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Chapter 7

That single statement set off a shockwave, it had only taken minutes for a large group to congregate back in the champions' tent after the first contestant had finished. They were led by the man that Harry now identified as the bearded idiot, followed closely by minister moron, and dumbass in a derby. Each had even picked up a follower! Harry chuckled to himself, a toad, a red head, and a grease ball walk in to a bar…nah… it still wouldn't be that funny, it tried too hard.

Albus rushed over, "Harry, Mr. Ollivander informed us that you have no wand?" he asked with a concerned tone.

Harry stood, ignoring the man, and walked to the tent flap where the contestant... Fleur? Was that right? had entered with a limp and singed robes, and carrying a golden egg almost too large for her arms to wrap around comfortably. "Miss? Would you like some help? Those burns look painful." He offered his hand, which she hesitantly took.

"Merci.. Thank you," she said with a small smile.

"Not a problem. It is only polite." He started leading her away.

"Now see here! We..." started the Minister only to be cut off.

He turned, anger present in his eyes, "I have no idea how you people are taught, but where I'm from we help the injured first!" He continued to help the limping woman behind the screens where the healer smiled at him.

"Idiots," he said under his breath. "Miss Pomfrey, it seems you have your next patient," he said helping the young woman up onto the table.

"So it would seem, Mr. Potter. Thank you for your help," she said.

He nodded at her, then looked back at Fleur. "And you need to remember, flames will not improve your tan." He gave her a joking smile and a pat on her hand, then stepped back around the dividers into the chaos of voices beyond.

Fleur sat there with an odd look on her face, seemingly confused until Madam Pomfrey explained the joke in French and she began to giggle. "What an unusual young man," she mused.

As Harry returned he was assaulted with questions, he ignored them as he walked back to the chair Mr. Ollivander had used, and sat. The men's voices collided becoming a roar, finally Albus pulled to the front and yelled, "Gentlemen! Please, we need to get to the bottom of this!"

He turned back to face the person in question. "Harry, would you please explain what you said to Mr. Ollivander?"

"He asked to see my wand, I said I don't have one. End of story." He pulled out his water and the offensive protein bar and took a bite, his face twisted into a grimace. "God that's awful," he said chewing then swallowing, immediately followed by a large gulp of water.

"Harry you need a wand to compete..." Albus began, "Are you sure i-it's not in your bag?" He was starting to get a bad feeling about this and could feel sweat blossom on his brow.

Harry looked at the man and shrugged, he unzipped the bag and upended it onto the ground. Things bounced and clattered as they impacted the hard packed earth. "Let's see," he said, kicking at things with his foot. "First aid kit, disgusting things Tannim calls food, water bottle, sunglasses case, and my wallet. Nope, no hunk of wood." He shook his head and looked at the gathered group.

"Potter," said the man he had identified as grease ball. "Quit being obnoxious and wasting our time!" he said turning with a flourish making his robes billow. "He's just like hi-"

"Hey McGreasy! How did you do that twirly thing? That's kind of cool." Then he bent over and scooped everything back in the bag. "Look I don't know anything about a wand, and it would probably be as useful to me as the tits on a boar hog… Might be able to use a pair as drumsticks. I beat a fair set of skins." He took another bite of the bar, made a face and washed it down with gulp of water. "Nope, this crap is inedible." And he tossed the remainder in the bag.

Harry looked up at the group. "Did you find me a copy of this supposed contract yet? And the thing that came out of this cup of yours?"

The group looked at each other then at Dumbledore; the minister spoke first, "Dumbledore! What, exactly is going on here?"

A voice came from the door way, "Yes, Albus I'm sure all of us would like to hear an explanation of this." Sirius had returned, with Madam Bones standing next to him. "Answers to things like; Why was Harry over in the Colonies? Why does he not know of Hogwarts? His Parents? Their Friends? His Godparents? Please tell us where he's been all these years. What has he been doing? What form of training and schooling has he had?" Sirius stepped closer, anger and pain plain on his face. "Where has he been Albus, I've had enough of your lies and half truths. We," he said gesturing to Madam Bones, "have been looking for him from the day I was released! You, have been looking for him longer! You, knew where he was at one time! You, put him there!"

Harry's head snapped to Dumbledore. "You," Harry charged from the chair, and collided with the old man the impact carrying both of them to the ground, Harry landing atop of him, "You! Put me with them!" he screamed, as his right fist descended impacting with a sickening 'Crunch!' and blood flew from the old man. "You left me with them!" His left hand fell with a crushing blow. "Five years!" His right fell again. "Five years of HELL!" Another left, tears were now falling from him. "Five years!" A blue beam of light collided with his side and he stiffened, all of his limbs going rigid and he toppled over next to the target of his rage, his eyes still locked on him, hatred and pain evident on his face.

Amelia was immediately next to him, turning him so she was looking into his pain filled eyes. "Harry!" she said trying to catch his eyes. "Harry! Look at me! It's over! You're not there anymore! You're safe!" She cast a finite, releasing the spell she had cast, and gathered the young man into her arms. "Shhhh… It's ok Harry." She looked at Sirius, and tossed her head toward the exit.

"Everybody out!" he said to the group.

"Now see here, Black! I have every-" the Minister started.

Sirius whirled on the man. "AND I AM THIS BOY'S GODFATHER! Chosen by his parents to look after him!" he spat out into Fudge's face. "Something that was denied to me because the Ministry," he said with contempt, "never gave me a trial! Then this…." he kicked Dumbledore in the leg. "this…"

"Ass" Harry supplied weakly.

The corner of Sirius's mouth twitched up, "Thank you Harry. This ASS put him with the last people that they would have wanted! You saw his reaction! Can you imagine how they must have treated him?"

Fudge looked uncomfortable, and mumbled something unintelligible. Then Amelia spoke quietly still holding Harry close. "According to Harry, it was bad enough that they are in Muggle prison." Looking up at the group she said, "Go, all of you, and if I see or hear one word of this I'll know who is responsible," looking at each man in turn. "Take him to Madam Pomfrey, and get out. Snape," she said looking at the greasy haired man, "go find McGonagall and have her find what Harry wanted, the slip from the cup and a copy of the contract, he deserves to see it." The look she gave them left no room for dissent, so they did as they were asked.

After the group left Sirius and Amelia sat with Harry on the floor, both quietly waiting as he recovered himself. He slowly looked up at them. "Sorry about that," he said waving his arm toward the blood-stained floor. "My therapist said I have a few anger issues concerning them." He took a deep breath, held it a second and blew it out. Then spoke again looking at the ground between his knees. "The Dursleys…."

He looked at Sirius out of the corner of his eye, "Did you mean it? A-are you my godfather?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Sirius answered quietly, his eyes glancing toward Amelia then back to Harry. "Yes. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you." His eyes brimmed with tears, you could feel Harry's anger build as his body stiffened.

"Harry," Madam Bones rested a calming hand on his leg." You need to hear the entire story before you react… Please, Harry, Sirius made a dumb mistake, and has paid dearly for it." Harry stared deeply into her eyes, she instinctively knew breaking the gaze would cost her the little bit of trust she had gathered since meeting him.

He slowly turned to the man beside him, and looked him in the eye his rage tightly contained. Sirius faltered for a moment then began. "I-I was your father's best friend, we grew up together, went here to school together." He waved a hand in the general direction of the castle, "We were like brothers." He smiled, softly. "He met your mother here."

Taking a deep breath he continued, "There was a war, a man that called himself Lord Voldemort, and his followers, were trying to take over our world. Your parents, myself and many others stood against them, I won't lie to you about it…" He looked at Amelia, she nodded. "It was not going well. His followers are very powerful politically, and they used that and fear to paralyze our government.

"Your parents were exceptional people. They stood in the line of fire many times, helping however they could, till Lily became pregnant." Sirius smiled at the memory, "They were so happy, your father strutted around. Then we obtained some disturbing information..."

He looked at Harry, then away. "He had targeted you." Harry looked at him in confusion.

"Harry, terror was a tool to him." Amelia had continued, "Two couples had been remarkably successful in their ability to stand, and rally people against him, your parents the Potters, and the Longbottoms. Both had even fought directly against him and survived on more than one occasion. They had become a symbol, a rallying point for those that did not follow him. What better way to both terrorize and destroy the symbol, and possibly break them than to kill their children."

Sirius took a deep breath and let it out as he began again. "Soooo. They all went into hiding soon after you were born." He let out a chuckle. "Neville, the Longbottom boy, was born the day before you. Both to be hidden by a particularly powerful spell, it was incredibly difficult and taught to them by Dumbledore, I never did find out where it came from, the Fidelius Charm. It hides information so completely that unless you have been told by the person designated in the spell as 'secret keeper' there is no way to even see what is being protected."

He looked up into Harry's eyes, "I was supposed to be the 'secret keeper' for the home we had quietly obtained for them, but-" he sighed, "right before it was cast we decided that would be too dangerous. I was widely known as James's best friend, I would be the logical choice, so we switched keepers…."

He looked down again. "I suggested it… We had two other great friends when we were here, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew…" He spat the last name. "Remus… Remus has an issue that… made him unsuitable. So we settled on Peter….. That was our mistake, Peter had become a spy for them.

"I don't know when it happened or how," he provided, "but somehow that monster had won our once friend to his side." He sucked in a breath, "It was Halloween, 1981 when he, Lord Voldemort, attacked your home… When I arrived, Hagrid, the game-keeper was already there and was holding you in his arms…"

His eyes filled with tears as he looked at the young man. "That is when I made a mistake that will haunt me even after I die… I left you with him…" Tears rolled down Sirius's face. "I just left you with him… I knew the only way you could have been found is if Peter had told someone… I went after him."

He continued after collecting himself, "At first I was worried… He was a friend, but after searching his place, I knew… I knew, that he had betrayed us… I searched for him, and finally caught up with him on a road in a muggle community, where he blew up a gas line… The blast killed thirteen people, my shield held but I was knocked unconscious and he escaped.

"When I came around, I was… I was lost. My suggestion had killed your parents, I was blaming myself… I must have said something about it out loud and the Aurors that heard took it as a confession of guilt," he said quietly, and his voice drained away.

Amelia continued, "He was in Azkaban, our prison, before the day was out. No trial was held, he was the killer of the Potters. The man that betrayed them, no one ever said anything about it. That was the day you became the Boy-Who-Lived. The child that defeated the Dark Lord Voldemort. Sirius spent twelve years in prison, till he escaped last year, and captured Peter Pettigrew. He has suffered too Harry, please don't hold it against him. He may be an idiot," Sirius snorted a half laugh, "but he's a good one."

Harry studied the man's face, then reached out a hand. "It is nice to meet you Mr. Black."

Sirius smiled, they needed to start somewhere, best start from the beginning. "It's nice to meet you Mr. Potter," he said moving to take the offered hand.

"It's Harry," Harry replied.

"Sirius." They shook hands.