right, even though she hadn't been wrong so far. Valerie was positive that Tammy was wrong this time; there was no way in hell she and Sirius Black would ever get together.
Narcissa Malfoy stared nervously at the parchment in front of her. An eagle feather quill in her shaky hand poised above the paper. She wasn't really sure how Sirius would react to getting a letter from her after so many years.
In all honesty if the situation didn't call for it, she would not be writing him at all, but she needed help, not only for herself, but for her son. He was becoming more and more like his father every day and Narcissa did not want that. She wanted him to grow up in a safe environment, and no death eater could offer that. She knew that now that Sirius was free, she had a chance to get herself and Draco out of this situation and she was going to take it despite the consequences. Sirius Black was now the only person in the world that could help her and she prayed that he would.
Resolved, Narcissa put the quill to the parchment and began writing.
"Dear Sirius…"
A/N: I'm so sorry for the short chapter but I promise I'll try to make them longer. Anyway, the voting for Harry's house is still going, so far the poll stands:
RAVENCLAW: 16
SLYTHERIN: 7
GRYFFINDOR: 1
HUFFLEPUFF: 0
As I said last chapter, this will continue for the next couple of chapter so you have plenty of time to cast your vote if you haven't already. See you next chapter.