The Hidden Floor
Sirius led Harry to a floor, which Harry hadn't noticed before. It was clean and bright. No dust and darkness anywhere!
"Wow! Can I live here? It's so much better than the rest!" Harry said, jokingly.
"Sirius chuckled, "Sure pup, I had hoped you would but was told you wanted to share a room with Ron..."
"Hell no! he is my best mate, but he snores like three old men together and I cannot cast magic here!"
"Actually, you can, but I was told to keep my mouth shut about that. I will only do so with other people's kids from now on. Not my own!"
Harry felt warmth blossom in his chest and tears spring into his eyes. He sniffled and was pulled into a hug, "Hey son. I mean it! I've got you."
Harry cried a bit. It was a totally forgotten feeling, being held while crying. Strange that. He quickly pulled himself together.
Sirius ruffled Harry's hair and smiled at the boy.
"Let's look for a room for you," he said.
"Yes!"
"Well, this is my room," he opened a door to a bright room, with beige walls and red and gold accents.
"Very Gryffindor," Harry said.
"Too much?"
"Nope, it's great, just not for me. I have this color scheme 10 months a year after all."
"All right. Then let me show you the Blue Room."
Three doors to the right of Sirius' room, Harry was shown a room, in blue and brown colors of many shades. Light and dark. He loved it and he said so.
"Then it is your room."
"Thanks! Uh, now I have to brave the downstairs to get my stuff."
"You don't. Kreacher!"
"Master calls for Kreacher?"
"Please get Harry's things for him. He will live in this room from now on."
"Right away, sir," the elf said agreeably and popped away.
"Am I in an alternative universe?"
Sirius chuckled, "It's an act, the muttering, and the insults, I mean. We came to an agreement when I moved in, and he learned that Voldemort has returned. He hates that monster. But he doesn't like non-traditional people and how they behave in this house, at all. And he is right, now that I think of it. I was much too passive before, wallowing in my guilt and pain and trusting the others to know better than me, but when Albus tried to read and rearrange something in my mind just now, I noticed, being altered. And you not knowing that you were an heir and –"
"Sirius, breathe! Can we sit down, and you tell me this a little more slowly and in more detail?"
"Yes, sorry. Come, there is a room, where we can hang out."
Harry was led into a comfortable living room, full of overstuffed couches and they fell into them.
"So, what stayed with me is that the headmaster tried to rearrange your mind?"
"Yes, very subtly. But I was on high alert, due to your hearing and his uncommon behavior"
"And what did he do exactly? Did he try to make you forget?"
"No, he tried to pull my anger, pain, and irresponsibility to the forefront of my mind. Very advanced stuff, I think. But he did it as easy as breathing."
"That is scary!"
"Yes, it is. We need protection against mind magics!"
"Are there things we can do?"
"Yes, long-term, it would be best if you learned to occlude your mind. But it takes years to learn it. We need something short-term, right now!"
"Maybe by doing that, it would weaken the strange link I have to Voldemort, too?"
"Good thinking! Well, nothing to it. We need to don the rings."
"What? I am not marrying you!"
"What? No!" Sirius laughed loudly, "Not what I meant! No, we old families have family rings, which protect us from mind magics and poisons and such. I just evaded them till now, because I am the oldest male Black - well the only male Black and the ring will choose me as Head of my family. And I wanted to shirt that responsibility… or was made to... Damn."
"But I am no Black family member."
"You are my godson in the old traditional way, and my heir, so you are. And we are related somehow as well. There is a little bit of Black in you," Sirius grinned toothily.
"I wish wizards had dentists," Harry murmured.
"Tooth healers? Ugh, don't remind me about that conservation I had with your friend Hermione," Sirius shuddered. "Why did you say that?"
"Uh..."
"Come on, pup! Spit it out."
"I just wish the wizarding world had tooth healers because so many of you have really ... uh..."
"…really ugly teeth?"
"Yeah."
"Me too?"
"Yeah."
"Damn! Sorry! Kreacher!"
Pop
"What can Kreacher do for Master Sirius?"
"First of all, are there family rings in this house somewhere? We need two."
"Finally! Kreacher has them!" He reached into his surprisingly clean tunic (did he glamor himself, when downstairs?) and produced two little ring boxes and handed them to Sirius. "What else does you need, sir?"
"An efficient tooth potion. The expensive kind."
Sirius was handed a vial with a white potion coming from within the folds of Kreacher's tunic.
"Anything else, Master?"
"Do you have anything else with you, that you think I desperately need?"
Sirius was handed a comb.
"Anything else?"
"No, master."
Harry sniggered.
"Quiet, you! Now, wait here a moment, I need to go to the bathroom."
Three minutes later, Sirius was back. He was freshly styled and grinned widely at Harry, showing off his white and straight teeth.
"Wow! It's that easy?"
"Yes, that's why some of us forget."
"What is Snape's excuse?"
"No idea."
"Did you tell Hermione about that potion?"
"I didn't get a word in, edgewise."
Harry sniggered again, "She will freak out!"
"Oh, dear! Warn me, before you tell her?"
"Where would be the fun in that? Now, about those rings?"
The Rings
"Right. Let me put mine on first, not that you get made Head of House Black. Molly would kill me!"
Harry watched intently as Sirius put on a simple golden ring. It easily slit onto his finger and then changed into a heavy, golden signet ring. It looked right at home on Sirius' finger.
Much more surprising and alarming was, that the man fell back against the backrest twitching and groaning, and black goo ran out of his ears and nose.
"Sirius!" Harry rushed to the panting man, who pulled out a cloth and started to clean his nose and ears with a handkerchief, evenly spreading the black stuff all over his face, making Harry giggle.
Sirius pulled out a mirror and scoffed at the sight he made. He spelled the goo away, then.
"What was that?"
"My guess would be, lots of residue of dark magic from my childhood and the Dementors. It collects if one does not do the cleaning rituals, which I always decided to do later, somehow."
"And how do you feel now, and didn't you have family rings as a child?"
"I feel better than ever actually and no, mother forbade us to wear them."
"Horrible woman!"
"You can say that! Now, if the ring ejects dark magic, better lay down before putting it on. Who knows, what residue the Killing Curse left"
"Ugh, ok."
Harry did just that and Sirius handed Harry the ring.
"Which finger?"
"Right-hand ring finger."
Harry put it on and watched as it shrunk to fit him and morphed into a smaller version of Sirius' signet ring. He then felt magic wash through him like a warm wave, starting on his right-hand ring finger. When it reached the scars on his left and right arm and his head, he screamed. It felt like they were burned with hot pokers. But it didn't last long. First, the pain in his arms receded, and then the one in his head.
"Wow," he panted, his eyes crunched shut. Something was running into his right eye!
"Feel better now?" Sirius asked and vanished the black goo on Harry's face and coming out of his ears.
Harry blinked and looked at his arms then, pulled up his sleeves and held them out to Sirius to be cleaned, as well. There was black goo there that was being vanished, too.
He then took stock of his state of being and said, "I feel lighter! And less angry!"
"Good. Some dark cloud came out of your head and screamed. Scary shit!"
"Ugh! I just hope, that was my connection to Voldemort!"
"Me too! Now, the scar on your forehead opened a little again, but I healed that easily. How are your arms? Were you hurt there as well?"
Harry looked down and saw the puncture wound from the basilisk fang and the knife cut from the rat were open, too. So, he held out his arms once more and Sirius waved his wand and healed them easily.
The scars disappeared. Well, the one from the basilisk bite stayed, but was much smaller.
"Uh, I will tell you how I got those another time, ok? But if those scars are much smaller, does that mean…" Harry looked to Sirius, question clear in his eyes.
"It is nearly gone, Harry."
Harry beamed.
"Do you want to tell the others?"
A mischievous smile appeared on Harry's face. "Nope," he chirped. "Let them notice it by themselves."
"And let me guess, you will keep wearing your hair hanging over your forehead?"
"Yup."
Sirius laughed. It was just a small prank, but it was one! He then turned serious again. "Now tell me, Harry, the clothes you wear right now and the stuff you usually wear. Are they really fashion statements?"
"What idiot did say that?" Harry scoffed.
"Molly. And she had it from Albus."
"Wow. No, they are hand-me-downs. From my fat cousin. I hate them."
"Shit! Kreacher!"
"What can Kreacher do for the now much better-looking Lord Black?"
"Cheeky. Harry hates the clothes he has. Not the school stuff, but all of the ugly hand-me-downs. Could you do something about it?"
"Kreacher can. Only wizarding clothes or muggle wear as well?"
"Both," Sirius said. "Everything including head-, foot- and underwear."
Harry blushed and Kreacher held out his hand in his direction and moved it up and down and then said, "Right away, sirs." And popped away.
"Wow, this is a really productive day!"
"Oh yes! So, tell me about the Ministry."
"I wish you had a pensive!"
"Oh, I do. Wait here, I will get it."
Soon after, Sirius sat there blank-faced, his finger in the liquid, and Harry read a book he had found in the bookcase in this room.
He was just glad that viewing of a memory went much quicker than the duration of said events had been in reality, as he had dumped the memory from entering to leaving the ministry into the pensive. He sniggered at the thought that he was watching Sirius, who was watching his memory, with Sirius watching a pensive memory of Madam Bones watching a pensive memory.
Half an hour later Sirius appeared again.
"Merlin!"
"You may call me Harry."
"What?"
"Ok, you need time to digest."
"Yeah..."
Silence.
"You..."
"Me?"
"You made the Head of Magical Law Enforcement watch memories that prove Voldemort's return and my innocence?"
"Yup."
"I could kiss you!"
"There you go again, with the lovey-dovey stuff!"
"What?"
"First rings, now kisses?"
"Idiot."
Harry laughed.
"No. Seriously…"
Harry opened his mouth, but Sirius was quicker, "Shush! I need to say this! It was amazing how you first rendered Fudge's whole game-plan moot and turned the old geezers against him and then told Amy everything!"
"The thing with Fudge was accidental. I really just wanted to know, how they thought they knew about this ominous muggle. And Amy is who?"
"Amelia Bones, Madam Bones."
"You know her?"
"She was a young Auror when I started training. We always got along fine."
"She seemed rather clear-headed," Harry agreed. "But Dumbledore was strange, right?"
"Yes. He really was. He didn't want you to talk to her, that was obvious. And he doesn't want you to know, that you are of noble decent in our world."
"What do you mean?"
"The Potters and the Blacks are nobility, Harry."
"Really?"
"I am the Earl of Blackriver, and you will be Viscount of Godric's Hollow. This is really news to you?"
"Yes!"
"Well, damn!" You just earned yourself a crash course in all the fun things like comportment, ballroom dancing, manners, oh, and sword fighting."
"Sirius?"
"Yes?"
"Did everyone expect me to know all this stuff?"
"Yes."
"Shit."
"Yes."
Silence.
"When do we start?"
"After you ate something, sirs."
"Eeeks! Where did you come from?"
"Master Potter's room, Master."
"Right. Food. Yes, please bring it. I don't want to see that banshee right now."
"Mrs. Weasley means well!"
"Possibly, but I don't trust any of the adults here right now."
"Not even the twins?"
"Who in their right mind trusts these two?"
"Ok, dumb question. But in a pickle, I would trust them above anyone, except you."
"Understood."
The Rest of the Summer Vacation
Harry spent most of the rest of the two and a half weeks left of the summer holidays, learning everything Sirius and Kreacher could stuff in his head and body, via muscle memory.
The rest of the current inhabitants of 12 Grimmauld Place tried to interfere, especially Mrs. Weasley but the three just disappeared to the hidden floor where no one else could follow.
Obviously, Hermione asked right away about Sirius' teeth at dinnertime and Harry told her gleefully about the tooth portion. She just sat there open-mouthed and then started to rant, but not about the unfairness, that muggles didn't have it, as Harry and Sirius had expected her to, but about the sloppiness of so many witches and wizards. How her parents nearly had left again, after entering the Leaky Cauldron for the first time and seeing the barkeeper's toothless grin. And now she learned, a simple potion could change that?
Sirius said, "Uh, not so simp-"
She rounded on him immediately, "And you listened to all my explanations about dentists and didn't deem it necessary to tell me about this potion?"
"You didn't let me get a word in edge-"
"And why did you fix your teeth only now? I dropped enough hints, that they needed attention!"
"Uh, I didn't-"
"Men!" Hermione huffed and walked out with quick, hard steps, too incensed to let Sirius explain.
The rest sat there for a moment, speechless until Harry started sniggering and Sirius let his head sink to the table, only to be scolded by a slightly embarrassed Molly. She felt a little annoyed about strangers judging her world, but they had a point, too. Not that the girl was a stranger, she quickly corrected her own thoughts.
When Hermione later figured out Sirius taught Harry things and not her, she had the expected tantrum, but Harry asked her to give him time with his only real family and she relented quickly when he turned his puppy eyes on.
There was another instance, when she realized, that Kreacher had gotten the new clothes for Harry that she exploded, but this time Sirius took her aside and taught her firmly about house elves and their dependence on wizarding magic. He agreed with her, that some threatened their elves deplorably, and something should be done, but freeing them would not help them, at all.
He got her a big book about the origins of the elves and their bond to human magic users, and she was happily devouring it.
The only other thing she did, was bugging Ron and Harry (to an extent) to finish their summer homework. Harry was really quick and efficient about it, he had other things to learn right now! But Ron's last weeks at Grimmauld Place were exhausting. He had to spend all of his time, dodging his mum and Hermione hounding him about school work, and Harry disappeared every time, he turned his back on him! His friend had new clothes and started to act posh, too. Ron was really disgusted and a little jealous.
Harry's training quickly showed. He held himself differently and did neither slouch, shrug, nor do any of those uncouth things. Sirius had told him not to do them for a while. Later he could make a conscious decision to behave differently, but not for now.
Sirius had also decided to have Harry come over each weekend during the school year. Not for the company (well, that too) but for teaching Harry more.
Even though the staff of Hogwarts wanted to refuse, they couldn't go against the wishes of one of their highest lords they had. When they tried to strong-arm Sirius out of his decision, he threatened to throw the Order out and pull his support of the group. They quickly shelved their plan to make him see it their way.
But Harry got Sirius to agree to let him go to the Quidditch matches. But not for weekend training. Harry really needed all the time he could get, learning the things befitting his station.
Dumbledore didn't show up during that time. Other Order members said he was at the Ministry nearly daily, trying to speak to Madame Bones.
Harry spent the 31st of the month with his friends. Ron was a little standoffish, but Harry ignored it. He was tired of the jealousy and just couldn't be bothered anymore. At least they got their letters!
And wow, Ron was now a prefect. Harry was just glad he wouldn't be the one Hermione bossed around. But he didn't envy her either.
So, when she asked him when they were alone in the drawing room for a moment, if he was angry that he didn't get the badge, he looked at her and said, "No. That was always your dream. But I feel sorry for you a little, now."
She got defensive and said sharply, "Why?"
"Well, it just doesn't seem like such an honor anymore, when the laziest boy of our year gets the job. And you do know what that means, right?"
A now frowning Hermione said, "No? What?"
"They are counting on you to do his job, as well."
Hermione stared at him open-mouthed and then sat down hard.
"You are right," she whispered. "And this is our OWL year!"
"And you are expected to lug us through those as well."
Tears gathered in her eyes and Harry sat down next to her, laying an arm around her.
"When did you get so smart?"
Harry chuckled, "You are the smart one. I am just better at looking for hidden motives."
"I take everything for face value. It's my biggest flaw, my parents always tell me."
Harry nodded.
"You think so too?"
"Well, I don't see it as a flaw. You are trusting, not a bad thing in my mind. Means you didn't get disappointed badly enough yet. The problem I see is, that you think books don't lie."
"They don't!"
"Well books are written by humans and humans lie all the time."
"True. I never thought of it that way."
They sat there for a while, just enjoying the silence until Mrs. Weasley came in and demanded Harry's Gringotts key and Harry declined.
"But I need to get your supplies! Now hand it over."
"No, thank you, Mrs. Weasley, Kreacher will get my things. And Hermione's too."
"Don't be silly, I will get your things, it is no bother."
"I am not silly, and it is very uncouth to demand the key from a child. What would Bill say if he heard of it?"
She brushed that argument aside and said, "You never had a problem with it before!"
"I didn't know better, then, Mrs. Weasley."
"Give her your key! She is buying me a broom!"
Didn't Ron understand how bad that sounded? What it implied? Harry shook his head, plugged the list of supplies out of Hermione's hand, and just left to go to the hidden floor and called Kreacher.
"Master Harry wants Kreacher?"
"The list of supplies arrived at last. Could you get the things for Hermione and me?"
"Kreacher can."
The elf took the two lists and popped away.
When he got down again, Hermione whispered, "Thank you," and Ron glowered. But Mrs. Weasley was gone, at least, so she must have left already.
Ron started needling Hermione, "You heard that he is sending that house-elf, right? What about the slave labor now?"
"Since when do you care?" Hermione asked, actually interested.
"Who says I do?"
"So, you just want me to get angry at Harry? Is that it?"
Ron huffed in disgust and left the room. He was hungry anyway, he told himself. Deep down he knew he was being an idiot, but he just couldn't help himself.
"Why are we friends with him again," Harry asked rhetorically.
"You two were a package deal."
"Right. And he is my friend, he is just such a jealous git sometimes!"
"Yes, we all have our weak spots."
They chuckled, thinking of their conversation earlier.
"Ron is a jealous prick sometimes, you are too trusting sometimes, and I don't think things through and rush in hoping for the best not thinking about my own wellbeing, sometimes."
"Exactly. Let's give him a chance. But I will not do his prefect job for him, I decided. And I will not pull you both through the exams. Fair warning."
"So, noted. Better warn him as well."
"Ugh, he will explode."
"Do it in front of witnesses then."
"Yes, I will, thanks!"
A/N: Mrs. Weasley really only wanted to buy Harry's school supplies. She didn't want his key for nefarious reasons, I think.
