I don't own Harry Potter, or any of it's characters, or settings, etc.

As Harry tried to fall asleep that night, whenever he closed his eyes, could only see the hurt face of his Godfather after seeing that morning's paper. Harry, even without knowing Lupin or Dumbledore well, or had even had a conversation with them, knew by the way that Sirius talked about them that Sirius had still considered them friends. Despite all the evidence that they had turned on them, Sirius had no ill thought towards them.

Laying in bed, Harry could not help but feel guilty about this turn of events. At dinner that day, Sirius had glumly told harry that he didn't blame him in the slightest. Sirius knew him so well that he would have known that Harry was feeling guilty about how Sirius's friends had turned on him.

13 Months later:

Harry had progressed very far from that sad potioneer he had been on that first day of his home education with Sirius. It was now late summer, and Harry was glad to have his skills now more than ever. Sirius told him with a radiant smile, that his skills had, by far surpassed that of a fourth year at Hogwarts. Harry had a feeling that he would be needing these, thankfully advanced, skills soon.

At Hogwarts, Dumbedore had employed a Defense Against The Dark Arts teacher by the name of Proffesor Quirrel. Recently, Quirrel had stolen a stone that, or so Sirius assured him, would grant the holder the Elixer of life. With it he could live forever. Quirrel was a hidden servant of Lord Voldemort, and had naturaly given the stone to him, allowing the ghost of what he was, to regain a body. The body he gained, was nothing like his first body, the one he'd been born with. While the old was handsome and warm, the new was anything but, one that Sirius had, without humor, said was much more befitting for someone titled the Dark Lord.

Sirus, with a pale and shaking face had weakly told Harry that they would, from now on work to accomplish more in a smaller amount of time. Which they did by eliminating all unneeded subjects, like runes, arthimancy, Divination, and history of magic. All of which Sirius had proclaimed as useless, and unaiding in any practical situations, and Harry laughing, had presented no oposition.

"Stupefy!" Harry cried and Sirius dodged.
"Petrificus Totalius!" Harry laughed as he blocked with the disarming charm, then repeated the spell:
"Expelliarmus!" and Sirius's wand went flying out of hand and into Harry's. Harry had a broad grin on his face, as he saw Sirius's happily surprised face. It must have been, by far, the quickest won time by Harry.

As Sirius walked foward to reclaim his wand, and Harry gave it to him, there was a certain amount of pride on his face. They walked into the kitchen as Harry turned to Sirius a trivial question on his lips, only to dive to the side, in a surprised reflex as Sirius shot a stunning spell as him. Looking up at Sirius, Harry was indignant at the bright smile on his godfathers face, and sighed.

"Done with your test, and ready for lunch, Sirius?" Harry asked dryly. With a laugh Sirius said, "Alright then, but you should be prepared for defending yourself on the fly.". At that, they moved to the counter to assemble sandwhiches, a cocky smile of triumph and contentment on both of their sandwich stuffed faces.

"Alright then Harry," said Sirius "Here we go from the top" he continued. they were in the sitting room, going over the latest defense manuevers. As Harry repeated the motion, Sirius smiled and shook his head in wonderment, as Harry did it as best Sirius had ever seen. With Sirius's nod of approval, Harry did it perfectly with the incanation and Sirius laughed in giddy delight as the spell worked amazingly. "Only you Harry, you got it right on the first try." he said with a loose, confident smile. "I wish I could have been this good in my school days, especially at the age of 11, going on 12.". "Really, I'm sure you were great." Harry said in surprise and then confidence. "Hmmm... Me no,no that was always James." Sirius said in a voice full of happiness, and maybe a twinge of sadness. "I see so much of him in you... What with your skill, I shouldn't be so surprised what with your amazing skills." Sirius looked sad, for a minute, but when his gaze fell to Harry it was full of pride and triumph. The two moved together for a hug, adopted son and father.

"I don't think Voldemort will stand a chance against us."Sirius said in a voice full of dread and pre-victory in his voice. His eyes became wistful as he stared at the wall, not seeing it. "You're an idealist, aren't you. But-" he continued over Sirius, as he began to interupt "I do think that when the time comes we will beat him. I know, what with the way we are going, it is without a doubt.". At that, they ate supper in a content silence, and went to bed, feeling optimistic about the future, and all to come.