Adjustments
Healer Jones had no idea of why Sirius Black, the recently acquitted mass murderer, wanted her services but, like all healers, she took an oath not to care about the character of the people who need healing. And Black's donation to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries didn't harm.
"Healer Jones?" Sirius asked and she nodded. "You're probably wondering why I asked you to come here dressed like a muggle medic but you'll understand when I take you to my ward's home. Do you mind side-along Apparating with me?"
Wondering what this was all about, Healer Jones agreed and soon the two of them found themselves at Privet Drive. She was now wondering what business the heir apparent of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black would have in such a dull place. Sirius soon led her inside a house with the number 4.
"My godson lives in this house and I want you to make a check-up on him." Sirius explained. "I didn't call you directly here for safety reasons.
"Godson?" The confused healer asked. "As far as I know, your only godchild is…" She then noticed a horse-faced woman carrying a baby with a scar she easily recognized. "Harry Potter?"
"This is the reason for the extra secrecy, Healer Jones." Sirius explained. "We couldn't have Death Eaters following us."
"Or Aurors finding out you kidnapped the Boy-Who-Lived?" She accusingly asked.
"There's no kidnapping here." Sirius replied. "This is the house of Lily Potter's sister and Chief Warlock Dumbledore was quite clear: Harry Potter had to live with one of his mother's blood relatives to preserve the protection his mother left behind."
Healer Jones remembered reading about it in the Prophet but they made it look like it was just an excuse to keep Black from reaching the Boy-Who-Lived.
"Look." Petunia asked. "Didn't you come here to see if my nephew needs any healing?"
Being reminded of her duty, Healer Jones then used her wand to scan Harry Potter, and found something that scared her more than the idea of Sirius Black murdering him. "M-Mr. B-B-Black, I hope I'm wrong but I'm afraid this scar hides something I hoped I'd never see."
"Care to elaborate?" Sirius asked. She then explained whatever she knew about the Darkest Magic ever. By the time she was finished, even Sirius looked horrified. "Isn't there anything we can do?"
"I'm sorry, but we aren't taught about how to handle living Horcruxes, Mr. Black. Maybe your family has something on them." She suggested.
"Good idea. I'll look into it."
"I'll be back next week for another checkup."
After she left, Sirius went to his mother's house, glad she welcomed him back even after he told her he was really innocent.
Flashback on
"Sirius, there are just the two of us here. You don't need to keep your act." Walburga Black told her son.
"It's no act, my dear old Mum." Sirius replied with a smile. "I'm really innocent."
"WHAT?" Walburga asked/yelled. "And I thinking the Dark Lord had turned you into the perfect Black son! Then again, the fact he got himself finished trying to kill a baby proves he was just another filthy half-blood. Harry Potter might be another one but at least both of his parents were magical."
That caught Sirius' attention. "I thought Voldemort was a Pureblood and the Heir of Slytherin."
"The last part might be true." Walburga conceded. "But his father was a filthy muggle named Tom Riddle. And, in fact, if you really believe there's no problem calling the Dark Lord by his real name, you should know it doesn't happen to be the one most in the Wizarding World know but fear mentioning. This Heir of Slytherin was named Tom Marvolo Riddle. Tom for his father and Marvolo for his maternal grandfather."
"What do you know about Vol, er, Tom's family, Mother?"
"His muggle father, Tom Riddle Senior, was a wealthy muggle who lived at a manor in Little Hangleton with his parents while his mother was a witch named Merope Gaunt, who lived in a shack near the manor with her brother Morfin Gaunt and her father Marvolo Gaunt. Obviously, both wizards disapproved the idea of Merope associating herself to a muggle so she never tried to approach Tom Senior until her brother and her father were sent to Azkaban. Morfin got three years there for attacking Tom Senior while Marvolo got six months for obstructing Ministry action regarding the charges against Morfin. As an attempt to intimidate the Ministry officer in charge of investigating the assault on Tom Senior, Marvolo presented two family heirlooms: a locket he claimed to have belonged to Salazar Slytherin and a ring with a stone carrying what he believed to be the coat of arms of the Peverell Family."
Given his family's habit to learn everything possible about people, Sirius wasn't particularly impressed with how much she knew about Voldemort's family but something intrigued him. "Mother, if you knew Voldemort, or Tom Riddle, wasn't a Pureblood, why did you want my brother and me to become Death Eaters?"
"I hoped being the Heir of Slytherin would be enough to compensate for the impurity of his blood." Walburga explained.
"I wonder if the real Death Eaters can be convinced not to follow him anymore." Sirius commented. "Dumbledore does seem to believe he might come back."
Flashback off
"Now I know why Dumbledore believes Riddle might come back." Walburga groaned. "I should have suspected there'd be a Horcrux involved."
"But I thought Tom Riddle wanted to kill Harry."
"Sometimes, one who already split his soul to create a Horcrux might accidentally make another one right after killing someone."
Sirius shuddered. "You know too much about Horcruxes for my taste, mother."
"Be glad I do!" She ordered. "For I know how to remove the soul fragment from your ward without killing him."
"Fine, Mum." He sheepishly said. "How do we do it?"
"The only role the ultimate act of evil has on the Horcrux making ritual is the soul splitting." She explained. "A murder-free version of the ritual can transfer an already split fragment to another container, which then we'll destroy. After that, as a residual effect, Harry might retain some of Riddle's powers, including Parseltongue."
Once the ritual was performed, Sirius called for Healer Jones, who confirmed Harry was no longer a Horcrux. Once she left Privet Drive, Sirius started talking to his mother via the two-way mirror she gave him. "Mother, you really know about making Horcruxes. Have you ever…"
"Hell, no! Sirius, our family might be devoted into studying all forms of Dark Arts but we don't necessarily use all forms." She explained. "We simply must be prepared from when the knowledge might be needed, like now."
Sirius had no choice but to concede.
"And besides, my body would get no protection from it. To continue existing after that I can return as a ghost or as a portrait without having to kill anybody."
"If either of those happens to me, I hope it's as a portrait." Sirius commented.
"Me too, son." Walburga agreed. "Now, let's talk about Harry Potter. If you really intend to raise him behind Dumbledore's back, you'd better have allies that will protect you if he ever takes this to the Wizengamot. Remember: the Light Wizards and Witches who wouldn't let you rot in Azkaban without a trial did what they did only out of principle. They believed you to be guilty and so did everyone else you used to be friends with."
Flashback on
The first thing Sirius Black did after leaving the Wizengamot courtroom was look for his friends. The first one he found was his cousin Andromeda Tonks nee Black. "Andie!"
"Don't talk to me, you monster!" Andromeda yelled. "How could you?"
"How would I know he was a trai…"
"Shut up! Sirius, I might have believed if you just said Peter was too enraged to think properly when he confronted you and you simply used some shield charm to protect yourself and Peter had accidentally killed himself and those muggles. Did you really have to pass the blame to him?"
"It was the truth." Sirius said and was soon socked by Remus Lupin. "Don't you dare to insult Wormtail's memory, Black."
Flashback off
"I've already taken my precautions, mother." Sirius said with a smile.
Flashback on
"Now that we've reached an agreement, we must decide what we tell the neighbors about me." Sirius said.
"The truth, of course." Vernon said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Which truth?" Sirius asked.
"That you're the boy's godfather and are helping us with his upbringing." Vernon answered. "What's wrong with that?"
"We all agree Albus Dumbledore is becoming senile, right?" Vernon and Petunia nodded in agreement. "Unfortunately, he seems to be adamant Harry is raised isolated from his magical heritage until it's time to attend Hogwarts and he might be able to pull the needed strings to make it happen. We can't let Dumbledore know I found you people and I'm sure he has someone to spy on you or at least will have as soon as possible. Has anyone other than me moved into the neighborhood after you took Harry in?"
"Yes." Vernon answered. "A woman with lots of cats. Mrs. Figg."
"Arabella Figg?" Sirius asked, shocking the Dursleys.
"You know her?" Petunia asked, still in shock.
"She's a squib." He explained.
"A what?" Vernon asked.
"Normal people born from their lot." Petunia explained.
"Is there any chances Harry might be one of those squibs?" Vernon asks, glad to have a reason to hope his nephew might be 'normal' after all.
"Don't even DARE suggest it!" Sirius was quite angry at this.
"Why not? Potter is quite a common name among our lot." Vernon replied.
"Harry is the last survivor of the House of Potter! Sure, it's possible some past generations had produced squibs that started families in the Muggle world." Sirius conceded. "However, none of those non-magical Potters is likely to be close enough of a relation to be expected to care for Harry."
"Well, about how to explain you, we can tell everybody you're a friend of ours and are helping us." Vernon suggested.
"Wait a minute." Petunia asked. "If Mrs. Figg is from a lot that knows you as an accused murderer who recently got acquitted, won't she recognize you and tell Dumbledore?"
"That's one of the reasons I came here dressed as a muggle." Sirius maliciously replied. "Everyone from 'that lot' isn't used to see me wearing anything other than robes and most of them can't impersonate non-magicals to the level I'm doing."
"Tell me about it." Vernon grunted. "I saw lots of them celebrating Voldemort's demise the day before I first saw Harry. Because of them, I already knew about James and Lily being dead even before their son was brought to us."
Flashback off
"That's a good beginning, son." Walburga couldn't help but feel somewhat proud of her son. (She'd still like if her son killed muggles but it was not time to complain) "But you cannot hide the truth from him forever."
"I don't intend to, mother." Sirius then explained his plan, making Walburga laugh at the idea of Dumbledore falling for it.
After finishing the conversation, Sirius Black decided to act upon his mother's words about Harry's status as an accidental Horcrux being a sign of Voldemort having previously and intentionally created another one. He then went to look for the Gaunts at Little Hangleton, where he found out Morfin Gaunt, the last resident of the Gaunt Shack, disappeared decades ago and had long been pronounced dead. Because no relative of Morfin's has ever shown up to claim the shack as inheritance, it became the town's property until an heir shows up to claim it or that someone buys it, whichever happens first.
Sirius then went to his mother to ask about what became of the Gaunts. She told him that, by the time Marvolo Gaunt returned from Azkaban, Merope had eloped with Tom, who eventually abandoned her and their then yet to be born son and returned to Little Hangleton claiming to have been hoodwinked. Merope died soon after giving birth to her son and naming him. By the time Morfin Gaunt finished serving his sentence, Marvolo had already died. Years later, Tom Senior and his parents died in the same night and the Ministry suspected it was caused by magic. Considering that the only wizard living near the victims had a record for assaulting one of them, Morfin became the prime suspect. Priori Incantatum revealed his wand to be the murder weapon and he promptly confessed the triple murder and claimed that his only regret was losing his father's ring. "The stupid bigot had it coming." Sirius said once his mother told him Morfin spent the rest of his days in Azkaban for murdering the Riddles. However, she not only contradicted him with the usual argument that killing muggles shouldn't warrant punishment but also that, when Dumbledore decided to investigate Tom Junior's past, he figured out Tom was the real killer and that he had used Morfin's wand as part of a plot to frame Morfin, who was under a false memory charm that made him think he had killed the muggles. Morfin simply didn't live enough to receive a new verdict. Despite still considering Morfin despicable, Sirius couldn't help but sympathize with the man. Sirius then bought the shack and had a team of curse-breakers from Gringotts to check upon curses. They found Morfin's ring inside the shack and destroyed the soul fragment inside it.
The years went by without any trouble for the Dursleys, Sirius and Harry until something happened when Harry was seven years old. Vernon Dursley had been called to the primary school Harry and Dudley attended because a teacher accused Harry of turning her hair blue.
"I don't know what happened, Uncle Vernon." Harry pleaded. "I was mad at her for mocking my hair and, the first thing I notice, her hair was suddenly blue."
"Don't lie, boy!" She yelled. "I know you did it!"
"How can you be sure?" Vernon asked. "Did you see him doing it?"
"Well, no. But…"
"Did you catch him with anything he could have used to carry the blue paint?"
"No, but… who else could have done it?"
"I don't know." Vernon grunted. "Have you asked the other students?"
"All of them claimed they didn't see anything."
"If nobody saw anything you have no proof to base the accusation you just presented against my nephew!" Vernon yelled.
"I'm sure it was him!"
"How? With magic? Because I can't think of any more logical explanation."
"Neither can I, Mr. Dursley." The Headmaster commented. Because of that, Harry got no punishment from the school. Back at Privet Drive, Vernon, Petunia and Sirius agreed it was time to tell Harry a big secret. "Prongslet, remember how your Uncle Vernon suggested that teacher's hair became blue with magic?" Sirius asked.
"Yes, Uncle Paddy."
"Well, Harry, unlike what it seemed like, he wasn't being sarcastic." Sirius explained. "Magic is real."
"Ha ha. Very funny." Harry sarcastically replied.
Sirius then drew a stick and pointed it to a glass of water. "Accio glass!" He shouted and then the glass of water came to Sirius, showing Harry that magic was real.
"Bloody hell!" Harry asked. "Why hasn't anyone told me before?"
"The existence of magic is something that must stay secret because most non-magical people can't handle the fact it's real." Sirius explained.
"Then, can all of you…"
"No, Harry." Petunia answered. "You and Sirius are the only ones here who can do magic. Vernon, Dudley and I are just normal people allowed to know the truth for having magical relations."
Harry then listened as they explained about his mother being a witch (he was quite surprised that it's not an insult in the Wizarding World – "Your mother didn't like it when she was first told she was one.") and his father being from a long line of wizards and witches.
"What really happened to my parents?" Harry asked.
"Harry, like in every society, the Wizarding World has good people and bad people." Sirius explained. "The worst of the bad ones in the Wizarding World was a Dark Wizard named Tom Marvolo Riddle but known as Voldemort."
"Isn't Voldemort the bad guy from one of those fairy tales you used to tell me, uncle Paddy?" Harry asked.
"It was real, Harry." Sirius explained. "I just prepared you for the truth."
"Then, what happens now?" Harry asked.
"See this ring, Harry?" Sirius asked as he showed Morfin's ring. "I found out Voldemort had cursed it so it'd keep him alive even if he no longer had a body. I found the ring and hired some goblins to end the curse."
"Couldn't my parents use this curse to survive as well?" Harry asked.
"Prongslet!" Sirius said with a serious (pun unintentional but why avoid it?) tone. "That curse requires an act too horrible to be casually mentioned."
"What do we do now that I know about magic?"
"Now I prepare you for when you become old enough to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Sirius calmly answered.
"Why can't I do magic?" Dudley, who was listening through the door, asked.
"Maybe so, maybe not." Sirius answered. "Maybe you can with time. Just wait to see when and if it happened and don't try to push for it. Pressuring it tends to do more harm than good."
Please review. Next chapter will be about Sirius revealing to the Wizarding World he's raising Harry. I hope.