Ch26: Sirius

"Did we get Sirius?" Harry asked.

"You've got him alright."

"Is he OK?"

"He suffered a minor concussion when falling on the floor, but he's fine otherwise."

"How are the girls?"

"They are recovering nicely. They will be fine in less than an hour. You may need some more time, though…"

Harry looked at the healer. He was an elderly kind man, reminding him slightly of Madam Pomfrei. The man was looking at him with a bemused smile.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked, somewhat irritated.

"Sorry. I was just thinking of what your wife will say about this little adventure. I'm not sure I'd like to be present when she finds out how exhausted the children became."

Harry was glad that he had told both Hermione and Narcissa everything about this experiment. They actually wanted to be present, but he insisted they should stay with their babies.

About half an hour later he heard a voice from the adjacent bed. "Pup, is that you?"

It was only the healer's firm hand that stopped him from jumping out of bed. "Yes Sirius, it's me, Harry!"

"Why am I in bed?"

"You fell down and got a minor concussion. You'll be out in no time."

"But the aurors may find me! Fudge will hand me to the dementors!" There was some real panic in his voice.

"You're safe here, Sirius. Nobody is going to harm you."

"Why are you in bed, pup? Have you been hurt during the fight?"

"No, Snuffles. The fight is long over. I was just magically exhausted. I'll tell you later…"

Sirius seemed to want to ask some more, but the healer stepped to his bed and started running a long series of tests. By the time he finished, the girls were already getting out of bed and coming to stay near Harry, looking somewhat suspiciously towards Sirius.

The healer finished his tests and gave Sirius some potions to drink before congratulating him: "Welcome back, Mr. Black. Just wait a few more minutes to let the potions work and you'll be as good as new."

He then turned to Harry, ran a quick diagnostic on him as well and told him: "You may sit now, if you feel strong enough, but take it slowly."

Lilly and Dianna were quick to help him. By the time he reached sitting position, feeling only slightly dizzy, the healer was helping Sirius to sit as well.

Harry gasped. Sirius had not changed a bit during the years since the battle at the DOM. Sirius turned to Harry. His face looked bewildered. "Harry! You look… older! What happened?"

Harry smiled reassuringly at his godfather. "I am older. It's a long story, though. I'll tell you later."

Sirius looked around. "I thought I saw Hermione here. These girls look a lot like her, yet none of them is Hermione. Who are they?"

Helen answered first. "Hermione is my big sister!" There was a lot of pride in her voice.

"Sister?" Sirius seemed to be somewhat slow at comprehension.

"Oh, and my name is Helen Granger. I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Black."

Sirius just nodded at the girl, still deep in thought.

"I'm Lillian Potter and this is my little sister Rose. We are very glad to meet you. Dad has told us a lot about you."

"Dad?" Sirius seemed overwhelmed.

The healer thought it was wise to intervene. "It will all become clear later. I believe you are all exhausted and would not oppose to getting a good meal. I allowed myself the liberty to order some lunch to be served here, before you'll have to stand for interrogation."

Harry nodded his approval, while Sirius seemed a bit frightened again. "What interrogation?" he asked.

"Oh, they would probably want to learn everything about what happened since you fell into the veil until you got out. You are the first documented person to come out of the veil."

"Am I?" A slight mischief could be heard in the Marauder's voice. He would never miss a chance to get some attention.

Sirius had many questions, but Harry was not allowed to answer most of them until after the interrogation. Sirius was frustrated, yet the meal was too good to waste. He ate heartily, studying the four girls with his eyes. Then, before leaving the infirmary for the interrogation at the DOM he noted: "You're the only one who didn't introduce herself yet."

"Oh, I'm Dianna De-Poitiers, Lord Potter's stepdaughter."

This only served to make Sirius more bewildered. Harry noticed and only smiled internally. The old Marauder was going to face some very interesting surprises.

The unspeakables decided to interrogate Sirius without the girls' presence. They were afraid some of what he might tell was not appropriate for young ears. The girls were taken to a different room to be asked about the ritual they had taken part in, while Harry escorted Sirius to another room.

A cheerful lady was waiting for the girls. She seemed to be only slightly older than the Potter couple. "Hello, I'm Caroline. I'd like you to tell me all you can about what has just happened in the veil room. May I know whose idea this whole ritual was?"

Lillian answered. "It was my idea. I thought that if we called Sirius with as much love as possible and pumped in enough magic as well, we had a good chance of bringing him back."

"What made you think of it?"

"Dad took us on a tour of the ministry a few days ago. When he showed us the veil, I could sense there were people there. They were waiting – I couldn't find what for. One of them seemed to be Sirius. At least his thoughts were similar to what Dad used to tell about Sirius. I then made Dad tell me exactly what happened during Sirius's last moments at the battle and then I was sure this would be possible."

Caroline wrote everything down in her notebook and then read it again, looking very confused. "You could read his thoughts?"

"Just barely. Not really as clear as I can read yours, or other people's who are near me."

Caroline seemed unsure. Was this girl pulling her leg or was she really such a fabulous witch? She just couldn't decide.

"Oh, she really is a fabulous witch, you bet!" Dianna told her, confusing her a bit more.

"So, you were sure he was there and only needed to be called with enough love and magic. Is that correct?"

"Quite! I wasn't really sure, you know, but it looked like something that could have good chances for success."

"Yet it needed a lot of magic…" noted Caroline.

"Sure! This is why Dad needed the four of us around him. He's a very powerful wizard, you know, but not powerful enough for such a task."

"Wouldn't it have been wiser to get the help of some adult wizards?"

"I would have loved it, but I know no adult wizard even close to our power."

Caroline was sure the girl was just bragging. No way could such a young girl be really powerful! "Do you mind if I measure you magical core? It won't hurt you at all, I promise."

Lilly just shrugged. Caroline left the room for a short while, returning with an instrument that looked like a large metal loop connected to a smaller one, where numbers could be seen flicking. She asked Lillian to stand straight and moved the loop over her head, down to her feet and back again, watching the numbers flick. She could not believe her eyes: the instrument simply overloaded as soon as it came close to the girl. She tried measuring Helen with similar results.

"It looks like this instrument is broken. Please wait a moment and I'll bring another."

Five minutes later she got similar results with the other instrument. She even tried to measure each girl alone in another room. Even Rose, the youngest, caused severe overload. Caroline just wrote down her results, wondering what other surprises these girls had in store.

"Can you tell me some more about the ritual? Did you use any runes?"

The four girls shrugged. "We know very little about runes," explained Dianna. "We've already read some books about them, Lilly and I, but they are of no use without some hands-on experience, which we can't get before we reach fourth year."

"Did you use any spell or charm then?"

"Nothing of the sort," responded Lilly. "We only tried to let our magic flow towards Dad along with our love, so that he would have all the power and the love he may need while letting his magic call Sirius back."

Caroline was sure she would have a big headache soon. Were these girl even close to normal?

"Don't worry," Rose told her. "We still like to gossip and to play pranks on other children. We also like nice clothes and I really like playing with my dolls." This didn't help Caroline feel any better, especially when she noted that Lillian, being somewhat bored, conjured a vase and some flowers and was changing their colors at random, not even using a wand.

She finally gave up. "Well, girls – let's go get some ice-cream. I only need to leave a message for your Dad so he can find us when he finishes his business here."

The four yelled happily, just like any other girls, before starting talking about their favorite flavors.

Harry and Sirius had only slightly more interesting time in another room.

"Well, Mr. Black, would you be kind enough to tell us about the time since you fell through the veil until you stumbled back, just a few hours ago?"

"There's not much to tell. Once I fell through the veil I found myself in a kind of waiting room. It was all white and my clothes also turned white. The room had no doors and no windows, yet it was airy and well lit. There were four people in there, looking as confused as I felt. I tried to talk with them and found out they were just a few minutes there, or so they thought. One of them had reached that room about fifty years ago, yet he was sure he didn't spend there more than a few hours. The others had been there for even less. I asked them what we were waiting for and if anybody had previously left that room. They said two people had stayed there before and then they just disappeared. I found out that none of the men was convicted. They all just fell through by mistake. One was a janitor; another was the executioner who fell down along with the convicted criminal. He didn't see him once he reached the room, though."

"So, how long had you been there?"

"It felt like no more than an hour or two. I'm sure it was much longer for you, but I don't know how long."

"Yes, much longer. Can you tell us what made you come back?"

"I'm not sure, really. I first felt a kind of scan, as if somebody was searching for me, though the magical signature was nothing like I previously knew. Then, a short while later I felt a strong pull, as if somebody was holding my hands lovingly but firmly, and before I knew what was happening I was falling on the floor."

"Lord Potter, can you tell us some more about the ritual you have conducted to get Mr. Black back?"

Harry wasn't sure what to say. "There wasn't really any ritual. I just sat there, holding hands with the younger girls, and I tried to direct all of my love for Sirius to the veil, calling him back, just as Lillian told me. I wasn't even sure it could work, using no spell, no runes, not even a wand. I'm only too glad it did work eventually."

The unspeakable didn't seem to like these responses, yet he felt they were all he could ever get. There was just one thing he thought he should do for the record. "May I measure your magical cores? The results will stay strictly confidential."

Both Harry and Sirius agreed. Sirius was measured first, producing a measurement well above average, though not extraordinarily so. Harry was next and the unspeakable was stunned at the reading. "This is the highest I've ever seen," he mumbled.

"Is there any problem?" asked Harry.

"No, sir. It's just… Well… Your measurement is much higher than the highest one we have on record."

"May I know who it is?" Harry was very interested. He didn't fancy fighting another dark lord.

"It was Dumbledore, only yours is about twenty percent higher, sir." Harry noticed the honorific that the man started using. Well, if he was even just as magically powerful as Dumbledore then he could understand why.

Sirius was still confused, but Harry didn't want to spend any more time explaining. He collected the girls and apparated home at once.

It seemed like somebody had informed Hermione of the success. The entry hall was decorated with banners of "Welcome Padfoot", "Snuffles is home again", "Salute the Marauder" and other welcoming and humorous slogans. Hermione was the first to welcome Sirius with her patented hug, laughing and crying at the same time, before checking over her two girls. By the time she finished, Sirius was looking wide eyed at Narcissa hugging Dianna warmly, before turning to him with a wide smile: "Welcome home, cousin!"

"Narcissa! What are you doing here?" he blurted, hardly believing his eyes.

"Didn't Harry tell you?" she asked, and then added, noticing his bewildered look: "Well, this would be another story you'll be anxious to hear, I'm sure. Suffice to say that I live here."

James and Teddy joined the family as soon as they heard the noise, while the babies were brought along by their mothers a few minutes later. They all settled into the living room after Harry and Hermione made sure to have enough light beverage and some snacks ready.

It was a long afternoon, filled with stories, laughter and also some tears. Sirius was eager to hear about everything that Harry had experienced until then, especially about his marriage to Hermione and about Lillian, whom he had noticed immediately to be somewhat too old for their marriage. Sirius was quite delighted to hear about how Narcissa had joined the family. He was sad to hear about the loss of Moony and Tonks and was deeply moved by Fred's demise. He was then enthralled by the achievements of Lilly and Dianna – pranking "the bad guys" and creating the new Marauder maps.

By dinner time they were all exhausted once again, yet Sirius was feeling great. It was just between dinner courses when he remembered to ask "Where are we, actually. This doesn't look like Potter Manor."

"We're at Godric Hollow. I've renovated the house before we moved in, shortly after we married. Lillian was a great help in redecorating the house, actually."

Sirius became even happier to learn this. The house where Prongs originally intended to raise a family was now the home of his son, housing a large and happy family. It was just right.

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