Chapter 15

Sirius Black did not trust the Malfoy family. He disliked Narcissa, from her calculating eyes to her lifeless smile, and he hated Lucius, a resentment that had carried him through the years. Yet, at their command, he downed potion after potion, visited healer after healer, until he was, finally granted a full bill of health. The process was painful, and he had to return to healers every month or so for a check up, as well as have his mental welfare examined frequently, but, as Sirius kept reminding himself, it was all for Harry.

His Godson would be thirteen by now, just concluding his second year of Hogwarts. Sirius peppered the Malfoys with questions about him whenever he could. What's his favourite subject? Defence against the dark arts. Does he like Quidditch? Loves it. What house was he sorted into? Slytherin. This last question had given him pause, a Potter sorted into Slytherin? It was practically unheard of, yet, Sirius was the first Black in generations to go to Gryffindor, so he wasn't too shocked by the news.

Despite his clean bill of health, it took the Malfoys two weeks into the summer holidays to manage to get Sirius his rightful guardianship over Harry. The court battles that ensued were heavily publicised, and Harry read the updates with growing agitation from his small room in the Dursley household. In the end, Sirius was finally granted custody over Harry, much to his delight.

The Black family household held nothing but bad memories for Sirius, so the man hastily bought a large home in a muggle area, and excitedly decorated the rooms for the return of his Godson. The day he was allowed to first see Harry Potter was one that both would recall with fondness. The Malfoys had insisted on picking Harry up, to allow the children to catch up before Harry went to live with Sirius. The first glimpse of his Godson that Sirius had seen in 12 years, was through a crack in the curtain as he crouched on the couch.

The boy was well dressed and average hight, with a messy head of Potter hair that had Sirius smiling reminiscently. Harry was laughing as he ambled along, brushing shoulders with the Malfoy boy. Their friendship shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did, but the sight of the Potter and Malfoy heirs walking together in camaraderie was an odd picture to the man who had only ever seen James Potter and Lucius Malfoy at each other's throats. He was broken from his observation as they reached his doorstep, and he sprinted for the door, opening it before the Potter heir even had time to knock.

"Harry!" he cried, excitement getting the better of him as he dragged the boy into a bone crushing hug,

"Mr Black," the boy said politely when he was finally released, there was amusement dancing in the boy's eyes that negated the formality of his tone, and Sirius let out a bark-like laugh,

"None of that, it's just Sirius, kid!" at this, a smile flickered across Harry's face, and Sirius was struck by the fact that although he looked like a clone of his father, his smile was all his mother's. Sirius pulled the door wider open, "Come in, come in." he would never normally invite the Malfoys into his household, but Harry was clearly comfortable in their presence, and Sirius wanted the boy to feel as welcome as possible. Narcissa smiled but declined politely,

"We have to be somewhere, Harry, so we'll leave you here, but we'll be back to visit." the woman gave Sirius a glance that alerted him that this was not up for debate, and he nodded subtly. The Malfoy boy, Sirius couldn't remember is name (something pretentious, he assumed), grinned at Harry.

"You've got to come by, Theo and Blaise too, then we can all hang out and play a proper game of quidditch!" he exclaimed, Sirius blinked, unused to the sight of a friendly Malfoy. Harry laughed, and nodded,

"I'd love to," he said, eyes sparkling, as he turned his attention to the Malfoy seniors, "Thank you Mr and Mrs Malfoy, for all your help, I don;t know how I would have got through the summer if you hadn't-"

"No thanks is needed, Harry." Narcissa said, smiling the first genuine smile Sirius had seen from his cousin in decades, Lucius ruffled Harry's hair affectionately,

"Be sure to stay in touch, Draco will go mad without some company." the man said. There was a warmth to his tone that took Sirius further by surprise. When the Malfoys had said that they were fond of his Godson, they had meant it. Sirius stowed this thought away for later as the Malfoys departed, and promptly turned his attention to Harry, who looked slightly more nervous now he was alone with him.

"Harry," he said, "I'm sure you've heard this before, but you look just like your father, but you have your mother's-"

"Eyes, I know." Harry said with a small smile, Sirius shook his head,

"I was going to say smile," he grinned, "but you have her eyes too." Harry laughed at this, before asking,

"Mr Bla- I mean, Sirius, do you think you could tell me about my parents? I don't really know much about them, you see and-" the boy got faster as he spoke, and Sirius cut him off with another of his bark like laughs,

"Yes! We have the whole summer for me to tell you stories about your parents, and believe me, there are some good ones! But first, why don't you choose a room? I wasn't sure what colour you liked, so…" Sirius lead the boy up to the second floor and, with a flourish, all of the doors lining the corridor (there were too many for magic to not have been involved, somehow) swung open, "I painted every room a different colour so you could pick." Harry looked up at Sirius with wide eyes,

"You did this, for me?" he asked, Sirius grinned,

"I had fun with the paint…" he said by means of explanation. Harry wandered through the rooms before inevitably settling on the green one. Sirius rolled his eyes good humoredly and wondered why he had even bothered with the other colours, before asking Harry if he wanted to order pizza. The widening of the boy's eyes at the suggestion, let him know that this was a good decision.


Ginny's mother religiously read the Daily Prophet each morning as she bustled around the kitchen. Ginny had never paid much mind to this trait of her mother's before, but she was quickly made aware of it when Summer started. The biggest media scandal was that of the release of Sirius Black, of course, he had been 'proven' innocent, but, as Ginny's parents said, something unsavoury had to be going on behind the scenes if the Malfoys were involved. Ginny wasn't sure how much she bought into this kind of mindset, anymore though, as Draco Malfoy was Harry's best friend. Nonetheless, her own beliefs didn't stop her parents' horror when the ex-criminal was granted custody of Harry Potter.

"How dreadful!" Molly Weasley had exclaimed, as she sliced onions the evening it was announced, "to put a thirteen year old boy in the care of that… of that monster!" Mr Weasley had made some noise of agreement, whilst Ron grunted through a mouthful of potato,

"I hope he offs him." Ginny cast the boy a filthy look as his mother whirled around,

"Ronald, I don't want to hear you saying such a thing again!" she shrieked, not that Ron was paying her much attention, he had paled the moment he noticed Ginny's eyes on him.

"But, as unfortunate as it is, the boy will probably be looked after well enough." Arthur Weasley reasoned, "He's already in with the wrong sort, consorting with Malfoys, and from what Ron's told us, already dabbling in dark magic." he shook his head and Mrs Weasley tutted from where she was standing by the sink. Ginny slammed her cutlery down with a crash,

"Harry is not 'dabbling in dark magic'!" She snapped, eyes flashing, "He saved my life, or have you forgotten?" Mr and Mrs Weasley exchanged a look, before Ginny's mother spoke in a placating tone,

"Ginevra dear, no one meant to say that your friend was a bad person, he's young, he's in with a bad crowd, I'm sure he's a good boy at heart." Ginny slumped in her seat, unsure whether these words should satisfy her or not, her mother continued, "Imagine… losing your parents at so young. Poor dear…" Ginny picked up her knife and fork again as her mother drifted away in her lament for the 'poor Potter boy'. Ron looked vaguely queasy at the turn of conversation, and Ginny tried to roll her eyes good humoredly at him across the table but, if anything, this made her brother look sicker, and his eyes darted away from her. A sick feeling settled in her gut, relations between her and her youngest brother had been awful since it was revealed that she could speak to serpents. Though prior to that, things had been tense, but they had reached a new level recently.

Thinking about her brother made her stomach churn and Ginny placed her cutlery down for the second time that evening,

"I don't feel well, I'm going to go lie down." she excused herself. Her legs felt hollow as she climbed the stairs, and she tumbled into bed without bothering to change her clothes, sleep consumed her instantly.

When she opened her eyes, she was no longer in her bed. The sky above her was grey and swirled, she looked around and noted that the grass she stood on was also grey, in fact everything was grey. She was standing in the middle of a colourless field, but it was far from lifeless. The place was beautiful, flowers grew larger then she had ever seen, and a stream bubbled between two small hills, a frog sat perched upon a stone, a lonely island in the fast moving water. The whole place was silent.

"Hello?" Ginny called, stepping forwards. her feet made no sound on the grass, but her voice rang out loudly, it seemed to echo. As beautiful as it was, the whole place was lonely. Ginny sat down, pulling her legs to her chest as she gazed around. Though the place was unfamiliar, she felt no panic or worry, a small distant part of her mind reassuring her that it was just a dream. She sat there for what felt like a long time, though it could have been hours or minutes or even seconds, before a second voice rang out,

"Hello?" Ginny stumbled to her feet, the voice was close and something in her chest was pushing herself to find it. Her breaths were shallow though she had barely moved, and her legs were leaden.

A figure came around into her line of vision, he was black and white, but she would recognise him anywhere.

"Harry?" she asked, his eyes snapped to hers, his green eyes, and suddenly, it was like a switch had been flicked. The grey landscape lit up. The grass was green and lush, and the flowers were a rainbow of colours. Even sound was present, the sound of running water, the ribbit of the lone frog, there was even wind.

Harry glanced around in surprise, unknowingly copying her actions.

"Woah…" he murmured, before returning his attention to her, "Hey Ginny, what are you doing in my dream?" Ginny rolled her eyes,

"You're in my dream, stupid." she corrected, Harry furrowed his brow before shrugging,

"Oh, alright then." he gestured to the stream, "Do you want to follow it?" he asked, Ginny shrugged, she didn't normally have this much choice in the path that her dreams took, it was disconcerting,

"Ok." she replied, quietly acknowledging that this was the weirdest dream that she had ever had, Harry offered her his arm politely, and she took it with smile.

"How's your summer been so far?" Harry asked, Ginny frowned,

"Alright, I guess, Ron's scared of me, he believes that I opened the chamber intentionally and I'm out to get him." she complained, Harry nodded sympathetically and she asked, "What about you?"

"It's been awful, but things are looking up now I've moving in with Sirius." Harry said with a grin, "He painted twelve rooms multiple colours because he didn't know what my favourite colour was and he wanted me to pick from a selection." Ginny laughed, and Harry's eyes flashed with amusement,

"I'll have to write to you and find out how you're actually doing." Ginny said, "the real you, that is, not dream you." Harry blinked, eyes wide behind his glasses, before he nodded with a smile,

"I'd like that." he informed her. Ginny rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to respond, when suddenly, she was ripped away by a bright flash of light and what felt like a gust of wind. Ginny sat up in bed with a gasp, her alarm clock beeped cheerfully, and she glared at it. It was barely eight in the morning, but she didn't feel knew she couldn't fall asleep again. She stumbled from bed, bleary eyed. She might as well write a letter to Harry, she decided, the worst he could do was ignore it.

Unbeknownst to the youngest Weasley, Harry Potter awoke in a very similar state. He glanced at his watch and groaned at the unusually early time,

"Weird dream…" he mumbled, before shutting his eyes and drifting off once more.


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