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 44 San Francisco

Harry checked his room in the tent for the last time, taking a deep breath. Today he would leave Arizona and go to San Francisco after which he Sirius and Rachel would use the time turner. The two weeks since he had completed his vision Quest had been spent working on restructuring his mental equilibrium and magical core he had spent seemingly countless hours in guided meditation with Yiska or beginning occlumency lessons with Sirius.

He had discovered how to consciously access the skyscrapers of his vision and had begun to not just to explore but also resort the rooms of memory now his earliest experiences with his true mum and dad occupied one skyscraper and the last thing he did each night was to visit that building. He hadn't had a bad dream even on the two nights there had been thunderstorms. He was slowly finding and sorting other memories school, his time on Bali. He wasn't looking forward to moving the rooms of death as he thought of them but he knew he would have to eventually. The other thing he wasn't looking forward to was exploring the burned out building but he somehow knew that he would have to deal with it eventually but he had every intention of waiting until he was stronger. When he was meditating in or around his buildings he would see an eagle soaring in the sky it never came very close but it was always there.

Harry grinned as he heard his godfather swearing mildly. Sirius had started swearing a week and a half ago when Beth confided over the phone that she missed him and she missed the company of John's cats so she had adopted a six week old kitten that one of her co-workers was giving away. Harry snickered because Beth talked about how cute the kitten was with all its spots and how smart it was. And the whole time she was talking, Sirius was muttering, "It will hiss at me, take swipes at me, shred my clothes, and deposit hair balls in my shoes. I understand wanting company Beth, but a cat? What's wrong with a dog? Or a bird? Or even fish?"

John's cats had liked him and Beth but they had hated Sirius. The three cats seemingly ganged up on Sirius. The whole two month's they had lived in John's condo he had been under constant attack mostly from RK but Grimalkin had deposited a fair number of hair balls in Sirius' shoes until he got them up on a shelf rather than on the floor. Since Beth had announced the presence of the new kitten Sirius had been very out of sorts and it had definitely distracted him from taking revenge on Harry and Rachel for their prank, part of Harry was grateful for the reprieve. He wonder if the new kitten would like him. He checked the Swiss watch that had been his father's, his own hadn't survived his burst at school. "Sirius, I'm going out to say bye to Yiska you've got ten minutes until we're supposed to portkey out. Rachel still waiting to get the tent down and you are supposed to help her."

"Fine tell her two minutes."

Harry went to the trailer door and knocked once. Yiska stepped out in his hand he held a small box. "What's in the box?" Harry asked.

"A small token to remind you of your time here and what you learned."

Harry opened it inside was a pendant strung on a black leather cord.

"A friend of mine that makes jewelry made it when he said he was drunk, I suspect the spirits took advantage. He makes jewelry for lots of people not just for the tribe so the trading post gets first shot at his work and if they turn him down he sells it elsewhere. Anyway I saw the pendant when Fred brought it to the trading post the manager there turned the piece away because it isn't the sort of thing tourists buy. But when I saw it I knew it was the answer to my prayers to the spirits. I have felt very badly, the feathers from the eagle were tokens of the spirit and among the Dine' such tokens are treasured for life. Yet because of the laws I was forced, in a way, to ask you to give up something sacred."

"It's okay I know you wouldn't have asked if it was something minor, me having the feathers I mean. Besides it almost felt like when I collected them as if I was doing it for another purpose anyway, so no problem."

"You have a generous heart. The gifts you and your guardian made to the tribe for my services were exceptionally generous and still you hold no resentment for what I did. That is why when I saw the pendant I decided to get it for you."

Harry looked closely at the pendant. It was large two and a half inches in diameter circle in the center was a large one and three quarter inch malachite cabochon but it was the edge that made it special the top edge had an eagle in flight flaring it's wings as if it was about to strike and around the sides and bottom was a wolf pack seven adults and five pups. "What kind of metal is this?"

"Fred, himself was puzzled, he mostly works with silver or gold although he has made titanium and tungsten-carbide rings in the past. He didn't know why he made a tungsten-carbide pendant but he said it would protect the stone. Do you like it?"

"I love it. Thank you for everything," Harry noticed a nearby chair was rattling, and then he noticed his magic was fluctuating and he focused to lock it down. "I'll write and keep you posted on my progress."

"You do that Atsah."

"Atsah? What's that mean?"

"It's the Dine' word for eagle. I don't know why, but it fits you."

"Harry! Come here it's time to go." Sirius called.

"Bye, Yiska Thanks again."

"Wind to thy wings Atsah."

The portkey deposited them in the foyer of a penthouse apartment that overlooked Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Sirius noted the time. They pulled out the time turner and spun it the sixty turns.

Rachel collected herself and pulled out her cellphone. "I'll call the local WIS office, so the detail will know we're here."

Sirius said, "I'll do the same for Miss Tyler. Harry how about you find your room and get settled. I'll bring you the potion in a while."

Harry was relieved to see that there was very little in the apartment that his magical surges would affect. He was better than he had been before his vision quest but his power level was much, much higher than a normal nine year old wizard and Sirius had planned his training and Harry hoped that he could get control of his surges and his tendency to turn interesting colors before anything else. He found that the penthouse had four bedrooms two with private baths and the other two sharing one. He decided he'd take one of the rooms that shared a bath. He took his trunk that Sirius had keyed so a touch and a command word from him would shrink or enlarge it on command. He looked around He unpacked his clothes, his humanities school work, his martial arts weapons, and his guitar and cello. Unsure of what else to do he pulled his cello over and started to play.

Sirius felt a surge of compassion when he heard Harry start to play his cello. Harry almost always chose his cello when he was feeling unsettled and a little depressed. Which unfortunately had been most of the time since December. He stood in the doorway of Harry's bedroom and watched as Harry played. Part of Sirius marveled at Harry, and all of him felt blessed that he was privileged to raise him. Mentally he said 'You'd be so proud Prongs.' When Harry finished his piece Sirius spoke, "You okay kiddo?"

"Mostly. I just wish I ..."

"Wasn't lonely?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah?"

Harry rolled his eyes but corrected his diction. "Fine. Yes, I'm lonely. It sucks that I'm not in school with my friends and that I can't go back until I get the whole magic thing under control."

"It occurs to me that I have been remiss kiddo. I made all the plans but didn't tell you anything.

So how about I rectify that oversight?" At Harry's nod he started talking. "Well I started off knowing that you had metamorph abilities some of your fist magic was changing your hair and eye color to match the colors of the person holding you. You get it from your Grandmother Dorea Black Potter. Blacks have many metamorphs on the family tree."

"Like Dora?"

"Yes, so I figured one of your first teachers would need to be a metamorph. So tomorrow your first teacher Miss Rose Tyler is going to come and start giving you lessons so the changing you're doing will come into conscious control and she'll test the extent of your talents. Metamorph magic is largely instinct so it should be easy to learn. Which is just one of the reasons I chose it first. You'll still have centering exercises, and occlumency with me everyday. Rachel thought she could start teaching some of the basic theorems and algorithms of arithmancy given how much you like math. Rachel will also be working with you on your martial arts. And then in three weeks you pick one of your school subjects to work on. And you do it until the end of this segment. "

"Then what?"

"Well that kind of depends on you. If your control is good I may say next stop is magical theory with Inarra Serra she a spell crafter and wand maker in Salem. If it's still a little shaky I say we see Malcom Reynolds he owns one of the most up and coming potion ingredient supply companies and runs a magical creatures preserve in Montana. Unfortunately the company is in a little bit of difficulty; while we're there I'll be spending about half my time finding ways to reduce his overhead as I've decided to invest in his company. Hopefully with a little help and know how we can get Reynolds' Ingredient Supply on top of the market. Anyway he'll give you a crash course in plants and animals of the magical world or at least get you up to the level of any other wizard born to the magical world. After both of those stops are done we'll be going to New York City to see Jack Harknesss. He's a top ranked Charms Master the only one better is Filius Flitwick in England. He'll teach you the basics. Last is Charlie Cruz he's a trainer with WIS in Chicago, between him and me we'll start your Defense Against the Dark Arts training. Assuming you show any unusual talents we may arrange for some specialized training but we may hold off until the next school break, we'll see how things go. How does that sound?"

"Good. I suppose that means it's potion time." Harry gestured towards the potion vial in Sirius' hand.

"Yes we don't want you going back to school looking a year older than when you left."

Harry held out his hand. Taking the vial he pinched his nose and poured it as far back on his tongue as he could. "Yuck! That stuff is nasty!"He grabbed the cup of water Sirius held out and chugged it hoping to wash the taste of the potion out of his mouth.

"Harry I know this is hard. But I want you to know I'm proud of you you've taken the lemons life's given you and made lemonade and that takes a special kind of courage."

"Hey I didn't do it by myself, you've been there right beside me those babies of yours are going to be lucky kids. Do you think any of them might be metamorphs?"

"I don't know..." that began a discussion that lasted until Rachel called them for the Chinese carryout dinner that evening.

After dinner Sirius guided Harry through a beginning occlumency exercise and while he tucked him in afterwards he asked, "Harry is there anything you'd like in the way of books or stuff to do the next few weeks since you're not going to be allowed out much until you've got changing under control."

"Could I get a book or two on Golden Eagles? I've got my school books and my favorites in my trunk but after I saw that eagle and I touched it I want to know all I can about them." Harry's voice was starting to slur.

"Sure I'll get it and maybe some books on plants and creatures of the magical world to okay . Night kiddo."

"Night, Siri..." Harry trailed off.

The next day at eleven his first lesson with Rose Tyler started. "Hello Harry I know I'm your teacher but since I'm not old you should call me Rose. I have been told that you've been under a suppression spell rather than an approved magical block and since it has been lifted that your natural talent is flaring out of control. I'm here to teach you that control. Do you have a room with a mirror?"

"Yeah," Harry began but at a glance from Sirius he corrected himself. "I mean yes we've got a room set up through here." Harry led the way to the second bedroom attached to his bathroom. That morning Sirius had transfigured the bed and the other furnishings so it became an office/ study for all of them to use. It included a large mirror with two chairs in front of it.

"Perfect."

However the hours that followed were anything but perfect at least from Harry's point of view. Rose first taught him to pull up and push down his magic and after three days he could do it . Next she taught him to be more aware of when his magic was actively doing something, that only took a day. The next day she said, "Now we start the fun. Pull your magic up and tell it to make your hair blue. You can do this because the day we met your hair was blue."

"Yes but that was because it just wanted to be."

"Harry whose is the boss of your magic?"

"What? Harry paused. "You're reminding me that as a wizard it's my responsibility to be in charge of my magic."

"Un-huh. You know why that is right?"

"Sort of."

Harry then found out about Rose's second love. Her first was the theater and her second was history . During the next three weeks Harry didn't just get training in his metamorph magic he got an overview of magical history as well. By the end of the three weeks Rose felt that Harry's control was sure enough that they should be able to go out and about instead of staying holed up in the penthouse.

Sirius was working on the problems adapting a computer for wizarding use and had gone to talk to a professor at Stanford University. Rachel was sleeping and the current on duty bodyguard was a complete jackass. Harry decided that he wanted to go to the beach. He had heard a surf report on the radio and that was what he wanted to do. He slipped the bodyguard of the day a dreamless sleep potion. Rose also wanted to go surfing so when Harry met her outside the apartment door she side along apparated them to the apparition point at the Santa Cruz Beach. They surfed. Three hours later cold wet and hungry they deserted the waves for the boardwalk. They played in the arcade, rode the ferris wheel, carousel and the cave train and visited the Haunted castle. The ate nachos, cotton candy, and popcorn. Harry held his disguise of blond hair tanned skin and brown eyes all day.

They apparated back to the apartment and were greeted by a welcoming committee.

Rachel started on him. "Where were you and what were you thinking leaving Clive here?"

"As I said in my note Rose and I went to the beach. Clive was being an ass so I slipped him a sleeping potion and then we left."

"WHAT?"

"I made sure to change my looks."

"Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"

"What was dangerous about it? No one knows who I am especially when I do this," Harry changed from black hair with green eyes to blond hair with brown eyes, "and besides it's not like I'm helpless. I'm one test away from a black belt here. Rose and I are tired of being cooped up and besides the surf today was fantastic."

Rachel looked ready to explode but Sirius was fighting snickers. Harry continued, "Besides what kind of security guard gets caught by a eight year old slipping him a mickey." That did it Sirius started to laugh while Rachel stood there with her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

The remaining days in San Francisco were fun Harry changed disguises and he explored the city. He rode street cars, ate chocolate at Ghairadelli Square, walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, walked down Lombardi Street, visited Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Zoo, and had tea in the Japanese tea garden in Golden Gate Park. The day before they left Rose took him to the Exploratorium and once there she transformed into a child and they played and experimented for hours.

He figured out that he could change his body weight by about five percent, he could grow and shorten his hair as well as change it's color and he could change the color of his eyes. His lightening bolt scar was healing thankfully into a smaller scar than it had been and he was able to change his skin up to five shades in any direction lighter, darker, sallower, rosier or more olive. He could hold alterations for eight hours one of the last things Rose taught him was how to simulate a scar. Harry immediately applied the lesson to create a mock surgical scar on his chest at first he could only hold it an hour but he knew he needed to be able to hold it indefinitely by the time he returned to school.

After a fond farewell to Rose, Harry Sirius and Rachel portkeyed to Montana because Sirius felt he still needed to work on his magic base control.