Harry woke the next morning to a light knocking upon his door and sunlight pouring into the bedroom. He slowly opened his eyes, suddenly squinting at the brightness of the hitting his freshly awoken eyes harshly. The sun punitive upon his eyes, did however leave his skin feeling comfortably warm like a blanket upon him. He hadn't woken this relaxed in quite some time.
There came another knock and he sat up quickly this time reaching for his glasses clumsily upon his bedside table. As he placed them on his face Mrs. Weasley cracked the door open, and peaked in with a kind smile on her face.
"Good Morning Harry dear, Remus is here to accompany you to St Mungo's whenever you're ready to get dressed and come down stairs." She said warmly, cracking the door open further and dropping a basket of freshly laundered clothes upon the other bed that had once belonged to one of the twins when the room had been shared by them. Harry quickly stood up to this news, he didn't want to keep Remus waiting and even more so longed to hear of news of Sirius.
"Oh, there is no need to rush, Sirius is fine and I'm coaxing Remus into relaxing and having a plate of breakfast before he takes off again. The poor fellow looks dead on his feet." She said gently and Harry nodded with a smile at her as she made to leave the room.
"Thanks Mrs. Weasley" Harry called gratefully after her looking at the clean clothes folded so neatly even Aunt Petunia wouldn't be able to find a complaint about them. Mrs. Weasley merely gave a wave of her hand like it was nothing and quick smile before shutting the door.
Stretching Harry began to dig in his trunk and the laundry basket for a mix of clothing to wear for the day. The sunlight indicated that he had gotten a decent night's sleep for he had gone to bed somewhat early in the evening. He wondered how Sirius had improved in that amount of time, and hoped optimistically he would be awake to talk to. He never thought he'd get to speak with his godfather again and longed to hear his voice that sounded like a bark like his Animagus form so often. Only then would Harry be able to put these past couple weeks of suffering in his past and move on to the future.
Once dressed he walked down the stairs to see everyone already gathered around the table. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley each reading sections of the Daily Prophet, while chatting with Lupin who was sitting closest to them and eating a plate of food Mrs. Weasley had dished for him that looked like it could easily feed them all. Harry grinned at Mrs. Weasley's kindness but it faltered ever so slightly seeing Remus's bloodshot, tired eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in at least a day and Harry come to think of it knew he hadn't if he had been with Sirius all night.
"Morning Harry!" Hermione called cheerfully to him gesturing for him to come sit down. Harry obliged with a smile at her, and Ron and Ginny who were sitting on either side of her.
"Your breakfast!" Mr. Weasley said sliding a plate down to Harry who gratefully began to eat, not realizing how hungry he had been until the plate was in front of him.
"How is Sirius?" Harry asked after he swallowed a bite of his toast looking in Lupin's direction.
"He's stable. I haven't gotten to see him awake but the Healers said that it may be some time as he was so malnourished and dehydrated on top of his injuries." Lupin said but suddenly smirked a little "Had a hell of a time getting admitted though."
"Why?" Hermione asked surprised matching Harry's own curiosity.
"Well everyone had it beat into them from the ministry that he was an escaped convict, didn't they? Kind of a shock seeing a couple Aurors, especially with Kingsley because he's so well known, and myself carrying him in late in the evening."
"He was cleared though!" Ginny said in surprise, a slight note of indignation in her voice that Harry appreciated her having in Sirius's defense.
"Well yes but with all the blunders with denying Voldemort's return, only to have it proven to be true the Daily Prophet wasn't too eager to elaborate on their other mess up with Sirius. So, it's not extremely well known of his innocence as much of an afterthought. It will take time before people will see him as an innocent man entirely" Mr. Weasley said wisely and Harry realized this was a good point he had failed to think of.
"So anyways, it gave the Healers a real shock to see him there, one woman even ran out of the place yelling her head off. Took almost an hour to get everything situated, Cornelius Fudge even showed up to help clear some things up as a favor to Kingsley." Lupin continued with the small smirk still traceable on his face. Ron snorted and Harry shared a grin with him.
"He's getting great care now though, just took some settling in is all." Lupin said in a calm voice looking at Hermione who still looked unsure. "He's alive and that's what matters, he can walk freely with his named cleared but it will take some adjustment. We've got to learn to laugh at it the best we can."
Harry smiled at him a large amount of admiration mounting for Lupin, for he knew if anyone had knowledge to speak about being an outsider and how to deal with it, it was Lupin. He was a werewolf and unfortunately most wizards looked down upon him even though he was by far one of the kindest and smartest men Harry had ever met.
"Mum Hermione and I were hoping to visit Sirius as well, would it be alright if we went along?" Ron said changing to subject and looking at Mrs. Weasley hopefully.
"Since Lupin and Kingsley will be escorting you there, yes that's fine, just stick together please." She said looking apprehensive but still managed a smile at him. Harry wondered if she knew how things had gone down entirely at the Ministry the night before, how if she would still be so keen to let them leave again after it had gone slightly wrong.
Just an hour later Harry was walking into St Mungo's with Kingsley, Lupin, Ron, and Hermione. Kingsley and Lupin were on high alert the whole trip there and even once they had entered. This was understandable of course, Voldemort's Death Eaters had once again failed to turn Harry over to them, he winced at the thought of the rage he was surely feeling.
St Mungo's looked the same as it had the last time he had visited, only Christmas decorations no longer lined the walls. When he had last been here it was just last year at Christmas time when Mr. Weasley had been admitted. Harry's mind drifted to Neville's parents still in the building somewhere, the building they were bound to for life.
Lupin and Kingsley led them up a few floors, past busy looking Healers, some of their eyes lingered on Harry as they passed. They had reached the apparent floor in which Sirius was staying on for Lupin led them up to a desk where a tired looking witch was sitting to take their information.
"I'll be here while you visit, don't want to over crowd the smaller rooms." Kingsley said hanging back by the door they came in from "Give my well wishes to Sirius if he is awake." The witch at the desks eyebrows raised so high they were hidden behind her bangs.
"You're all here to see Sirius Black?" She asked curiously, her eyes met Harry's and promptly, as Harry was so used to, went up towards his scare on his forehead.
"Yes." Harry said confidently, Ron and Hermione nodding beside him. He didn't much care for the tone the woman had while talking about his godfather.
"He's in room 223, I do believe he is awake now if I correctly heard the Healer in charge of his room say earlier." She said her eyes still flickering up at Harry's scar as Lupin began to lead them down the hallway. Harry passed several open doors as he walked through the building, and couldn't help but glance in at the occupants. A Wizard hospital was still a very fascinating thing for him to wrap his head around. They passed room 222 and Harry's heart began to race in anticipation of seeing Sirius finally. He noticed door 223 was closed, lupin knocked three times and pushed the door open.
The room empty beside one person occupying the bed nearest the window on the far end of the room. He was wearing hospital robes, and his long black hair was washed and fell cleanly on his shoulders. He turned and looked at the door as Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Lupin all walked in.
"Sirius!" Harry called out rushing towards him, Sirius's face split into a smile and as Harry reached him he pulled him into a one-armed hug. He was very thin even compared to Harry was rather skinny himself, but he held on to the hug with determined strength.
"How are you?" Harry asked pulling back and surveying his godfathers face. His cheeks were sunken in, and his eyes haunted with that deadened look Azkaban had given him, perhaps only added to by enduring so long alone on the other side of the veil.
"I feel like total crap, but I'm here." He said with a small smile, his voice was croaky like he was getting used to using it again. Harry saw his smile but his eyes didn't match it.
"What's wrong, Sirius?" Lupin asked gently and Sirius looked back up at him with those deadened eyes.
"These people Remus, the Healer's, they don't want to even look at me. I'm grateful to be alive but I know by tonight I'll be thrown back into Azkaban." He looked out the window trying not to meet any of their eyes. It dawned on Harry that he didn't know yet, he didn't know what had happened after he fell through the veil.
"Sirius, Mate, your names been cleared!" Ron said quickly, Sirius's eyes snapped back in Ron's direction. Hermione was nodding her head furiously in agreement before she quickly launched into the story about what happened after he had gone through the veil. She was breathless by the time she finished talking about how Voldemort had returned and Fudge himself had seen what he could no longer deny. How now his name was clear because Harry's story about what happened at the end of Triwizard Tournament with Wormtail was now known to be true.
Sirius's mouth was hanging open slightly by the time she finished. His eyes were far away as though he was thinking very hard about all this still.
"We can be a family now, you don't have to hide anymore. You can take me the Kingscross when term starts. I can come stay with you on holidays and in the summer!" Harry exclaimed, desperate almost for Sirius to understand what all this meant. Tears were threatening to leak out the corners of his eyes just thinking about it all. He wished that deadened look in Sirius's eyes to finally leave, this time forever and maybe now it could.
Sirius turned to Harry again and his face split into a wide smile, this time a genuine smile, and for a moment he looked young and full of life again. He beamed at Harry with pride flashing in his eyes.
"Now I think you can deal with a few Healer's giving you a cold shoulder now?" Remus said in a gentle but joking way, Sirius flashed him a smile as well.
"Thank you... for everything." Sirius croaked looking only at Harry now as he said this.
"We've got catching up to do, I think." Harry said with a smile at his godfather before plopping down in the chair directly next to his bedside.