A/N: Chap 22 Review Responses are available in my forums as always. Thank you for reading.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Black

Harry would never, ever complain about travelling by Floo again.

When he at last tumbled to his knees and lost every bite of food he'd consumed in the last ten years of his life, he collapsed onto his side and groaned in misery. His head spun with the violence of the Portkey, since he knew from Wizarding Studies that is what it had to have been. Only when the worst of the dizziness passed did he bother to look up at his surroundings.

He found himself staring at the most hideously ugly house-elf he had ever seen. The ancient creature's proboscis-like nose stuck out from its face like something Gregoria Goyle would play with at night, while the rest of its small, pale, withered body was shrouded in an old tea napkin.

"Filthy half-blood fouled Kreacher's floor, the shame, the shame," the house elf mumbled. With a flick of its fingers the pool of vomit disappeared. A second snap, and Harry found himself blasted back by a rush of air until he slammed into a wall. "Kreacher has the half-blood, master," the old elf said.

Harry tried picking himself up, but was having a hard time catching his breath. He did look up, though, just in time to see a man step down from the landing of stairs. He wore black trousers and a dark purple vest over a lace-lined doublet. Long, curly black hair streaked with grey fell about his shoulders, while intense black eyes stared at him.

"Harry Potter," he said, almost breathing the name out. "The Boy Who Lived. Welcome to the Noble and Most Ancient of Black. I'm Sirius, and I'll be your executioner today."

Suddenly he burst out laughing, a laughter so loud and hard that the man eventually bent over and fought to breathe. Gradually, the manic laughter changed into great, wracking sobs before the man collapsed on the steps and went completely silent. Seeing an opportunity, Harry lifted his wand to cast a stunning spell he'd learned during his many detentions with Remus.

Black did not even look up as he batted the stunner away with his own wand before shooting a silent disarming hex. Harry tried to roll out of the way, but the spell still caught his arm and spun him around until he landed on his back with a thud and a violent expulsion of breath. His wand went straight to Sirius, who slipped it into his pocket.

"None of that, now, Harry. That's not how you're supposed to treat your godfather, after all."

"And killing me is how you're supposed to treat your godson?" Harry shouted back angrily.

"Yes, well, do as I say, not as I do and all that rot," Sirius said lightly. He then frowned. "I am going to kill you, Harry. I have to really. They have my brother, you see."

"But you were my godfather!" Harry protested.

"But that's not what your mum wanted, is it?" Sirius snapped. "Good old Lily. Always had a plan, always knew best what to do. Your Dad was fun before that witch sucked out his soul. Bloody slag, she was."

"You shut up!" Harry shouted. "You don't talk about my Mum like that!"

"She slept with Moony you twit!" Sirius snapped back. "She slept with Severus Fucking Snape!"

Harry stared at him, stunned and confused. "What…?"

"Magic damn her!" Sirius said. "She learned how to block bonds with that damnable Occlumency of hers, and slept with half the damn school before she decided she wanted a rich wizard from a light coven. She picked James because of Dame Griffin, no other reason. You think it was a love match? She fucked Severus Snape. How would a woman who could do that know anything about love?"

"You're lying," Harry said, shaking his head and fighting tears.

"Ask Mooney, since you're so cosy with him now," Sirius said. "Oh, never mind, you'll be dead soon enough." He raised his wand and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"

Deathly green light flashed from his wand and struck Harry in the arm—he felt dizzy from dark magic, but nothing else. Sirius stared first at his wand, then at Harry with a gaping jaw. "Bloody hell, you really do have to mean it," he muttered before collapsing right to the floor on his knees.

"Please just let me go," Harry begged.

"I can't, boy," Sirius said. He looked up and stared into Harry's eyes. "She loved everyone around her, why couldn't she love me too?" he whispered. "How could she sleep with two of my best friends, but not me?"

Harry stared not just at the man, but at his boiling magic. It had the fire of Gryffindor, but touched by the black of dementors from his long stay in Azkaban. The demonic energy ran through his whole body, even into the welling of magic behind his eyes.

"Why did you betray my family?" Harry asked with forced calm.

"To save my brother," Sirius said. "And because…because…"

Harry moved closer to the man until he knelt in front of him a few feet away. "Why?"

"Because my friends left me," he finally admitted with a sob. He wiped a huge swatch of snot on his arm, leaving sticky glue in his thick, untrimmed moustache. "James left me. We promised we'd hold out, that we wouldn't give in to those damned, grabbing witches. Then there comes Lily, little Miss 'I can shag you without bonding' Lily. Pretty little ginger was smarter than all the rest. Didn't get what she wanted from old Sevvy, and so she came to us. First Remus, then she stole James from me."

Suddenly he exploded. "She stole my friend!" At the same time, he lashed out and backhanded Harry hard enough to send the boy sliding across the floor. Only Harry's magic kept his jaw from being shattered.

Meanwhile, Sirius Black was on his feet screaming and ranting about how Lily stole his friend. As he watched Black ranting, Harry felt a pervading cold from a nearby window. Momentarily ignoring Black, he pulled an ancient curtain aside before stumbling back.

A dementor floated right outside the window, pressed up against the glass.

"Bloody demons can't get in, now, can they?" Sirius growled, momentarily interrupting his rant. "Follow me wherever I go, but they can't get in to this house. Avada Kedavra! Damn it!"

Once again, the green light did not hurt Harry—in fact this time he felt nothing but a mild discomfort. Sirius switched tactics. "Crucio!" Again nothing. "Why won't it work?"

"Because you really don't want to hurt me?" Harry guessed.

Sirius glared. "Of course I don't want to hurt you, twit! You're my godson. I took an oath to take care of you if anything happened to your Da! Bloody hell, I made you my heir on the day you were born. The Dark Lord promised me, you see. He only needed Lily, he didn't care about James or you. He promised! The new world wouldn't force men to slave themselves for a shag. But Lily had Jimmy so wrapped around her finger. Thought she knew everything. And now they're all dead, and Reggie is in trouble, and I have to kill you to save him, but my magic won't let me! Kreacher!" The ancient elf appeared. "Kill the boy!"

"Kreacher cannot kill witch-born, ignorant drunk master should know," the ancient elf muttered. "Would kill ignorant drunk master in crib if he could."

Sirius roared and kicked the elf like a football, sending the little creature hurtling through the air until it disappeared with a pop. Suddenly, his eyes took on a manic light.

"I know a way that would solve all my problems," he finally said with barely restrained glee. He ran forward, faster than Harry could move, and suddenly wrapped the boy in a tight embrace. He smelled strongly of firewhiskey and sweat. "I'm sorry about killing you and all," he said into Harry's ear, while his beard scratched the boy's neck. "I'd tell you it won't hurt, but it will, I'm sorry. But it's better this way. For both of us, and for Reggie."

He stood and pushed Harry away before he tapped his wand to the wall. Around Harry, all the doors slammed shut, and he could hear similar echoes from the stairs where those doors shut as well. The manic wizard walked to the front door and turned to Harry, smiling brilliantly. "I don't know what Lily was planning for you, but this is better, it really is."

He opened the door, and on his doorstep was a solid wall of writhing, teeming Dementors. "Come in and get us, you ruddy bastards!" Black called. He threw his arms back as if in welcome or benediction, and with his welcome the Dementors surged into the home. Black continued to laugh wildly as the skeletal hands clawed at his arms and face.

Harry watched in horror as the man's magic was sucked right out of him, leaving nothing but a cold, empty shell. When Black was dead, the Dementors turned their featureless black faces to him. The air around him turned bitterly cold.

He raised his wand and shouted, "Expecto Patronum!" but nothing happened, not even a mist. He tried again and again, but his happy memory was lost in a haze of fear, and even without Dementors nearby he had never been able to summon more than a mist.

He felt cold, icy fingers on his skin and on his face, and black, demonic shadow pushing painfully against his magic. No, not just pushing, but pulling as well. However, in the very back of his mind, he also heard a woman's voice, whispering to him.

I will always love you, Harry. Beyond life, beyond death, I will always be a part of you, my precious boy. A sudden, profound wave of warmth rushed through him from his scar down, leaving him tingling almost to the point of pain in its absence. With the wave of warmth came a memory, but one he could not possibly have experienced himself. It was of a tiny baby with a tuft of thin black hair, wrapped and still glistening from the womb.

Harry looked down at the thick, white swell of a breast and held the baby to the engorged nipple. There was at first a brief flicker of pain as the baby's magic reached out to form the first and most important bond a wizard or witch could ever make—and within him he felt his own magic respond as the baby pulled deeply on his milk.

It was a moment of utter, complete peace and contentment; a perfect moment out of an imperfect life. It was the moment Harry bonded with Lily; the moment son bonded with mother from the perspective of the mother. It was his mother's memory, somehow lodged in his mind.

White light roared up from his chest, while a thick band of silver memory rushed down from his mind, colliding in a perfect storm of white magic as he raised his wand to the hoard of hungry demons. Fighting for breath, he gasped, "Expecto Patronum!"

A silver phoenix erupted from his wand, bathing the blackened room in pure white light. Dementors howled in pain as they backed away from him, but as quickly as it came, the trilling phoenix faded away. The pure, beautiful moment passed, leaving Harry so profoundly tired it was a struggle to even keep his eyes open, despite the renewed threat of the Dementors.

Before they could approach, though, the room erupted in a column of red-yellow flame. The air rang with a trilling sound, as if a million song birds were singing counterpoint to a tabernacle choir. The sound lifted Harry up while at the same time overwhelming him. The fire brushed past him, warm without burning, and when it faded a single ancient figure stood between him and the horde of Dementors.

Dumbledore did not need words to cast magic. Harry watched from behind as the venerable headmaster summoned his magic like a conductor leading a symphony. The magic welled up from his chest, while silver streamed unbroken from his mind, and from his wand emerged another phoenix, this one twice the size of Harry's. The dementors screamed in anger against the white magic. Where the phoenix Patronus struck the lead two, the demons simply puffed out of existence like balloons, only without the pop. The rest backed away, retreating from the white magic until they left the house entirely.

The ancient wizard turned to face Harry, his face filled with righteous anger and magic. "Are you well, Harry?"

Too exhausted to speak, he could only nod. Thus assured, Dumbledore turned and walked over to where Sirius Black lay sprawled, dead on the floor. He bent over slowly, as if with great effort, and with two fingers pulled the man's still staring eyes closed. "Sirius, my foolish boy," Dumbledore said softly, his head bowed.

He stood even slower than he knelt and walked back to Harry, who was fighting to keep his eyes open. "What you did was simply astounding, Harry," the ancient wizard said, "but for now, you must rest. Help shall be with us shortly—the moment Black dropped his house wards we could detect you. Close your eyes—I promise to stay with you."

With that promise, Harry closed his eyes and let the exhaustion pull him into a deep, profound slumber.

~~Firebird~~

~~Firebird~~

Harry woke gradually, as if fighting off a great weight. When at last he was able to open his eyes, he saw Remus Lupin sitting next to his bed, reading what looked like a rather unsavoury Muggle bodice-ripper.

"The Lovers of Lucy Larimer? Really, Professor?"

Lupin looked up in surprise at Harry, down at the book, and then grimaced and quickly put it back in his coat. "I read it for the historical parts."

"That's what Aunt Petunia told Uncle Vernon too," Harry said, not buying it for a moment.

Giving up the pretence, Lupin laughed lightly. "I'm glad to see you awake. You'll have time to actually take your exams. I understand you missed your tests your first year."

"Now that you mention it, I am still pretty tired," Harry said. He yawned convincingly.

"Sorry, Harry, but you're taking those tests."

Harry yawned anyway—he really was tired. The two sat in silence for a long minute before Harry asked the question that dominated his thoughts since he woke. "Professor, did you really…?"

"Really what, Harry?"

Harry looked down at his clenched hands. "Black said my mum was…that she slept around."

"I don't think three men over a lifetime, is sleeping around," Lupin said lightly. "Though, I suppose in a magical context it would be since a bonding is permanent. But in Muggle terms, well—according to Lily, Petunia slept with six or seven men before she settled for Vernon. Believe it or not, he was the best of the lot."

"I don't believe it."

"Everything is relative. The rest were far worse." Lupin's faint smile faded. "Harry, Lily had an extraordinary control over her magic—to an extent very, very few other people did. She credited her work with Occlumency for it. Regardless, she was able to have relations with a wizard without forming a bond. But don't think she treated this lightly. The first man she slept with was one she genuinely loved and wanted to be with."

"You mean Snape?" Harry said, astounded.

"I mean Snape," Lupin confirmed. "They had quite a lot in common, despite their different backgrounds. But unfortunately they entered into the relationship with different expectations. He expected her to bond with him and be his first wife. She expected him to love her and her alone, with no other wives. When the bond failed to take, he said some things he later regretted, and she ended their friendship. While I won't pretend to be Professor Snape's friend, I understand why he acted the way he did."

Harry's throat constricted suddenly as he said, "What about you, Professor?"

Lupin's smile turned pained, and sad. "Harry, I am a werewolf. What do you remember from class about what happens if a werewolf were to bond with a witch?"

Harry's eyes widened in horror. "They would kill the werewolf to free the witch of the bond. Lycanthropy can be passed on to children."

Lupin nodded. "I am not allowed by law to marry, Muggle or witch, for fear of infecting my wife, or potential children. That means I cannot bond with a witch. Lily found out I was a werewolf after she and Snape broke up. We were good friends, Harry. I loved her, if you must know, and I think in her own way she loved me. What we shared was a gift. Her gift to me—something I've never experienced before or since. I know it may hurt you to realize your mum was not perfect, but whatever else can be said, she was not cruel."

"What about what she did with Aunt Petunia?"

Lupin laughed suddenly. "I never said she wasn't vengeful," he said. "Petunia was not a very nice person, at all. Not then, and not now. The infamous accidental magic incident you've not doubt heard of? The one that momentarily killed your grand mum? That happened when Petunia started beating Lily up after McGonagall left, and their mum was trying to break up the fight. Petunia was a bully, plain and simple. I'll admit tying a blood ward to her was perhaps harsh, but there is no one who deserves it more than Petunia, and it kept you safe for almost ten years."

Harry nodded as he absorbed this new aspect of his mother's personality. "Sirius said she stole my dad."

Lupin shrugged. "She poached a wizard from within her own year. Every witch tries, so she wasn't unique in that aspect. The difference was that Lily was the witch every boy in school wanted to be poached by. James was sitting studying charms in the library when she walked up to him, sat down, and bonded him on the spot. Sirius, Peter and I were just coming out of class when she did it, and we saw him just burst out with giddy laughter."

"Did they even know each other?"

"Of course they did, Harry. They were year mates. James even had a crush on her. He just never thought anything would come of it. And it happened so fast—no one before then ever heard of a bonding like that. Again, it was Lily's control over her magic that let it happen. And James did have a genuine crush. I think that's when things started going wrong for Sirius, though."

"What do you mean?"

"Harry, bonds mostly happen during sex. When Lily bonded James, they…well, they had to consummate the bond fairly quickly or it would drive them both around the bend. Even though Lily's parents wouldn't allow them to marry immediately, they were bonded and moved into the married quarters. They were both sixth years. That was essentially the end of the Marauders. Oh, we still pretended for a while, but James was always the heart of the group. I was the brains, Sirius was the will, and Peter was…whatever Peter was. Regardless, without James we just drifted apart. Sirius ranted about it for days, but it was only when he stopped ranting that I realized how angry he was."

The rest, unfortunately, Harry knew. "And now he's dead."

"He's dead," Remus confirmed. "He, James, and Peter. And they wonder why the wizarding population is in such trouble? In peace we can live centuries, and yet peace is something none of us have ever known."

"What about Sirius's brother, Reggie?"

"You mean Regulus? Oh, he died the day after Voldemort disappeared. Some of his followers believed Sirius had betrayed them and led their master into a trap. I was one of the only ones at his funeral."

"But he insisted his brother was alive."

Lupin reached over and took Harry's hand. The tell-tale shock of contact was over quickly. "Harry, Sirius was a broken man. Dementor exposure does that to even the best of us. The friend I knew once long ago died the day he let himself be dragged into Voldemort's service. He was a good friend once, and that is how I wish to remember him."

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault, Harry. And think of it in another way—the Black family was one of the only patriarchal lines left in England—dating back to the Romanized Celts. Sirius was the last male head of house for his line of the family, and controlled a sizable fortune. The Black Coven was through his Uncle Alphard, so he didn't own everything, but he owned a lot. He never updated his will, not since 1980."

"What does that mean?"

"It means, Harry, that you were his godson, and in the absence of blood heirs his sole inheritor."

"So does that make me a lord or something?"

Remus snorted. "Lord? Merlin, no! Wizard society did away with the peerage centuries back. Covens wouldn't have any type of patriarchal, lineage-based nobility interfering with their own power. It does, however, make you quite wealthy, so be on constant guard against poaching."

"Oh, okay," Harry said.

"Well, I'll leave you to it. Classes are almost over, and I'm sure your roommates and teammates will want to see you. Congratulations on the Quidditch Cup, by the way. Your father would have been proud."

"And Mum?"

Lupin gave him a long searching look before he said, "I think, Harry, you are more your mother's son than anyone realizes, possibly even you. She was a firebird, Lily was." Patting Harry's hand one last time, the professor stood and walked out of the Hospital wing.

Of course, the whole school was awash with rumours, and the Daily Prophet ran article after article talking about how long Harry must have been tortured at the hands of the Insane Sirius Black. The articles even capitalized "Insane" as if it was now officially a part of Black's name.

He told Neville and Ron about what happened, since truly there wasn't much to tell. He decided to leave out the Patronus part, though, because he wasn't even sure he believed it, nor was he sure it was strictly his power that summoned it. Instead, he told everyone how Dumbledore appeared amidst a pillar of fire and drove back a whole army of Dementors single-handedly.

The awe-struck expressions his classmates and teammates sent to the head table seemed more appropriate to Harry. Dumbledore really was a hero; Harry was just a stupid kid who let himself get kidnapped. Yes, it was better this way.

~~Firebird~~

~~Firebird~~

The League of Extraordinary Parents assembled as normal at King's Cross Station. They made casual greetings, as if they had not all been speaking to each other non-stop over the past term on their computers. Hermione was the first one through the barrier, and just like the last two summers she looked like a perfectly ordinary fourteen-year-old girl in trousers and a nice blouse, while she dragged her wheeled trunk behind her.

Almost on her heels came her good friend and roommate, Deanna Thomas. Denise Creevey followed on their heels, as did Justine Finch-Fletchley, Terri Boot, and the newest child of the group, another second year named Demelza Robbins. Her parents, Tim and Marian Robbins, had been exceedingly grateful for the group as they adjusted to the shock of having a witch for a daughter.

Calliope gave her daughter a long, loving hug. With Hermione under the veil, the shock wasn't nearly as startling, and could almost be passed off as static. "Oh, how you've grown!" she said.

"Muuuum!" Hermione said with a role of her eyes.

Deanna snickered, while Denise said, "Mum! Mum! Look, I've got boobs!"

Justine Finch-Fletchley laughed. "Just don't go flashing them at everyone. I heard that Professor Binns almost died on the spot!"

"Denise, you didn't!" Allie Creevey said, aghast.

"Didn't mean to," Denise said, thoroughly deflated.

Deanna laughed. "She was comparing sizes with a couple of other girls and they sort of forgot Professor Binns was there. It's easy to do. The man is so old he's like a ghost."

After a round of fond farewells, the families parted ways. During the drive home, Hermione reached into her trunk and removed a palm-sized wooden box. Her parents pretended not to notice as she removed one of several bracelets from the box and held it up in the centre of the space.

"We're clear," she said.

Immediately Calliope turned and accepted the bracelet. "So how does it work?"

"The crystal on the bracelet lights up. It gets brighter the closer you get to the charm, until it erases it entirely. According to the squib in the store we visited, they set the monitors up in the house and then just forget about them unless you say one of several trigger words, and that's when they start paying attention. If we erase all the monitoring charms, they'll never know or even care. It's also perfectly legal since I am a witch, and I can say these were a gift."

"How many did you get?"

"Six. They were really expensive, Mum. I'm afraid I had to empty out my school vault and Justine had to help."

"They're worth it," Edwin said. "And the other families—at least those who can—will split the difference. Sir Marcus and I will go halves for Deanna and the Creeveys."

"Good," Hermione said. "Because I learned a lot about how the magical world works this year. The Wizengamot may do the talking, but it's the Covens that make the rules. There is not a single Muggle-oriented coven. Most Muggleborn don't get to participate in the government at all unless they marry into a family that belongs to an existing coven. And even older families sometimes lose their covens. Susan's aunt lost her entire coven in the last war, and even though she's the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, she had no voice in policy until she realigned her family with another coven."

"So where does that leave us?"

Hermione shrugged. "I'm still working on that part. And you'll never believe what happened to poor Harry this year…."

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Author's Note: Very special thanks as always to Teufel1987, JR and Miles for beta reading.