Father's World

Disclaimer: See chapter 1. Reviews are welcomed, flames are not.

Chapter 2

An anxious Sirius sat by his godson's bedside peering down at the sleeping teenager. Harry was in a healing coma, placed there by the goblin healers. It was deemed necessary, due to the cumulative amount of damage that needed correcting. The healers had no idea when they could release him from his healing sleep.

Sirius carded his fingers gently through Harry's hair. The news that he wasn't James' son floored him at first. It never dawned on him that James couldn't father a child.

He'd known James had taken a hex or two on his 'brothers' behalf during, and after, their time at Hogwarts. But, for someone to have cast a curse that caused infertility? It was against one of the Wizarding World's most sacrosanct beliefs. For someone to have done that to his best friend was not only against the ancient laws, but against everything that the pure bloods stood for. Heirs were necessary to pass on the blood lines and the family magics, and denying an Ancient and Ancient and Noble family the ability to produce them saw their family magics lost forever, weakening the whole of the Wizarding World.

Which brought back the question, who was Harry's father? Was it really a deity? And if so, which one? It frustrated Sirius that Harry wasn't saying. His godson only mentioned dreaming of a man wearing Norse clothing and of meeting him in a Norse style room. Sirius did have an idea or two; but for now, it was only guesswork.

With a soft sigh Sirius wondered; now that Harry had been healed, how much would he look like James? Not that he begrudged the fact of the blood adoption, but he really missed his best friend, and now it seemed like he'd lost the last remaining part of him, all over again..

There was so much to do and so little time to do it in. Soon Hogwarts would be letting out for the summer. Dumbledore and the Ministry would be searching for Harry and him in earnest. They had to leave. But where would they go?

Disguises should be no problem. Once away from the Wizarding World he could go in his Padfoot form, and Harry? His godson no longer looked like . . . well. . . like Harry. For one thing, gone was his malnourished, under developed body and weak eyesight.

Goblin rituals had cleansed most of the dark magic used upon him. Nutrition and growth potions had been spelled into Harry's stomach every four hours and a teaspoon of skele-gro potion once a day, to strengthen his bones as the other potions did their work.

The healers also said it was a miracle that Harry could see at all! They found that the soul leech and malnutrition were to blame for Harry's poor eyesight. Thankfully, the goblins were able to cure and correct all of it. So, no more glasses, no more scrawny body and no more scar!

The goblins had been very helpful and, for the right price, had done everything in their power to correct the past wrongs done to Harry. As the Potters were one of the oldest clients at Gringotts, they'd naturally been appalled by the lackadaisical manner in which Harry's investments had been left to stagnate.

These thoughts brought Sirius back to the scene in Flintlock's office. From what little they could get out of Harry before they stunned him, the stipends that the Dursleys had been paid out of the Potter vaults never went to Harry's keep. So Flintlock had ordered an immediate audit of said disbursements-and he was demanding receipts!

It was early yet, but from what Flintlock's staff reported, it appeared Harry was right. The Dursleys spent the monies for their nephews upkeep on themselves-and gave Harry the dregs. Sirius wanted those muggles destroyed for what they'd done to his godson! Flintlock agreed, but it would take time.

Thankfully, as was reported earlier, Dumbledore and his cronies hadn't touched the Potter vaults. James and Lily saw to that. From the moment of their deaths until the reading of their wills their high security vaults would be locked down tight.

'That must've put a huge dent in the old bastard's plans,' Sirius thought with a small amount of satisfaction. 'With him being 'Harry's magical guardian' and sealing the wills, he thought he would have free reign with Harry's inheritance.'

In the following days, while waiting for Harry to wake, Sirius and Flintlock were busy managing both the Potter and Black accounts. Dumbledore had been after Sirius to open Black Manor in London as a safe house for the Order. The infamous Black Wards would make it a perfect safe house, but Sirius had been of two minds on the matter. Until today. Now it would be a cold day in hell before he gave them free access to his property!

Also, there was no way Harry was going back to the Dursleys! It obviously wasn't 'safe', as Dumbledore so stridently claimed. And there was also the fact that the Dursleys would be lucky to have a place to live once Flintlock got done with them.

He and Flintlock then put their heads together and figured out a way to get Sirius cleared of all charges against him. Several carefully worded letters to Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, were sent. Whether or not she took the bait was the question. It was just a waiting game now.

O0o0o0o0

Within his dream-scape, Harry learned he didn't have to hide who or what he was. Here he didn't have to pretend anymore. As both Hades and Loki went over Harry's life with him, the two gods weren't impressed with the one called Albus Dumbledore.

"The Greater Good should be left up to the gods," Hades said with disgust. "We will be having words when we meet on 'his next great adventure.' Or better yet, I'll turn your mother loose on him! She really doesn't have much good to say about the old fool."

"We are straying too far afield here," Loki interrupted. "Harry, your time here is almost over. Have we a plan, then?" Loki looked over at Hades.

"We do," Hades said, looking at Harry. "You will, as your quest, track down and bring to me the rest of the soul leeches of Tom Riddle. I shall allow you to go to Camp Half Blood for a year, to train before you start your search. Use the time well, Harry."

Harry nodded. "I will sir … er can I . . .can I call you 'Grandfather?'" He murmured wistfully.

"You may, child," Hades agreed. "Although it'll make your life harder when my brothers and the other gods find out about you."

"You know I will not be able to officially claim you as my son," Loki said. "Odin and Zeus would kill you if they ever find out that I fathered another child. Neither one of them has much of a sense of humor." He finished with a scornful snort.

"Agreed," Hades said standing with a smirk. "But then, I do enjoy rubbing their noses in it. And as you are a descendant of mine with a destiny to fulfill, there is no way I have broken that ridiculous agreement we three made on the River Styx. And Harry, do not disappoint me. I will be watching you."

"As will I," Loki said, giving his son a glare. "Do not disappoint us!"

Harry gulped and nodded. He was beginning to feel the pull of waking up.

"And don't forget you must get to the Hall of Prophecy to hear what that manipulative old busybody keeps hidden," Hades reminded him as the room grew dark.

Harry opened his eyes to see a very worried godfather watching him. "S..Sirius. . . .?"

"Easy pup, you've been out of it for over a week," Sirius said softly. "As soon as you get your strength back we have things to do."

0o0o0o0

A week later Harry found himself deep below the Ministry. The Hall of Prophesy was just as Flintlock and Sirius had described to him. Flintlock had called in a favor with an Unspeakable he knew to escort Harry and a disguised goblin to the Hall.

Row upon row of crystalline spheres filled the shelves lining the room. The Unspeakable left Harry alone after giving instructions on how to retrieve his prophecy.

It took only a few minutes for Harry to find a sphere that read: 'S.P.T to A.P.W.B.D – Dark Lord and (?) Harry Potter. ' Carefully pocketing it Harry returned to his guide and the three left together.

In Flintlock's office Harry finally got to hear the prophecy that had ruined his life.

The Unspeakable who had accompanied Harry was told he needed to make an unbreakable vow to not reveal anything pertaining to what he learned in the office. After the cloaked and hooded wizard complied, Sirius Black stepped out of the shadows.

It took Sirius several minutes, and a dose of veritaserum, to assure the man of his innocence and explain the whole fiasco of his arrest and imprisonment.

However, before Harry, Flintlock, Sirius and the Unspeakable heard the prophecy, Harry was given a calming potion and a stern admonishment control his anger over what they were about to hear.

Harry took a deep breath and tapped the sphere with his wand. A vaguely familiar female voice spoke:

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ..."(Order of the Phoenix, ch. 37)

"That's it? That's the most asinine piece of garbage I've ever heard!" Harry shouted as Sirius and Flintlock looked around the office nervously. Flintlock did not want another episode like the last one. The Unspeakable sat patiently while Sirius calmed Harry down.

"It is clear by the cloudiness of the sphere that the prophecy has been partially fulfilled. If it had been completed, it would've totally darkened," the Unspeakable lectured. "From the evidence you have given it seems that Albus Dumbledore is doing everything in his power to see it fulfilled by Mr. Potter. . .to the possible ruin of us all!"

Harry wanted to be angry; he wanted to trash something, but he couldn't, damn calming potion! It all made sense now.

Harry looked at Flintlock. "Do you have a pensieve?There's something else you need to know," he said.

0o0o0o0

The Unspeakable strode imperiously through the ministry toward his superior's office, deep in the heart of the Department of Mysteries. Several Ministry employees shivered and got out of the way as the hooded figure charged past. Only when he reached his superior's office did he relax.

Once inside the Head Unspeakables' domain he lowered his hood. "Croaker, we have a major problem."

Faded blue eyes looked up in concern.

0o0o0o0o0o0

Harry and Sirius had been the guests of the goblins for over three weeks now. Hogwarts had been out for the summer for two; which meant there was now a massive manhunt, for both of them.

Thankfully, the Unspeakables and the goblins were on Harry's side. Amelia Bones, upon receiving Harry's memories and blood sworn testimony, agreed to work with the goblins from her end.

The parchment, signed in blood, testifying to Harry's account of the night Peter Pettigrew was discovered, as well as the memory, had been enough to convince her. She was now digging through the archives for all the records pertaining to Black's case. She wasn't finding much; which also added to the growing evidence that someone (cough, Dumbledore, cough) didn't want Black free. She was one very unhappy witch.

During their time with the goblins Sirius claimed Headship of the Black family. Since there had been no trial or conviction, the goblins didn't really care, as the ancient laws were quite clear; Sirius Black, as the last direct male descendant, was the head of the Ancient and Noble House of Black, period.

Thankfully, though the Ministry had tried in the past to gain access to the Black vaults, Sirius' grandfather had been alive when Sirius had been chucked into Azkaban. With his death, his will had stated that: "When the true head of house claims the title and ring, the vaults will open to Lord Black once more. Until that time they are sealed."

The goblins informed Sirius that Lucius Malfoy had tried, in the past, to have his son Draco proclaimed head, but the magic refused to accept him-much to the senior Malfoy's ire.

Fudge was running his smear campaign against Harry and Dumbledore in the 'Daily Prophet'. The goblin barristers quickly put a stop to it. They pointed out to the newspaper that: one, they did not have a guardian's permission to use Harry's name in their rag. Nor did they really want to face a law suit as, with Harry as the heir of Potter and heir apparent to both the Potter and Black families combined, he was powerful enough to bring financial ruin unto the paper.

Rita Skeeter had publicly vowed to find the missing Potter heir and expose him for the 'attention loving liar' he was. She was summarily put on notice by the goblins-either print the truth or else. She'd been silent on the matter since.

Nothing could be done about Fudge. So it was decided to leave him alone, for now. At least the newspaper had been neutralized. The goblins had a firm financial grasp on the editorial staff and wouldn't allow them to print anything that wasn't the truth.

One last trip into Muggle London for clothes and personal items and both Sirius and Harry were ready for the next stage in their escape. They had allowed the attending Unspeakable to report an edited version of what went on in Flintlock's office. Now, with the Unspeakables on board, escaping Britain would be easy.

Harry stood in the airport terminal at Gatwick International. He was waiting to board. His usually messy hair was gelled to stand on end and each spike was colored in green, red or purple. Dark shades not only protected, but also covered his green eyes. He was wearing a black tee-shirt with huge red lips blowing a kiss on the front and black cargo pants. He had a black back-pack slung over his shoulder and a head set covering his ears. He looked like a typical punk kid, bored out of his mind.

Surprisingly, Harry Potter's famous hallmark – his scar – was missing. Once the goblins removed the soul leech, it was only a simple scar, the only one that, at his request, they removed from Harry's body. Although the goblins revered scars, as they claimed scars were badges of glory that identified a warrior; it had been Sirius who argued for removing it as it was too much of an icon. The goblins, always looking for ways to thumb their noses at the Wizarding World, grudgingly agreed.

Sirius stood waiting with Harry. He, however, was wearing a three-piece business suit and carrying a briefcase, hair and beard neatly trimmed. His time with the goblins had also been beneficial. The effects of his stay at chez-Azkaban had been thoroughly neutralized. He looked fitter and healthier. Again, he didn't look anything like the wanted posters that Fudge had tacked up everywhere.

His and Harry's passports read "Nigel P. Grimm and Evan J. Grimm." No one from the magical world would think twice about the pair. It also helped that both were wearing magical suppression bracelets, furnished by the goblins, to hide their magical signatures and guarantee the safety of the airplane's electronics.

In fact, both Sirius and Harry had walked by the magical portal and had not set off any alarms. Even the aurors on duty at the check-in counters didn't give them a second look. It helped that their wands and magical luggage had been sent on ahead by air-Dobby, who would meet them when they landed. Sirius had been nervous about not having a wand but they really couldn't do magic on the plane anyways so it hadn't been hard to talk him around.

The one thing Harry was worried about was Hedwig. She was very upset that Harry was leaving her behind. Dobby promised he would take good care of Master Harry sir's owl.

Traveling first class wasn't as bad as Sirius dreaded. Harry slept most of the time or listened to his music through the headphones. Sirius used his time contemplating everything Harry had told him.

'Loki. Well, it now all makes sense,' he mused, 'Our pranking at Hogwarts; our cavalier attitude towards life. That all appealed to the trickster god. How we must've entertained him!'

It was too bad that the Dursleys ruined much of Harry's personality with their abuse and neglect. But then, Harry had pulled off the biggest prank of all! He had kept much of his intelligence hidden-not just from the blasted muggles, but from Dumbledore as well. It was all he'd heard from the Order since Harry's third year. "Harry's a disappointment. He shows none of James or Lily's intelligence. He's such a mediocre student."

Well, if you were punished for showing up your stupid cousin, you'd learn to hide your intelligence too. Harry did admit that, by the time he was comfortable at Hogwarts, and knew that the Dursleys didn't really care about his grades, it was too late. He then realized that he didn't really want to lose his two friends so had to dumb down his homework as not to have them jealous of him.

Sirius couldn't see any way around the fact they had less than six weeks to train and teach Harry what he needed to know. They'd need a miracle.

0o0o0o0

Arriving at Logan International, Boston, was a bit anticlimactic. They were met by a human employee of Gringotts and soon escorted to the Hyatt Regency.

Sirius and Flintlock had gone over the itinerary with a fine tooth comb. The camp they needed to go to was located on Long Island Sound. They figured it would take them about three to five hours, depending on stops and detours.

That night, as Harry slept, he dreamed of being back in the Infirmary at Hogwarts.

It was morning of the leaving feast, Madam Pomfrey had just dismissed him with strong admonishments to behave himself. She'd kept him in the infirmary on the advice of the Headmaster, to avoid the questions and speculations of those still at the castle. Sirius had left him alone at the urging of Remus. Harry suspected the headmaster had something to do with that, too.

Hermione and Ron kept exchanging looks but said little to him and he said little to them. What could he really say, other than he was fine and he really didn't want to go back to the Dursleys? Both Hermione and Ron promised to write but Harry knew it was a lie.

The ride back to London was unusually quiet as the other students steered clear of Harry, which was fine with him.

Before Mrs. Weasley met them at the station, Harry sought out the twins. He gave them his winnings from the tournament and told them to use the money to finance their dream of a joke shop. They promised Harry they would.

The last anyone saw of Harry Potter was when he walked through the barrier at King's Cross. What no one realized was he didn't step out the other side. Harry Potter vanished.

Harry knew that his father had something to do with it as he had been in a healing coma when the Hogwarts' Express had barreled through the countryside, taking the students home for the summer.

"We couldn't have everyone know you went missing a week before, now could we?" Loki asked as he stepped out of the shadows in Harry's dream. "Nice touch, don't you think, giving all that money to the Weasley twins? I'll need to keep an eye on them. They show great promise!"

Harry turned towards his father and as he started to ask a question, the morning alarm went off and he woke up.

0o0o0o0o0o0

For those of you asking, yes Loki was patterned a bit off of Tom Hiddleston's Loki in the Avenger movie. As I have been toying with a sequel (a triple cross over) but it's still on the back burner.

Also, for those that think this feels rushed:

This was written during NaNoWr and as such it is completely written (except, maybe, the last chapter) and waiting for The Frau's magical touch. Believe it or not, I got the story up to 30,000 words so I was well pleased.

With so many HP fanfics out there, everyone knows basic canon, so why rehash it. It just bogs the storyline down. Don't worry it'll slow down some soon.

Until next time. - GF and the Frau.