Sirius crept closer to the shack is his dog form. He'd never have thought a case about cauldron bottoms could be this interesting. Something about the bottoms being too thin, eroding quickly and spilling potions on the brewer with dangerous effects. That part was thankfully not his job, that was left to brainless bureaucrats. His job was to find the smugglers that made millions off of this illegal trade. And his intel told him the masterminds behind the operation was in the shack in front of him.
Sirius could feel the wards passing over him as he crept in. Luckily, with there only being a few registered, no one usually protects against animagi. The wards would simply tell whoever's listening that a medium sized animal crossed the boundaries.
Sirius continued to close in. Against the wall, a few feet from the door, he changed back to his normal form. He was wearing his standard DoM issued field uniform. The uniform projected a small field of protection against minor curses, powered by the user's magic. The field also projected a small illusion that protects his identity and anti-summoning protection, meaning neither the wearer or anything on his person could be summoned. One of the oldest tricks in the book is to summon a wizard's wand, or shoes, or something like that to get them off balance. Ok, maybe that's not from the 'nice' book, but Sirius never really liked that one.
"Reducto!" Sirius blasted the door in. While he still had the element of surprise, he dove in, quickly moving away from the newly created opening, where the first spells would be directed while the dust still settled.
A few flashes indicated he was right. Sirius fired off a few stunners, still moving to make himself harder to hit. When the dust had settled, Sirius counted three bodies. Casting quick diagnostic charms, he established two were still alive. The third was seemingly hit by a nasty bone-crushing curse one of the other bewildered bandits had shot at the direction of the door.
"Very well done, agent…" a voice said.
Cursing himself for his carelessness, Sirius turned around with his hands raised above his head.
"Padfoot."
"Agent Padfoot. How quaint." A big Scandinavian – judging by the accent – man with a deep voice replied, his wand pointed directly at Sirius's center of mass. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
"My godson will be attending Hogwarts soon, and I heard you're the best game in town for cheap cauldrons." Sirius replied coolly.
"I do have some rather competitively priced cauldrons, but for you I'll need to make an exception, I fear you've cost me a little too much. Now drop your wand."
Sirius decided to take a chance. Concentrating hard, he said: "Accio."
"Trying to summon me by the boots? That's the oldest trick in the book. I thought you Unspeakables were trained better!"
Sirius lowered his wand, but kept a firm grip on it.
"Now drop it!" the man said threateningly.
At that moment a piece of the old rusted plow Sirius noticed outside came bursting through the wall behind the Scandinavian. With his opponent distracted, Sirius fired of a stunner at him while dive-rolling sideways, but the stunner was overkill, the impact had already knocked him out. The old piece of farming equipment must have been in worse condition than Sirius first thought. He tried to summon the whole thing, but evidently the pull of the charm against the weight of the implement had stressed the rusted bolts holding it together too much.
"You see, my godson is turning eleven in a couple of days," Sirius told the unconscious body while rummaging through the pockets and pouches to retrieve any evidence present. "Now, he's being raised by muggles, and, while I've been as present as possible in his life, I haven't yet told him about magic." Sirius was now dragging the bodies and laying them neatly side by side. "I'm not sure how he'll react when I tell him. Probably excited, although probably angry that I withheld that information." Sirius counted four opaque marbles out of a pouch inside his cloak. "Not to even mention how the muggles will react." He put down one marble on top of each of the smugglers. "Good talk. Activate!" The portkeys activated and transported the four to the holding cells. He knew he would have an earful about the dead body he sent along, but it's not like he can just leave it here.
Harry was lying awake in his cupboard. The Dursleys were yet to stir, so Harry enjoyed the peace and quiet as long as he could. After all, today was no normal day. Today was his eleventh birthday.
His birthday didn't mean much in the Dursley household. It was nothing like Dudley's birthday, although he did sometimes receive some of Dudleys old broken toys. Harry suspected even that was more out of spite than kindness.
The last few years it hadn't bothered him that much. After making breakfast, he'd excuse himself to go work in Sirius's garden. Sirius celebrated with Harry. There was usually cake, and afterwards Sirius would take Harry out to the movies, even to the zoo once.
That was a strange experience. Harry had told Sirius about Dudleys zoo birthday visit, and Sirius insisted to take Harry there as well. It was a lot of fun; the strange part was in the reptile house. Sirius encouraged Harry to try to talk to a snake again. Any snake, it didn't matter. None of the snakes replied, but Sirius looked shocked when Harry attempted to greet one. Sirius rushed Harry out of the reptile house and never spoke of it again.
But today wasn't just any birthday, today was his, Harry's, eleventh birthday. Today Sirius would tell Harry more about his parents. Harry could barely contain his excitement.
As Harry expected, the Dursleys had barely acknowledged his birthday. That didn't matter to Harry. He cooked the breakfast, he did the dishes, now he was on his way to Sirius's house.
"Come on in, Harry," Sirius said, opening the door after Harry's knock. "Sit down."
Harry sat down looking at Sirius expectantly.
"You are a wizard, Harry," Sirius began. Harry looked at him blankly. Well, that explained everything. Sirius was a crazy person.
"Well, thank you sir, but I think I need to go," Harry replied as he got up.
"Sit down!" Harry sat down. "Don't believe me? Accio Kettle!" Sirius said, pointing a small stick at the stove. The kettle jumped up and hurled itself in Sirius's direction. "Reducto!" Sirius called out. A red flash emanated from the stick and smashed into the kettle, blasting it to pieces. "Reparo!" Sirius told the pieces, and the kettle knit itself back together. "Believe me know, boy?" Sirius asked Harry, grinning at his disbelief.
Harry did not believe his eyes. "How did you do that?"
"They taught me at school. That's what I want to talk to you about."
"About school? You said you'd tell me about my parents!"
"Well, okay, let's start with your parents. But first, there's a few things you should understand.
The magical world exists in secret. For various reasons we have decided a few centuries ago to separate ourselves from the normal world. Some families in the magical word can trace their magical roots back over hundreds of years, although sometimes a normal person can be born with magical powers, and is invited to join the magical world."
"So, I'm one of those?" Harry asked.
"Not exactly Harry, your situation is a bit more complicated. Your father came from a long line of wizards, he was what some would consider a 'Pureblood'. Your mother was born into a muggle family. That's a family that's not magical. You follow?"
Harry nodded.
"In the old days, the very old days, young wizards and witches would learn to use their magic from wizards and witches by apprenticeships. As our numbers grew, that became unsustainable, and a school was built.
If you're considered magical, you're invited to attend the school when you turn eleven. Your father and I both knew we probably would attend. Your mother, just like you, had no idea about it until she turned eleven.
Me, your mother and your father were the same age, and we were sorted into the same house. Although me and your dad quickly became friends, your mother didn't find our antics at all amusing. Your dad tried really hard to get her attention. It wasn't until much later in school that they began dating."
Harry could see the nostalgia in Sirius's eyes as he told this part of the story.
"We grew up in a dark time for the magical community. There was a dark wizard, a very dark wizard, called Voldemort, who wanted to seize control of magical Britain. He believed that muggles should be subjugated, the so-called 'Purebloods' should become the aristocracy and that all muggle-born witches and wizards were unnatural anomalies and should be exterminated." Sirius voice grew cold and factual.
"As soon as we left school, we decided to join the fight against Voldemort. Your father was one of the strongest wizards of his age, so Voldemort noticed. That put a target on his back. Your parents went into hiding, but that was not enough. Voldemort found them." Tears were beginning to well up in both Harry's and Sirius's eyes.
"When I got there, it was to late. The house had been destroyed. Voldemort had murdered your parents." Sirius stopped for a moment and cleared his throat. "But the strangest thing had happened. Voldemort couldn't kill you. He cast the Unforgivable Killing Curse on you, a curse that there's no defense for, but it rebounded on him, only barely leaving a mark on you."
Harry reached up to touch his lightning bolt scar. Sirius nodded.
"I… I killed Voldemort?" Harry asked.
"No. There's a lot of arguments about what happened that night, Harry, but the theory that makes the most sense to me that your mother's love is what saved you. Don't ask me how, I don't know enough about magic to explain it, but it's been explained to me, and it makes sense."
"But… Voldemort is dead?"
"I won't lie to you Harry; I don't think so. His power might be broken, but I have a gut feeling. In my line of work, we trust our guts."
"Why haven't you told me any of this before?" Harry asked with a frown.
"I don't have one, simple reason for that. I've wanted to tell you a lot, but the Dursleys were already trying to beat the magic out of you, I didn't want them to have any reason to abuse you more than they already have. I didn't want you to waste your time dreaming of the future when you could make your present better. Did we manage to make your present better?"
Harry thought about that. His training with Sirius did help him fight the bullies. He hadn't really been bullied since shortly after they started training. He nodded. He wasn't sure that he was ready to forgive Sirius, but he recognized his argument.
"Now, here you go." Sirius handed Harry an envelope. "Read this, and if you have any more questions about your new school, I'm happy to help."
Harry tore the envelope open and read it.
"Where do they sell stuff like this?"
"In London." Sirius answered. Seeing the disbelief on Harry's face again, he added with a wink: "If you know where to go."
"How will I afford all of this? I don't have any money, and I don't think the Dursleys would pay for a magical education?"
"Do you think your parents left you nothing? Anyway, I'm your godfather, anything extra you need, I'll provide. Now, it's time. Bring your envelope."
"Are you taking me to London now?"
"No, I have to go speak with your aunt and uncle. An old friend of mine will take you." Harry heard the hydraulic brakes of a bus screech to a halt outside. "That'll be him now. Come along."
Harry walked out with Sirius. The largest man Harry had ever seen was just about managing to get out of the bus. The small beady eyes hidden behind the wildest, bushiest, blackest hair and beard made contact with Harry's.
"Harry Potter!" the man exclaimed, and grabbed Harry's hand in a dustbin lid sized hand of his own and proceeded to almost shake Harry's shoulder off.
"Harry, this is Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys of Hogwarts home of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Hagrid, you remember Harry." Harry just turned to Sirius in shock. "Thank you, Hagrid, I appreciate the favor."
"No problem, Sirius, we've got a lot of catchin' up te do!" Hagrid put his giant hand on Harry's shoulder and guided him to the bus.