Victoria shivered slightly, even though she had on a thick coat and had put a few warming charms on her before she left the manor that morning. She knew the shivering was from the black cloak-like figures floating on either side of the corridor she was in. She silently cursed whoever thought it was a good idea to use dementors for prison guards as she pulled her mental shields the highest they can go and clasped her hands together tightly in front of her to keep them from shaking. She slightly regretted giving them her wand when asked but knew she hadn't had a choice as it was the law. After she had dropped off the four boys at Longbottom Manor, where the twins had taken Neville by the arm and left the room with Percy and Henry, but not before they'd given her a goodbye hug each, she had made her way to Amelia's office. She'd then taken the floo to Azkaban Prison, where she was currently being led to the visitors' room. She was starting to regret offering to go visit her adopted brother.
The auror that was in charge of the prison opened the door for her and led her to a chair on one side of a large table, on the other side was another chair with hand and leg cuffs attached to it to limit the prisoners' movements and trap them in place. The guard bowed his head at her before leaving her in the room to wait for who she was visiting to be brought in.
She took a moment to collect her thoughts and take a deep breath to calm herself, before she heard footsteps heading her way. As soon as she'd looked towards the door, a shaggy haired man walked in with his head bowed, or was rather pushed in by the burly guard behind him.
"Hey! If I find out he's hurt in anyway, I'll make sure you regret it." She said in a quiet but commanding voice, threatening the guard silently, and he raised his brow questioningly but silently nodded his head in respect and agreement. Her voice was apparently all that Sirius needed to hear to raise his head quickly and stare at her, mouth gaping.
"Close your mouth Siri, you'll catch flies." She said to the man jokingly, and that seemed to snap him out of his shock long enough to do as she asked. He sat down, and was strapped to the chair before the guard left the room silently, allowing them to talk.
"How is this possible? Are you really Victoria?" Sirius asked quietly, voice cracking from disuse.
Victoria smiled sadly at her brother, finding it hard to believe that the handsome playboy who would flirt with anyone and was the biggest prankster at school could possibly be the same person that was sitting in front of her. The person in front of her had matted black hair with dirty black and white striped robes and eyes that were a dull grey instead of the bright grey -almost silver- eyes she was used to seeing, and a gaunt, unhealthily thin face. The sight the once lively and happy man had become was forcing her to hold back tears.
"In your sixth year, you called me on the mirror we charmed to act as a communication device the day after the Daytime full moon and asked me to come to Hogwarts; you were almost in hysterics. You said that something had happened and that the headmaster would call me as your guardian, since your father had given me the responsibility after my seventeenth birthday when I'd come of age. I came to Dumbledore's office and found out that you were being accused of baiting Severus into going to the Whomping Willow during the full moon the previous night and James had to save him. That day, you hadn't been feeling that well and had stayed in the dorm to try and recover to help James and Pettigrew with Remus at night. Pettigrew had used the opportunity to use Polyjuice Potion, went out as you and baited Severus into going to the Whomping Willow that night to see Remus transform during the full moon, which would have killed him. You took the blame even though it was a lie because you didn't want people to find out about Remus and that he could've killed a student if you hadn't warned James. The only people who knew about all of this were James, Severus, as I insisted on telling him, you and I." As soon as she was done telling him the story, he reached out for her and had tears streaming down his face.
She took his hands in hers and started stroking them, she wanted to give him a hug and tell him everything was alright but she couldn't. Instead, she let him cry, as he let all his pent-up emotions out. He kept repeating "You're alright, Vickie" quietly as if he couldn't believe it. She waited for him to calm down before she asked him the question she had wanted answered since she learned her brother was dead. "What actually happened on Halloween, Siri?"
"I...it was my fault." Sirius said, voice quiet yet obviously full of grief. He then proceeded to tell her about the switch, which she already knew about, and how he had gone to check on Peter, who had supposedly gone into hiding when he'd become the keeper, but had found his house empty. He then felt the protective wards he'd erected around the house, which were from the Black Family Grimoire, flare to life and knew that something had happened, but by the time he had gotten there it was too late. He had found James' body lying on the ground at the entrance of the cottage, while Aurelia had simply disappeared and Harry was crying his eyes out in Hagrid's arms as his forehead was bleeding. Sirius had taken the baby to calm him down and heal his head. When he had asked Hagrid how he'd known, Hagrid said that Dumbledore had sent him to take Harry to safe place. Sirius hadn't been thinking straight and Hagrid was getting more insistent and more violent, so Sirius had given Harry to him in the hopes that he'd take him to Hogwarts while he went and arrested Pettigrew, and then he would've gone to take Harry to his house, but he'd never gotten the chance. Pettigrew cornered him in a muggle street, shouted that Sirius had killed James and then he blew up the street, transformed into his rat form and escaped through the sewers, losing a finger in the process. Sirius was blown into a wall and had blacked out, when he'd woken up, he was in Azkaban with no way to tell anyone his story and no idea why he was there in the first place.
"The dementors keep forcing the memory into my head, so I took to analysing the events as a distraction and I noticed a lot of things that just didn't add up. How did Dumbledore know what happened, where was Aurelia, and why did Hagrid force me to hand over Harry?" Sirius said at the end, trying to clear his head of the painful memories by starting a conversation about his suspicions.
"It seems Dumbledore has a lot to answer for. He's spread a rumour that James had married Lily Evans and sent Harry to live with her muggle sister, who neglected and abused him. He also publicized the story of Halloween, but told everyone you were the secret keeper. He must have signed off on your prison sentence without giving you a trial too, as he is the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot." Victoria said, still angry about the manipulations.
Sirius started thinking about what he was just told and tried to tie it all with what he knew, only coming up with one conclusion that he didn't want to admit.
"What if he was after the Potter fortune and political power? If you're in a coma, Alice is unresponsive and I'm in Azkaban, then he could claim guardianship over Harry and get access to at least some of the fortune and the Potter Wizengamot seat."
"That…would actually make a lot of sense actually. The Potters never aligned themselves with the light even when James was a member of his Order, as we've always been a Grey family, while your family are dark and the title would have been given to you when your grandfather passed away, making Harry your heir as well. So, he'd have access to two seats on the other sides of the Wizengamot he has no control over, giving him the power to get any law he wants through. He'd also have access to enough money to fund any project he wants, including his damned order. If that's true, that man should be rotting in this hell for line theft." Victoria said, mortified at the thought of the old man having so much power at his disposal, especially since she never really trusted him like her brother did. Now her belief that he wasn't to be trusted was being reinforced tenfold.
They both stared at each other in horror at what they'd just realised. It seems Victoria woke up at the perfect time.
"Alright. I'll get the information you just told me to the minister and head of the DMLE, so you'll get a trial and be free at last. I already have official guardianship over Harry and I contacted your grandfather, so we've got these two problems covered, now all we have to do is put the blame partially on him during your trial and then discredit him in the next Wizengamot meeting." She said, looking at him questioningly to confirm the plan. At his nod, Victoria veered their conversation in a different direction. They started talking about what he's been hearing from the other prisoners, about the dark lord and his objectives, about how some of them were framed and had also not gotten trials. Victoria kept the names in mind so that she'd look into them. As soon as they started talking about what they'd do once he got free, the guard had come in to signal that visitation time was over.
"I'll see you soon, Siri." Victoria said, smiling at him, to which she got a slight smile from the man in return. She considered that a win. She vowed to herself then that she'd do anything in her power to get the smile she was used to back on his face, and help get back the Sirius that she'd known.
Meanwhile in Malfoy Manor, Harry was starting to realise how ignorant he actually was to everything. He listened as Draco, Fred and George, who he found out were his cousins, and Percy discussed something called Quidditch and stuff at Hogwarts that he had no idea about. As he continued to listen, Percy noticed that he had a confused furrow to his brows, so he sat next to him and started explaining quietly to him what the three were talking about, which Harry was very grateful for. He found himself focussing more on Percy's words and asking questions of his own, having fun learning about this new world. As they continued, his three cousins noticed and joined the conversation. The five taking the time to get to know each other as well.
"I have an idea!" Draco said suddenly, attracting their attention from the debate they'd been having. "Why don't we make a day out of this? Since Auntie Vickie will probably take a while and then she'll need to talk to Mum and Dad, we could go to the classroom here in the manor and each of us could take a subject and start teaching Harry about it. Then you three can teach Harry and I about Hogwarts as well." The others got excited by the idea and so they moved from Draco's admittedly large room to a classroom like hall in the manor where Draco took his tutoring sessions. Thus started Harry's introduction to the Wizarding World. Draco taught both the four about politics and Purblood Culture, as all their education had been lacking in that area, Percy took the more academic subjects like history while the twins taught him the basics of potions and casing in general.
Harry couldn't help but smile the whole day, he finally had people who were willing to help and take care of him when he needed it, and he couldn't be more grateful for the family he'd come across. While he was still nervous around his Aunt Vic and Uncle Lucius, as he didn't have the best experience when it came to adults, he at least knew he could trust his cousins to stand by him.