Thanks again to my readers, HPUni101, Paulaa90 and a new reviewer Siriusfan! We're almost at the home run here, this is the penultimate chapter before the final one and the epilogue which will follow and I do hope that all of your questions have been answered and that you enjoy this last stretch! ^_^
Freedom was a concept that Sirius had only dreamed of for years and years; never once truly believing that it would ever be possible, a reality which he would get to live. But now, by some miracle, here he was, on board the Hogwarts Express ready to go back to London where he could breathe the fresh air, feel the warm sunlight on his face, just be outdoors without having to worry about anything. And as he leaned back in his seat, Sirius started to feel something he hadn't in a very long time… a sense of peace.
"Dad, are you okay?" Rose's soft voice spoke up, bringing Sirius out of his reverie to smile at the little girl sitting across from him… his daughter.
"Yeah, I think I am love." He said to her, before turning his gaze towards the windows where he could see the castle almost disappearing from view now; Hogwarts had always been a home for as long as he could remember, but Sirius was starting to realize that it wasn't so much a place as the people who made him feel that he belonged somewhere.
"You do seem lost in your thoughts, is everything alright?" Tonks asked her cousin, having observed Sirius quietly from her seat beside him.
The news of Sirius's newfound freedom had spread throughout the castle walls within mere hours after Dumbledore's visit to the Hospital Wing; everyone was truly happy to hear that his innocence had been proven at long last. It was the news of Sirius adopting Rose as family which he kept to himself until
they gathered in the Great Hall for one last feast with just the Order members, a few professors, Harry and his friends… all the other students having left for the summer gave them some privacy… and after toasting to him and Rose, Sirius had asked Lupin to be her Godfather and Tonks, her Godmother. Both of them accepted without hesitation and now here they were, all four of them sharing a compartment while escorting Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione back to London.
"I was just thinking about what comes next." Sirius answered after a moment's pause, holding a hand to his chest almost subconsciously, knowing the wounds were practically healed now. "What about you Dora?" He asked Tonks; the minute he had left the Hospital Wing to go and see her in the Hufflepuff Common Room, his fears were put to rest when he saw that his cousin had made a full recovery.
"I'm fine Sirius, just as I've been since the last time you asked me five minutes ago." Smiling at him, Tonks felt even more better knowing how much Sirius cared for her… the fact that they had been able to find a comfortable familial relationship over the past year meant a lot.
"Good, but I'm still going to ask you again in five minutes." Sirius said to her with a grin, before his thoughts distracted him once again; there was a lot on his mind, questions to which he didn't have the answers to yet.
Did he have the opportunity to get a job somewhere? If so, where was he going to go? What did he want to do? How exactly was he going to re-establish himself in the Wizarding society? Would he and Rose continue to live at Grimmauld Place or perhaps find a new home together? What could he do to help Harry in his mission to defeat Voldemort?
"So do you know what you want to do next?" Even though they hadn't found a proper time to really talk about this with him, Tonks knew that Lupin was equally concerned about Sirius.
His life had changed once again and adjusting to this all by himself was no longer an option; they wanted to help him and he knew that he had their support, but when he heard Tonks asking him that question, Sirius didn't need to think about any of those things. There was something more important to him, which demanded his immediate attention.
"Right now, I want to focus on my family first." He replied, knowing that taking care of Rose was all he wanted to do. Nothing else mattered as long as Sirius had his entire attention centered around his daughter and raising her.
"That sounds good to me." Tonks beamed brightly as she exchanged a quick look with Lupin; they both knew how much more happier Sirius was now, having officially adopted Rose as his own meant the world to him.
"What about plans for the summer?" Lupin asked at last. He was seated next to Rose and wondered what Sirius had thought of doing during the holidays; it was obvious to him that his best friend wasn't about to spend another day trapped inside the house, not when he finally had the chance of going anywhere he wished.
"Well… I was thinking of spending a few weeks at your place." Sirius said to Lupin, "And then going to visit your mother, Dora." He had indeed given it some thought, "It's been too long since I've met 'Dromeda and I want Rose to meet her." He also wanted to spend time with Harry, which would be a little difficult but not impossible.
The idea of his Godson going back to live with Lily's sister and her Muggle family made his skin crawl. It was necessary according to Dumbledore and Sirius may have agreed with the Headmaster, reluctantly, but he already planned on getting Harry out of there as soon as he could.
"You're welcome to stay with me at any time Padfoot, but the next full moon is in about ten days…" The ideal situation for Lupin would be to have Sirius and Rose visit Andromeda Tonks first.
"Right, of course." Sirius nodded as he understood the need for switching his schedule a little. "We'll come to you afterwards then." These discussions seemed so… mundane, but to him, it was everything to know that he had the chance of being outdoors as much as he wanted to.
"Can we go see Fred and George too?" Rose chimed in; Hermione had mentioned something to her about the Twins' spectacle during the O.W.L.s and knew they were setting up a shop in Diagon Alley which sounded exciting.
"We most certainly can love." He would take Rose wherever she wanted to go, "I think you'll like Diagon Alley very much; we'll visit them this weekend."
"Thank you dad!" She exclaimed happily. The last time she met them was back in April on her birthday and Rose wanted to ask the twins about Fluffy the Pygmy Puff, who was currently fast asleep on her shoulder.
At that very moment, the doors to their compartment opened and they all were welcomed by the sight of the Food Trolley, or as Sirius had remembered, the Honeydukes Express. Seeing all the different varieties of sweets and snacks and chocolates, Rose jumped up from her seat, eager to examine everything that the kind-looking Witch was selling.
"Hey Rose." Harry said as he stepped out from the train compartment across hers, smiling first and then ruffling her hair just a little; Rose figured it was something he had learned from his Godfather.
He looked much better than he had that first night when Rose saw him; coming in to check on Sirius after meeting with Dumbledore for a few hours, she remembered how happy Harry had been to see that his Godfather was going to make it. And although most of his time went in attending school, Rose still felt very close to Harry… he was like the older brother she never had… until now. Between her new dad and two Godparents and all of her friends, she had found a family bound by love.
"Hello Harry!" Rose said, standing on her toes to see almost all of the goodies that Fred and George used to carry with them.
"You know," Harry began to say, watching Rose stare at the food in front of them, "I would say that buying one of each is the best way to go; it's what I did the first time I rode on the Hogwarts Express." He said with a wink.
"What will it be then dears?" The old witch asked Harry and Rose.
"I'll have half a dozen chocolate frogs, a packet of Droobles and two cauldron cakes." Harry placed his order first.
"One of each please." Rose said, repeating Harry's words as she decided to take his advice; she may not have permission to eat so many sweets, but there was no harm in sharing all of her snacks with the adults who were watching how she handled everything.
"Here, let me get this." Lupin came to stand by Rose and took her share of the food in his hands.
"And I'll pay for the two of them." Sirius knew that the least he could do was to pay for Harry's snacks as well.
A little while later after she had finished tasting whatever she could manage; a few bites here and there, Rose started to doze off. They still had several hours to go before the train reached King's Cross Station and since it had been five days that she'd left Grimmauld Place, Rose was starting to feel the excitement as well as the exhaustion catching up with her. Swapping seats with Tonks brought her next to Sirius and without needing to say anything, she fell asleep on his lap in mere minutes. The three adults were mostly quiet and conversed in hushed whispers so as to not wake the little girl.
"You could take up a job at the school maybe?" Tonks suggested when the talks shifted to Sirius's career.
"Defense Against the Dark Arts is the obvious choice isn't it?" Sirius grinned at the thought of becoming a Hogwarts Professor; it didn't seem like something he had ever imagined before… but Remus had done it already… maybe he could too.
"You were 'Outstanding' in that subject as we all were." Lupin said, remembering how their own respective O.W.L.s had turned out.
"That is true, but we are forgetting something." There was a glaring point that they'd conveniently not mentioned until Sirius remembered what Harry had said to him… and what had happened with Remus.
"What?" Tonks couldn't figure out what Sirius was referring to.
"None of the DADA teachers have lasted for more than a year; it's been that way since… forever." He said to them, "Look at Harry's teachers over the past five years - Quirrell was possessed by Voldemort, Lockhart ended up in St. Mungo's, Moony was fired…" Sirius was abruptly interrupted just then.
"I resigned." Lupin reminded him, knowing full well where his friend was going with this topic.
"After someone let it slip that you're a werewolf." Sirius said pointedly, not needing to name any specific names. "Anyway, Mad-Eye was kidnapped and impersonated by a Death Eater, which leaves us with…" He trailed off, momentarily forgetting the next name.
"Dolores Umbridge from the Ministry this year." As soon as she heard his explanation, Tonks understood the point that her cousin wanted to make. "And that did not turn out well for her either." They had all heard what happened in the Forbidden Forest with the centaurs but after everything that woman put Harry through, there was little pity.
"Exactly." What had sounded like a promising prospect for Sirius at first no longer seemed to be a good idea.
"Well what about becoming an Auror? Wasn't that our original plan after we had graduated?" Lupin put forth the idea.
"Plans change Moony." Sirius said, his tone a little grim now; there was no way he would ever consider the possibility of working for the Ministry.
"True, but you've been given a second chance." The other wizard pointed out. Lupin knew that he would never get the opportunity to do anything else in his life, but considering the year he'd spent at Hogwarts, he was content with having been a professor.
"I don't think I want to work for the same people who took away my first chance." Sirius countered with the one argument which would end this discussion once and for all.
"You have a point there and I wouldn't suggest it if…" Lupin said before trailing off, turning towards Tonks.
"If what Remus?" The sudden prompt attention that his best friend gave Tonks was not lost on Sirius, but he had no idea where this conversation was going.
"Surely you must have heard the rumors Tonks?" Lupin asked, not realizing that he was gazing at her.
"Oh… well… yes." Having been silently listening to the two men discussing this back and forth, Tonks finally spoke up, feeling a blush creeping up her cheeks; which may not be too noticeable she hoped.
"What are you two on about?" Sirius said with a frown. He'd have thought that even though he wasn't actively involved in what the Aurors discussed about the going ons at their workplace, being a part of the Order would surely have given him a clue.
"There are rumors in the Ministry that Cornelius Fudge is going to be replaced as Minister… and very soon." As if suddenly struck by the fact of still looking at Tonks, Lupin suddenly snapped his head back to Sirius and explained what the latest news was.
"Huh, who knew?" When he heard those words, Sirius understood that something must have happened in the immediate aftermath of the attack in the Department of Mysteries.
If there was one thing that they all could agree on without the need to voice it out loud, it was the fact that whatever happened in the Ministry would have spread like wildfire throughout the entire Wizarding community; that in turn would lead to mass panic amongst the public, unless of course, there would be some big declaration of Cornelius Fudge 'taking' the responsibility and 'voluntarily' resigning. At least this would be more or less the chain of events which would soon be taking place over the next several weeks.
"Kingsley and Mad-Eye were discussing something of the sort when they returned yesterday. I heard the name Scrimgeour." Tonks added, showing that she didn't know much about this either.
"Who is he?" Sirius was curious now, this was a name he didn't recognize, but needed to know about if there was to be a new Minister for Magic; he also wondered if this meant that the investigation into his innocence would be handled by this… Scrimgeour.
"Rufus Scrimgeour, Auror. Definitely seems to be qualified for the job." Lupin said, "I mean, it's not like he can do any worse than Fudge already has; he could possibly deal with the situation instead of just handling it and trying to make the whole thing go away."
"Do we know where his loyalties lie? Does he trust Dumbledore? And are we sure that he isn't going to spend another year trying to put off the fact that Voldemort is alive and has returned?" These were just some of the thoughts which Sirius voiced out loud, whatever happened with his case, he wasn't worried.
"I guess we'll find out when we have our next Order meeting maybe." Tonks said with a shrug, things were still in the early stages and they were all pretty much clueless until Kingsley could update them.
"I'll think about it. If these are the only two options I have, then I could always just take on the persona of… Stubby Boardman the Rockstar or something." Sirius cracked a smile at last, feeling the need to lighten the mood around them now; he had been fortunate enough to come across the Quibbler articles.
The comment of his was enough to elicit a laugh from both Lupin and Tonks who knew all too well that this was Sirius's attempt to change topics to something much more pleasurable.
"Can you play a guitar?" Intrigued by the possibility of her cousin turning to music, Tonks asked him in all seriousness.
"I can." Sirius answered her with his trademark smirk, "And not only that, I'm also very good with a pianoforte too. Marlene and Lily both made me take lessons over the summer holidays from our Fifth Year onwards." He could remember those days vividly; but the happy memories simply made him smile now.
"Really?" Tonks couldn't believe the image forming in her mind; Sirius seated in front of a piano and playing all the greatest hits.
"He really can." Lupin said, vouching for his best friend. "I've heard him play… at James and Lily's wedding reception." There was a hint of sadness that Tonks noticed, but it disappeared almost instantly as he chose to smile and focus on the happy aspects.
"Will you play something for me?" She asked Sirius, wondering why she hadn't heard her mother mention anything about this to her in all the stories that Andromeda had shared throughout the years.
"Do you have to ask Dora?" He said to Tonks, "I'll just need some help finding the big damn family piano which is probably gathering dust up in the attic."
"Remus and I can help." Tonks answered without thinking twice about what she had said and just smiled at the two men.
Sirius exchanged an amused look with Lupin who didn't know what else to say except to agree with Tonks' proposition, "Of course." Was all he managed; and that was the end of their conversations for the afternoon.
The sun was starting to set when Rose awoke and saw that the Hogwarts Express had reached its final leg of the journey; London was fast approaching, they would soon be back home at Grimmauld Place. Sitting up from Sirius's lap, she first noticed that Tonks and Lupin were both fast asleep on the seats across from her. To be sure that her eyes weren't playing tricks, Rose blinked twice and saw, to her immense delight, that at some point Tonks had rested her head on Lupin's shoulder and his head rested atop hers.
"Its at times like this that I wish we had a camera." Sirius whispered to Rose softly, a big smile playing on his lips.
"Is there a magic spell we can use?" Rose didn't quite know what a camera was, but she did know that Sirius wanted to capture this moment between two friends.
"Nah, I don't think so… but I do have the next best thing." He said, remembering something from a previous talk with his cousin, and pulled out a camera from Tonks' bag which lay open on the floor between them.
Within seconds, Sirius managed to get a picture of Lupin and Tonks, surprisingly without waking either of them up. Rose remained as quiet as possible but beamed brightly at the sight of the two; they reminded her a lot about her own parents and hoped that someday they would realize what everyone else around could see clearly.
"When do we wake them?" Rose asked her father, only now sensing that in the second compartment, Harry and the others were asleep as well.
"Soon… there's still a half hour until we reach King's Cross." Sirius figured it was alright to leave everyone sleeping for the moment.
"Okay." She said with a nod and leaned back in her seat, watching the buildings zoom past.
For several minutes, she sat in a peaceful silence as she stared out the window, taking in the beautiful scenery. It was only when Rose saw that Sirius had fallen quiet and lost in his thoughts once more did she reach out to touch his arm.
"Dad?" Rose could tell that there was something on his mind, something more than what she remembered hearing while she had been asleep.
"Yes love?" Sirius met her gaze which revealed nothing, but Rose knew that all she had to do was ask.
"You look sad. What's wrong?" She moved her hand from his arm and to his cheek.
"It's nothing…" He said to her with a deep breath, and then went on, "I've just been remembering… there's something that I have to do." In all honesty, Sirius had not stopped thinking about this from the moment he had been given his freedom; he just hadn't mentioned it to anyone yet.
"Now?" Rose asked him, curious as to what seemed to be so important to her father as it was reflected in his eyes, that hint of sadness which hadn't completely disappeared.
"No… I'll be going somewhere soon… and I want to ask you to come with me." Sirius explained to her; he would tell Rose about the details eventually.
"Yes, I will." Rose answered without hesitation, wherever they had to go, she knew that they would go together.
Sirius smiled at Rose's quick response; he knew that there really was no need to wait, but a part of him believed that waiting for the right time was the best thing to do. And so, sitting beside his daughter, holding her hand, he began to prepare himself for what lay ahead, knowing he would not be alone.
Well... that's that! Reviews anyone?