Disclaimer: We all know how these work, I acknowledge that J.K rowlings, Warner Bros. and Scholastic own Harry Potter and all other characters and settings from cannon, and I get to write whatever I please and even add in characters of my own as long as I don't get any money. The no money sucks but there you go, at least I don't get lawyers knocking on my door. Addendum: If you recognize a name of a character from elsewhere it isn't mine.
Sirius' Savior
Chapter 35 The Difficulty with Doctors
Sirius looked down at Harry, "You ready?"
Harry looked trustingly up at his god father. "As I'll ever be."
Sirius led the way into the room he had booked for this early lunch with Amelia, Grimjaw, Remus, Andie and Ted. He'd arranged with Beth to take Susan and Tonks souvenir shopping and to lunch so they wouldn't be privy to the emotional explosions that were likely to occur after he shared information with his allies. He'd had debated sending Harry to school today instead of including him but Harry already knew what Sirius was going to share and his presence might influence the rest. So he was here. Once every one was there he suggested to the wait staff that they wouldn't need lunch for two hours and they could help themselves if drinks were required. After they left he carefully put up privacy wards and silencing charms. He poured himself a bracing cup of tea before starting.
"Thank you all for coming. I would like it if you all would make an oath that everything that gets said in this room stays in this room. I Sirius Orion Black swear on my life and magic that everything that gets said in this room stays in this room. And I will tell the whole truth as I know it."
"I Harry James Potter swear on my life and magic that everything said in this room stays in this room, and I will tell the truth as I know it."
Remus was astounded; little Harry was too young to have a wand but even as young as he was , everyone had felt the pulse of magic when the boy had made his oath. As a baby Harry had shown indicators he would be powerful but this was surprising. He slowly brought out his own wand. "I Remus John Lupin swear on my life and my magic that everything said in this room stays in this room and I will tell the truth as I know it."
Amelia hastily pulled her wand, "I Amelia Renee Bones swear on my life and my magic everything said in this room stays in this room unless agreed by the others present it needs to be shared with particular people we all agree to and I will tell the truth as I know it."
Grimjaw, Andromeda also gave Amelia's modified version. Ted being a muggle could not make an oath. But he too promised to keep the information to himself. Sirius, Harry and Remus modified their oaths to match the rest.
Sirius pulled from his pocket a box holding a pensievie. He pulled from his own head the memories of the summary appointment with Sri. He pulled the letter from Regulus, and Harry's medical file from a briefcase. Then he looked at his allies. "Thanks for coming, Amelia I'm not sure how much of this will be a repeat of what I told you in Japan, that last night those memories for me are pretty foggy after the attack that happened when I got back to Indonesia. So if I repeat stuff please forgive me.
"We all know that on October 31,1981 Voldemort attacked the Potters in Godric's Hollow. I took Harry after the attack and fled England mostly due to a promise I made to James. Most everyone in England has made the assumption that Moldyshorts is dead. He's not. He made Horcruxes." At confused looks on multiple faces, he explained, "A horcrux is a soul anchor, it's made when a person, in this case Moldyshorts, commits a ritualized murder to splinter their soul and takes the resulting fragment and puts it into another object. Regulus' letter informed me that Moldyshortts had done this more than once. The end result is he isn't dead, he will be back. Regulus.....here read his letter for yourselves." While they read he looked at Harry and said softly, "Do you want to tell them or do you want me to?"
"Together, you tell them the early stuff I'll tell them my decision."
Sirius nodded.
Amelia was the first to speak. "In Japan you told me you controlled three of these anchors."
"Yes I control the locket, the cup he mentions that Bellatrix got..."
"How did you manage that?" Andie spoke up.
Grimjaw was looking at Sirius in mingled shock and respect.
Sirius gave an unrepentant grin. "I'm Lord Black. I made not having a dark mark a requirement to show loyalty to the family. Andie you know the family rules about contracts within the family..."
"Your first and foremost loyalty is to the family Black... no vows or marks of loyalty can be given to any save a monarch or you forfeit any right to the name Black and the benefits thereof." She looked at Grimjaw, "That's why you checked for a mark."
"Indeed." he responded.
Sirius started speaking,"Trixie, had a mark and most of the liquid assets of her dowery were spent either by the LeStranges of by Moldyshorts himself. When I reclaimed her forfeited dowery she couldn't pay it all so the goblins gave me a list of items in their vault and the approximate values. I opted to gain control of the cup valued at a third of the debt instead of taking all the galleons, sickles, knuts, and family jewels."
"And the third?" Amelia asked although she already sort of knew.
"Is me." Harry said.
Remus and Andie both blanched. Sirius got pale as well. "Harry is the third. I am currently trying to find a healer/doctor for Harry. In the pensievie are the memories of the meetings with Sri when we discussed Harry." All of them went into the memories.
Harry was quiet when they came out.
Remus looked at the serious looking boy, "How do you feel about this?"
"I want the son of a bitch to die, I can't be a wizard as long as this fragment is inside of me. It makes me to sick to be around magic. Just the little bit of magic I've been around this weekend and I have a killer headache and am nauseous. It will take me a couple of weeks to recover from the exposure. If I have to die, I'll do it with honor and courage as a wizard; just so someone like him can't come back."
"James would be very proud of you." Remus said then he swallowed hard and fought tears.
"We're hoping we can kill the soul fragment without permanently killing Harry. Which is why I'm conducting a careful hunt for the right healer/doctor." Sirius looked at his allies. "At this point we need to find out all we can about Voldie, it's only that information that will let us find any other horcruxes he may have made. I mean we have the information that Reg gave us about an old diary; we need to find it and destroy it of course. However I'm at a loss of how to destroy the horcruxes I've got except the one in Harry, because I don't have a source for basilisk venom and I've never tried to summon fiendfyre. Those are the only two ways I've been able to find to destroy them according to what I've found."
"I'll look into this, it may be we goblins can find basilisk venom or come up with an alternative." Grimjaw said.
"I have successfully cleared my name here in the U.S.; Nic is going to file so hopefully I can get cleared internationally at the next ICW conference. The only question will be will Albus Dumbledore continue to try to darken my already black name in an effort to try and get hold of Harry or will he clear me in the U.K.?"
"In Japan you mentioned betting Albus would have tried to get a hold of Augusta Longbottom's grandson. I didn't believe you at the time. I have since then found out he did make an attempt Augusta mostly retired from public life to prevent it. I have made friends with her and I would like to inform her about everything."
"What about Frank and Alice?" Sirius asked.
"They've been in Saint Mungo's since about four days after the attack on Godric's Hollow. They were attacked by Death eater's trying to get information about what happened at the Potter's. Since there was a lot of confusion when You know who's body disappeared after that attack." Andromeda said.
"What happened to Moldyshort's body? It was on the floor next to Lily's, before I moved her down next to James." Sirius queried.
"It was found by law enforcement, but when law enforcement went to pull it back out to try and reassure the public after the attack on the Longbottoms. It was missing along with his wand." Amelia said.
"Great. So have you tried contacting any other allies the Macmillains, or the McGonagalls, the Greengrasses?" Sirius asked.
"To be honest, Albus has been and is very deft at wielding his influence. So many of his generation having been eliminated in the wars against Grindelwald and the war against Voldemort. People look to him as a leader of the light since his defeat of Grindelwald add to that, his familiar Fawkes. Even when faced with evidence most people would not believe ill of Dumbledore. It wasn't until you pointed out to me in Japan and I observed it myself that I realized just how he manipulates others into doing his bidding. The only difference between him and a dark lord is he truly doesn't wish ill on anyone. He knows where all the skeletons are buried and isn't afraid to use that knowledge to get his way. It's almost frightening." Amelia said.
"He's afraid of Harry. Afraid of the influence Harry will one day have. He has carefully primed the Order of the Phoenix members to fear Harry, because of the influence you have had over him Pads. He doesn't paint him truly dark but he always expresses concern about your influence, I think it would take very little to get most of them to think the worst of Harry." Remus said softly.
"I guess that means I have to be as unintimidating as possible when I get back to England then." Harry said calmly.
"We're still a couple years away from that kiddo and first we need to rid you of the horcrux."
"I know, but I just want everyone here to understand I will survive this and I take the Potter motto "A meloir universitas per probitas charisma quod strength" very seriously." Harry stated. [A better world through honesty, caring and stregnth]
All of the adults except Sirius felt a sense of curiosity at how this young boy had come to have such a strong and mature mindset. Especially when most of them had observed him playing like a child with other children in recent days. The rest of the meeting was more quiet and thoughtful. Amelia decided and the others agreed that they should make quiet unobtrusive inquiries into any potential skeletons Albus may have hidden, seek out allies in other families, and see if the could find out anything about Voldemort's origins, and Remus would secure a solicitor for the Potter and Black Families. The group was mostly quiet as they ate lunch, and after lunch they met up with Beth and the girls. Beth and Sirius took Harry to school and then their guests to Dulles International for their portkeys home.
Wednesday of the following week, Ronda collected Sirius and Beth to take them to see the architects house, the new owner didn't allow any showings until it cleared probate. On walking up they liked it, they went in it was a large house with only partly furnished rooms but it had a homey country air not an air of self aggrandizement. It had lots of windows, and every modern convenience. Solar, wind and a geothermal heating system meant that the utilities would be low. It had the latest and greatest wiring for a security system and an internal entertainment system. There was a large glassed in sunroom/conservatory that even had a large built in swimming pool with two small attached pools one a hot tub, the other an everflow pool. There was an exercise room with a gym, treadmill, and exercise bike and an area for aerobics that included a built in TV cabinet. The large two story family room that included a climbing wall, it was obvious the architect had believed in physical fitness. The kitchen was a chef's dream, spacious and well organized and even had a small home office area and a breakfast nook. There was a formal dining room large enough for twenty people and a formal living room. There were eight bedrooms not counting the Master two of which had en suites. The other six all had a bathroom shared between two. There was a study that connected to a library that shared an intricate wood inlay floor and through out the house there were small but luxurious touches: each segment of the house had different style ceilings, the foyer had an inset marble floor and the two half baths were roomy. Beth loved the view from the deck and appreciated the privacy that the twenty five acre lot afford would them. She looked at Sirius, "What do you think?"
"It's a little farther out than you wanted but I like it. How much is the owner asking?"
"He's asking five and three quarters million that includes all the current appliances and furniture." Ronda answered.
"We'll meet his price if he pays the commission and the closing costs, and he closes by early next week."
"I'll let his agent know. Are you sure you want to meet his price?"
"If he closes when we want. John comes back a week from Friday and we need a place before then. If he wants to wait we'll reduce our offer a percent a week. That should encourage him."
Winry Rockbell wanted to swear a blue streak. In the seven weeks since Sirius and Beth had asked her help to find a medi-witch or wizard for Harry she had spent a couple hours a day going through records looking for someone that had the right mix of knowledge. She had talked to everyone she went to healing school with. She had talked to her old professors and it felt like she had talked to everyone that was anyone in the field and she had still come up empty. She supposed that was a reflection of the fact there hadn't been a dark lord in the U.S., since John Wilkes Booth. Most witches and wizard understanding the freedoms come much more easily when you are merely an eccentric law abiding citizen rather than a troublemaker from the muggle point of view.
She sat drinking her coffee in the cafeteria of the WIS building and trying to think of what to do next when Morgana O'Shanahan came up to her. Morgana worked in the inexplicable department. No one at WIS liked her. She was tolerated, barely, but given that she was 175 years old and a seer she was one of those people with a high freak out factor.
"You must bring the boy to see me, I can not see clearly what is needed because I haven't felt his aura. To find what is needed I must see him. I must see the eagle enshrouded by the dark. You will not find it without my help. Bring him to me!"
Winry gulped the timing was to much, "Do you mean Harry?"
"I will direct the path after I have seen the boy, not before!"