Chapter Summary: Alex/Harry's summer continues and he gets to meet Sirius Black.
Two days later, the front page of the Daily Prophet reported Peter Pettigrew's capture and how he was the one responsible for betraying Lily and James Potter to Voldemort and killing twelve Muggles, blaming it all on Sirius. Two trials were conducted, the first one a mere formality that found Sirius Black innocent, issued him a formal apology, gave him twenty thousand Galleons as compensation for his wrongful imprisonment, and requested that he get his Animagus form registered. Once Madam Bones had pointed out that Sirius had been wrongly imprisoned under Millicent Bagnold's term as Minister and Fudge would merely be correcting the mistake of his predecessor and Dumbledore had backed her up, there had been no difficulties whatsoever. Barty Crouch, who had been the one to send Sirius to Azkaban without a trial, was in disgrace with the Ministry, and there was talk of demoting him from his position as Head of the Department of International Wizarding Cooperation, which wasn't one of the higher Department Head position to begin with. The second trial entered the memories of all the witnesses present during Wormtail's questioning, minus the preteens', as evidence, and he was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban.
Sirius was released, relatively sane, and with the help of Remus and Lise Romanov, a Healer, he quickly recovered from his almost eleven years in Azkaban. Once he was well, he apologized to Snape for his bullying of the latter in school. Snape accepted the apology, though it was clear that they would never be friends. After that, Sirius asked about his godson.
"He's not with his Muggle relatives," said Lise. "You must swear to never reveal this to anyone, Sirius, but he is my adopted grandson."
Sirius stared at her in shock. After a moment, he said, "I swear to keep it a secret. Now, please explain what you mean by Harry Potter being your adopted grandson."
"Well, the Dursleys didn't want Harry, and a week after Voldemort's downfall, my daughter-in-law, Anastasia, caught Mr. Dursley leaving Harry on the doorstep of the church in her town. She took Harry, at first thinking that he might be Muggle and perhaps ought to go to an orphanage. When she saw the scar, she realized that he was a wizard, and so she and her husband, my son Stephan, decided to adopt him, making him the twin brother to their daughter Elisabeth. They gave him an Adoption Potion so that he'd look like a member of the family, renamed him Alexander Jacob Romanov, and even went to the Muggle courts to formally adopt him so that nobody can take him away from them. Alex was told the truth about his heritage the day he got his Hogwarts letter, and he has decided to not reveal himself, feeling that it would be safer that way. Outside of his adopted family, the only ones that know the truth are Alex's friends, Remus, Professor Dumbledore, and the Heads of House."
Sirius looked at Remus, who nodded. "Ana and Stephan contacted me a few weeks after they'd adopted Alex, since I had been friends with Lily and James, and explained everything to me. They didn't care that I was a werewolf, and offered to let me live with them and be given the Wolfsbane Potion in exchange for helping look after Alex and Beth and becoming their tutor when they were old enough. Mrs. Ilsa Petrov, Ana's mother, insisted that I make up with Severus first, since she had gotten to know him very well when he was her Potions apprentice and helped him through some difficult times in his life. I had no problem doing so, as I did feel rather guilty about the Marauders' treatment to him, and things progressed from there."
"So what does it all mean for me now?" asked Sirius. "I know I won't actually get custody of Harry, or should I say Alex, and I wouldn't want to remove him from his loving home, but can I at least spend time with him?"
"Of course," said Lise in surprise. "We wouldn't have let you in on the secret if we didn't intend to do that. Severus is godfather to my grandson Ivan, and they spend at least one afternoon a week together, and you are entitled to do the same with your godson, Sirius. Though you will probably have to include Beth, since she and Alex have rarely been separated ever since they became siblings, and Alex recently promised Beth to include her in all his happenings if at all possible."
"That's fine, Healer Romanov," replied Sirius. "I don't mind having a goddaughter in addition to a godson."
Lise then told him about the Romanov and Petrov families and the tradition they had of alternating dinner at each house on weekdays, and invited him to have dinner with them tonight so that he could meet everyone and spend time with Alex and Beth. Sirius immediately accepted.
Dinner was a wonderful affair, and Sirius soon found himself at home with the Romany families. He couldn't help wishing that his family had been like this. Everyone was very nice to him, and the children asked him some questions about his time at Hogwarts, which he gladly answered. After dinner, Alex and Beth went with him to the living room, where the two talked about their childhoods.
"My life was great," Alex concluded. "A million times better than what it would have been like if my relatives had decided to keep me. Since they apparently didn't want me in the first place, if they had kept me, I'd be neglected at best, and at worst, well, I've read enough books to know that not all children have happy childhoods." He looked somber at this. "I've never been spoiled or anything like that, of course, but simply had a regular childhood that most wizarding children have."
Beth nodded. "Alex is the best brother anyone could have, and even though he's my brother through adoption and not by blood, it doesn't change anything between else. We've done everything together, except for one thing-" here she threw him an annoyed look, "=and along with our parents, we love each other the most in the world."
"We've even been punished together," added Alex. "Including the one and only time we got spanked." Seeing Sirius's questioning look, he explained, "We were seven at the time, and I got the idea that it would be a brilliant prank to switch all the labels on Granny Ilsa's potions and ingredients. Beth agreed with me. Well, at that time, we were allowed to spend one night at month at our grandparents' homes. So when we spending the night with Granny Ilsa and Granddad Eli, we snuck to the workroom after they were asleep, wrote new labels, and pasted them to all the jars we could reach. Then we stuck new labels on the shelves of potions in the storeroom that we could reach."
"Mum and Granny Ilsa discovered what happened when they Summoned ingredients the next day for brewing and saw that they were mislabeled," finished Beth. "They quickly got to the bottom of this, spanked us, and then made it very clear why mislabeling potions and ungredients was dangerous and not funny at all. After that, we knew not to mess around with Potions. People have died or been seriously injured from a potion that went wrong and exploded."
Considering that Ana and her mother were Potion Mistresses, they would know about the dangers of brewing potions. "Well, they handled it properly. Anything else, Alex and Beth?"
They then told Sirius about the prophecy Ana had made and their first year at Hogwarts. "You faced Voldemort?" demanded Sirius in shock. "When he was possessing a teacher and trying to return to power with the Philosopher's Stone?"
Alex nodded. "It was scary, but I stood up to him and fought back. Mum thinks that when Mum Lily died to save me, she left some sort of protection on me and that's why Quirrell and Voldemort couldn't touch me. Professor Dumbledore agrees. But Grandmum Lise told me that I almost died fighing them, and Mum had me and Beth promise to try to avoid stuff like that again until it's time for me to fulfill the prophecy. She wishes I didn't have to, but if Voldemort went after me as a baby, he's not going to give up when he returns to power."
Sirius sighed, wishing the same, but knowing that his godson had a point. "Well, at least you'll be prepared for it, Alex."
"Yeah, but Beth and my friends insist on helping me. I know that in books the hero defeats the bad guy with the help of his or her friends, but I wish my friends didn't have to be involved in the danger. And after what Voldemort said to me, I've been wondering if Mum and Dad did the right thing in adopting me after all.:
Beth got up and left the room, returning a few minutes later with her parents. "Alexander Jacob Romanov, are you really questioning our adopting you?" snapped Ana.
"I just don't want Voldemort targeting you or anyone else in the family!" protested Alex. "If you'd never adopted me, then you wouldn't be targets!"
"We're against him, and have no problem in actively fighting against him, so we'd be targets regardless," said Stephan. "Alex, we knew what could happen when we adopted you, and chose to do so anyway. We love you and you are our son, even if it is through adoption. Your grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all understand the risks as well and are not about to abandon you."
"You may not have been born a Roma, but your upbringing has made you one," said Ana. "We do not abandon family. We understand that you desire to protect us, but that is unnecessary, Alex. Your father and I love you just as much as Beth, and we will do anything for the two of you. That's what good parents do. We have never regretted taking you in." She pulled him in a tight hug.
"I'm sorry, Mum and Dad, for questioning the adoption," whispered Alex. "I'm glad you did adopt me, it's just that I-"
"We know," interrupted Stephen, putting his arms arond his wife and adopted son and motioning for Beth to join them. "But we are capable to protecting ourselves, and we will face adversity together as a family. The Roma have faced adversity before and survived. And you know what your grandparents went through in the Holocaust."
Sirius got up and silently left the room at this point, not wanting to intrude on the familial moment. While he would give almost anything for James and Lily to be alive, he was grateful that his godson had found a loving family to stand-in for his biological one.
In the living room, Beth said quietly, "Alex, Mum and Dad are right. I'm glad to have you for a brother, and you are also my very best friend." She took Alex's hand and squeezed it.
After a minute, Ana left the room and returned with the rest of the family. "Apparently Alex has been worried about the fact that we adopted him, thinking that it has made our family a target for Voldemort. Stephan and I set him straight, but he might still have some doubts."
"I like having you for a cousin, Alex!" protested Jonas loudly. "Without you, we'd be one short of a Quidditch team. And I don't care if it's dangerous! V-Voldemort is scary, but I'd still fight against him and his Death Eaters once I'm older. Our family has faced scary things before."
Cara nodded. "Our grandparents survived the Holocaust, and Mum and Dad are Aurors and fought Death Eaters in the war. So stop being so silly, Alex. Ecen if our family never took you in, we'd still fight against Moldy-shorts."
Ivan snickered. "Moldy-shorts. That's hilarious, Cara. Anyway, Alex, they're right."
"I know," responded Alex. "I just hate the idea of the family being in danger because of me."
"You are not responsible for any of this," snapped Aunt Sarah. "None of us would ever side with the magical version of Hitler, and as we are all Romaby blood, marriage, or upbringing, most of his Death Eaters already look down on us and would consider us targets. We chose to stand against Voldemort, and would do so even if you hadn't entered out lives."
Grandmum Lise pulled Alex into a hug. "Perhaps you should have been in Hufflepuff, if you're being so noble and loyal and self-sacrificing that you're actually wishing that we'd never adopted you in order to protect us. Look, we know the risks. We have never regretted taking you in, and anyway, we're not any larger targets than before since Voldemort doesn't know who you really are at the moment, and we don't intend for him to find out until the time comes when you have to defeat him for good."
"I love you, Grandmum Lise," whispered Alex, kissing her on the cheek. He then looked at the rest of his adopted family and said, "I love you all as well."
"We love you too, Alex," said Vera solemnly, speaking for all the cousins.
Granddad Vladek cleared his throat and said, "And we adults all love you also."
After that, he and Granny Ilsa went to bed, and everyone else Flooed back to their respective homes, Alex, who had a bedroom of his own since he was four, elected to not go in and instead went to Beth's room, which they had shared back when they were toddlers. Their mother conjured a bed next to Beth's. Alex gazed silently at his sister. Ron and Neville were great friends and good for boy stuff, but when it came down to it, Beth was still his first and best friend and confidant. They had no secrets from each other, other than trivial stuff like what they were getting each other for Christmas or birthdays, or if one of their friends told them a secret and asked them to not tell anyone else.
"Things will be fine, Alex," said Beth quietly, undoing her braid so that her shining black hair fell almost to her waist. He had never thought about it before, but he suddenly realized that his sister was very pretty, even though she was currently clad in her nightgown. A protectiveness welled up through him, and he silently made a vow to keep her safe and not let any boy hurt her, before remembering that she was capable to defending herself and would hex any guy that tried to hurt her before Alex could do anything.
He nodded and then went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and change into his pyjamas. When he came out, Beth went to brush her teeth, and then the two went to bed, falling asleep while holding hands.
Author's Note: Beth and Alex/Harry only have a sibling relationship, and it is staying that way. Besides which, I have already planned out who they are going to end up with. There will be more Sirius in the next chapter, and Hermione will come over to visit.