AN: Hope everyone is having a good start of the new year, and I hope you're ready for the next chapter of this story. As always, thanks for your support and I love to hear what you all think.
Mewpagano - Yeah, this Harry has a lot of support and a lot of people helping him to develop into quite the fearsome opponent.
Arctic Wolf Fury - The Dursleys can for sure fuck off. Right bastards they are. Yeah, tactical nuke patronus is a powerful scene in both the books and the movie. Hope the hellhound pack kept your doom puppy size hole filled.
Quill will 1981 - Thanks! It's just so much more fun having Sirius freed. You will definitely get Potter, Black, and Tonks bonding.
Guest - Glad you enjoyed Athena coming into the story! She's not to be trifled with.
LadyKitai - Glad you enjoyed the dirty aurors and the rest of the chapter! Always great seeing your reviews.
Jet22345 - Hopefully you weren't waiting too long!
scrappy8 - Thanks! I guess you'll see shortly.
hushpuppy22 - Thanks, I'm glad you're still enjoying the story!
stevefocus - Oof, I can 100% relate to that. Very humbling that my story was worth the sacrifice of sleep, and hopefully it will continue to impress. Hopefully it won't lead to too many tired days at work though!
Chapter 22Harry awoke the next morning to see his godfather savoring a Hogwarts breakfast from the bed across from him, a look of enjoyment on his face. Between when Harry had been fed a sleeping potion and now, Sirius clearly had shaved and showered and probably had been force fed a dozen potions by Madam Pomfrey because while he still looked emaciated, he did look clean, and looked much better than he had the night before.
"Morning, kiddo," Sirius said jovially.
"Morning, Sirius," Harry said back, infected by the man's good cheer. "Where's Dora?"
"Little Nymph had to run off to work," Sirius answered, and Harry chuckled.
"She's going to curse you," he remarked, and Sirius grinned.
"Ah, but that's half the fun," Sirius remarked brightly.
"So, I guess that means you two worked out whatever you needed to talk about last night," Harry noted, and Sirius nodded.
"Yes, you have one very overprotective older sister, Harry," Sirius said, and Harry smiled fondly.
"It goes both ways," Harry said, his eyes meeting Sirius's firmly, and Sirius nodded in approval.
"Well, we did come to an agreement, though Dora will be back after work so I figured we'd wait for her return before we discuss it," Sirius said, and Harry nodded slowly, understanding the logic just fine. "Besides, I have some things to do today, especially since my innocence went out through the Daily Prophet already," Sirius said happily, and Harry glanced in surprise at the Prophet that Sirius threw him, which had an article on the front page explaining everything.
"Wow, that was fast," Harry remarked.
"Yeah, I think the Ministry wanted to get the information out as quickly as they could before rumors could filter around and make it worse," Sirius remarked. "I noticed it wasn't written by Skeeter."
Harry nodded slowly, having heard from Dora rant about the infamous journalist who had a habit of making people's lives harder.
"It's good for me though," Sirius said.
Harry nodded, and glanced around.
"Where's Ron?" Harry asked, seeing that his best mate had already left his bed.
"He went down for breakfast," Sirius said. "He seemed to think it was of the utmost importance."
"He would," Harry said with a laugh.
"And if someone didn't bring you food, you'd waste away," a cheerful voice said, and Harry grinned as a pretty, tall, curvy brunette came walking in, holding a plate with breakfast on it, followed by two other girls that never failed to brighten his day.
"Katie, no matter what Leash and Lina say, you're a wonderful, beautiful person," Harry said, and Katie laughed as the other two chasers both snorted in amusement.
"And he mocks Ron for thinking with his stomach," Angelina mocked.
Astra hopped off the bed and ran towards the three girls, her tail wagging excitedly, and Angelina and Alicia happily kneeled down and gave attention to the greedy grim.
"So this is the famous godfather," Alicia remarked, looking at Sirius, and Harry was amused to see all three girls were sizing up Sirius as Katie handed Harry his plate of food, and then immediately went to give some love to his familiar.
"You told them about me?" Sirius asked, surprised.
"Well, back then you were a crazy mass murderer after our friend," Angelina said, "so it wasn't all that good of things he said."
Sirius winced.
"Probably not," he agreed. "Still surprised he admitted to anyone about me being his godfather."
"They're good friends," Harry said fondly, looking at his familiar, who indeed loved the three girls just as much as Harry did.
"And he needed to vent," Katie said matter of factly, and Harry nodded ruefully.
"So, other than Katie being my favorite person in the world," Harry said, before taking a bite of eggs with a contented sigh, "what brings you three to visit me?"
"Well, when do we not visit you when you're in the hospital wing?" Angelina asked with an arched eyebrow, her arms crossed.
"I guess that's true," Harry admitted.
"This is where you tell us about your adventure last night, and we determine whether we need to hex your godfather or not," Alicia said, and Sirius glanced at her looking like he wasn't sure if she was serious or not.
Harry, who knew that Alicia was completely serious, did as he was told and with Sirius's help, explained everything that had happened the night before (minus Remus's involvement).
"So, yet another crazy adventure where you almost died, called on a pack of hellhounds for aid, and fought off a hundred dementors and a death eater," Angelina said with a huff.
"You really can't do anything normal, can you?" Alicia asked, and Harry shrugged ruefully.
"We might have to start following you around," Katie remarked. "You get into trouble whenever you're not with us. We don't like it."
Harry pouted at the three girls, while Sirius looked amused before they shifted to more normal conversations, which included the three girls all getting to know Sirius a bit, seeming surprisingly at ease with him, and then finally the three girls had to head out, which meant Harry was subjected to a group hug, three kisses on the cheek, a mocking pat on the cheek, and fighting off two girls ruffling his hair.
"You've got good friends," Sirius remarked as the three girls walked out. "Anymore groups of overprotective witches I need to worry about?"
Harry snorted.
"Maybe some of Dora's friends."
"I'll keep that in mind," Sirius said with a laugh before he got up from the bed.
"Hiya, mate," Ron said, as he and Hermione entered.
"Hi, Harry, how are you?" Hermione said. "Mr. Black?"
Sirius jumped and glanced at her.
"Sirius, please," he pleaded, and Ron and Harry snorted.
"It seems like you're in good hands," Sirius said, "so I'm going to head off for some of my chores."
"Alright, Sirius," Harry said with a smile. "I'll see you this evening for that talk with Dora."
**HP**
Dora walked into work, expecting it to be a bit of madhouse with everyone having learned of Sirius's innocence and Pettigrew's capture. She didn't expect to see an angry and tired looking Kingsley instead.
"What's happened, Shack?" Dora said, walking into his office and seeing him in a rather huddled conference with Savage, Alexis Montgomery, Lexie, and Hestia Jones.
Alexis was one of the other lieutenants, with Kingsley, while also being Kingley's "adoptive" older sibling, like Dora was to Harry. She, Kingsley, and Savage were all basically family to each other with Kingsley and Alexis being godfather and godmother to Savage's two year old daughter. Hestia another close friend to the group, and in Dora's time with Kingsley's team, the three senior Aurors were near constants when it came to ducking into their work areas or meetings sometimes to pass on information and sometimes to simply tease Kingsley or interact with his team. Lexie was the closest to Kingsley in their current team, having been Kingsley's protege just like Dora was currently, and having gotten quite close to their little group, just as Dora felt she herself was getting.
"First, congratulations on getting another member of your family back," Kingsley said tiredly. "I'm sure Harry is ecstatic."
"I still say we get Harry on our team," Lexie said. "He's the one who technically caught Sirius and the one who found out the truth."
Dora sighed at her good friend who smiled back innocently at her.
"Alright, what happened?" Dora asked again.
"Pettigrew escaped," Savage said grimly, and Dora's jaw droppped.
"How?!"
"Supposedly he overpowered O'Malley and Vincent after Carlson and Norton left them to take first shift," Alexis said, sounding highly doubtful.
"Overpowered? How the fuck would Pettigrew overpower two Aurors?" Dora demanded.
"Based on memory testimonies, Pettigrew used wandless magic to break out of the holding cell and fight off both aurors," Savage said with a roll of his eyes. "I fucking remember Pettigrew. There is no way that rat was capable of beating two Aurors in combat after breaking out of a cell with wandless magic."
"So who actually broke him out?" Dora asked quietly, now seeing why the group was rather segregated at the moment.
"That's the fucking question," Lexie said darkly. "My money is on Carlson and Norton."
"It would make sense," Hestia agreed. "They likely stunned O'Malley and Vincent and then implanted memories."
"You don't think O'Malley or Vincent were involved?" Dora asked.
"No, they're getting hit pretty hard for this," Savage muttered. "Marks on their records. Suspension which could lead to termination. Besides, they're both Ministry stooges. Decent Aurors, but will do whatever it takes to move forward and win approval from those with power."
"And this won't earn them any favors," Lexie finished.
"Is anyone looking further to see if their memories have been implanted or tainted?" Dora asked.
The rest of them scowled.
"Fudge has already shut that part down," Kingsley said. "He wants the punishments kept quiet and Pettigrew's escape kept quiet. He doesn't want to find out that someone broke Pettigrew out."
"Fuck!" Dora swore.
"Welcome to our world, love," Lexie said bitterly.
"Stuff like this has been happening too much in recent years," Alexis said morosely. "It's starting to feel like the years before the last Blood War."
"There's gotta be something we can do about it," Dora said.
Kingsley, Savage, Hestia, and Alexis grimaced.
"It's hard, Tonks," Kingsley said with a sigh. "Other than Bones, everyone else in our chain of command is rather Ministry career focused, so currently there isn't much we can do. Maybe when Fudge leaves."
"Sirius might be able to shake things up, depending on what he does going forward," Alexis said. "He has a seat in the Wizengamot, assuming he takes it back. You could have been using Potter's seat as his proxy, so if Sirius or you take that up along with the Black vote, you'll gain some influence in the Wizengamot."
"I didn't want anyone to accuse me of taking advantage of Harry's position," Dora muttered.
"That was the smart and safe move," Savage agreed grimly. "Black, though, as Harry's godfather can get away with it without any repercussions."
"I'll talk to Sirius about it," Dora said with a sigh. "He's got a lot to worry about as is though . . . I'll also tell Harry that he doesn't get to relax yet," she finished glumly. "A mass murderer that might want him dead is still out there."
"I'm sorry, Tonks," Kingsley said sympathetically.
**HP**
"HOW THE FUCK DID THEY LOSE HIM!" Sirius cursed.
"He supposedly overpowered the two Aurors watching him with wandless magic," Dora said with bitter disbelief.
"That useless excuse for a wizard isn't capable of wandless magic!" Sirius ranted.
"So anyone with a brain cell knows," Dora agreed.
"FUCK!"
"I'm sorry, Sirius," Dora said. "I know how frustrating this must be, him escaping."
"You mean him being broken out," Sirius retorted before he sighed. "It's not your fault. I'm sorry for taking it out on you. It's just been a generally frustrating day."
"What else happened today?" Dora asked, almost worried.
"Snape leaked Remus's affliction to the Slytherins," Sirius muttered bitterly. "He already resigned and left. I had been hoping to see him often while we were both staying in the castle."
"That bastard," Dora swore. "Why the fuck would he do that?"
"He's always hated Remus, James, and I," Sirius said with a sigh. "Some of that is our fault, but he was never blameless. Still, he clearly holds a grudge."
"I'm sure Harry's sad," Dora remarked. "He and Lupin have gotten a good rapport over the year, and he's had nothing but good things to say about Lupin's lessons."
"He got the Marauder's Map back though," Sirius said, looking for a silver lining, "but yes, Harry's pretty pissed off."
"I'm sure," Dora said quietly, before smiling wanly. "Still, I'm sure you and Lupin will get back on track. From what little I've learned, it's clear he never got over the loss of his friends, and now he's getting one back. I certainly would have hated myself if I had a chance to get Harry back in my life but hadn't taken it."
"Yeah, we'll probably be okay," Sirius agreed. "I hope to have him visit often . . . as long as you and Harry don't mind that."
"I can't speak for Harry, but I know I don't have a problem with it," Dora said warmly, "and I'm sure Harry won't either. So, anything else happen?"
"I think I found a track of land for us," Sirius said with both a smile before a grimace. "I'd like you to go take a look at it with me tomorrow . . . and it won't be ready to move into until about a week after Harry gets out, but I think it's great."
"You went looking for a house today?" Dora asked in surprise.
"Yeah, I thought it would be nice," Sirius said. "I think you'll like what I found . . . and some of the ideas I have for the land."
"I'm sure I will," Dora said, looking excited. "I'm sure Harry will like going back to the apartment for a week or so anyway. He'll want to say goodbye to the old place."
**HP**
Sirius ignored the attention and silence that his entrance into the Ministry garnered. It was his first appearance since the first article in the Daily Prophet announcing that he was actually innocent of the crimes that he'd been accused of and had been imprisoned without a trial.
A week of magical potions, large portions of food, and sleeping in a bed had certainly helped him to not look like an emaciated psycho, but he knew he still had a long way to go.
He made his way through the wand checkpoint and then hopped onto the lift before getting off on the Minister's floor. He then made his way through the Wizengamot Services offices and to the Minister's office, where a young man sat in the secretary's position in the waiting area.
The man glanced up at him, and his eyes widened for a moment before he nodded.
"Lord Black, right on time. The Minister is expecting you."
"Thank you," Sirius replied, and he entered Fudge's office, and saw the portly man.
"Ah, Sirius, good to see you," Fudge said with a slightly nervous smile.
"Cornelius," Sirius greeted politely.
He knew that Fudge was willing to offer pretty much anything to keep Sirius happy, to try and make this scandal less of a big deal. He intended to make sure he got something out of it. The money that the Ministry had awarded him, while nothing to scoff at, meant nothing to him. His family was already insanely wealthy, and while he was sure he could find good uses for the funds, it still was trivial in the grand scheme of things.
"I've been hoping to meet you since you were officially cleared," Fudge said.
"Let's get to the point, Fudge," Sirius said, and Fudge's eyes narrowed slightly. "You're an important and busy man, and I certainly don't want to waste your time, and my godson is currently on the Hogwarts express coming home for the summer, and I would like to be there to greet him when he gets in."
Fudge's face relaxed, and he nodded approvingly. He was a businessman, and preferred getting to the heart of things. Besides, he could appreciate Sirius wanting to be there to see his godson off of the train.
"You could use me making a statement in support of your actions, and doing my best to lay the blame on Bagnold and Crouch," Sirius said bluntly, and Fudge nodded in agreement.
"And you would be open to this?" Fudge asked, much more businesslike than the nervous attitude from before.
"I would," Sirius agreed, "in exchange for a few demands."
Fudge smiled.
"Name your demands," he said jovially, obviously pleased that Sirius was so accommodating.
"We'll start with the easy ones," Sirius said. "First, I want my House seat on the Wizengamot returned."
Fudge nodded. "That's easy enough. As the scion of an ancient and pureblooded house, you're entitled to what is yours, and it was a dormant seat until such time as we voted to replace it or you passed away. We never voted it away, and it is, of course, yours."
Sirius smiled, though inside he rather despised how much being a pureblood mattered in the Ministry. It was something he was hoping to fight as a member of the Wizengamot. He also knew why it hadn't been voted away. Luciuis hoped to take control of it somehow when Sirius died, allowing him another seat to hold proxy over. Sirius planned to take over the Potter seat that was currently unused. Technically Harry could claim it once he turned seventeen, but it was rare for people to claim it so young, though less rare in the first decade or two after any war.
"Second, pending Nymphadora Tonks's approval, I will be taking co-custody of my godson, Harry James Potter, and I don't want any Ministry interference."
Fudge grimaced slightly but nodded. "Assuming Miss Tonks approves as well, that is acceptable."
"Third, assuming I can pass the physical and pass the assessments, I want my position as an Auror reinstated."
Fudge nodded slowly. "Also acceptable, pending Amelia Bones and Rufus Scrimgeor's approval. We are still understaffed in that department, and your return to the Ministry fold will help enhance your Ministry supporting statements."
Sirius leaned forward. "One last demand, and while not difficult, it is the first demand I've made that isn't owed to me, like the rest of the demands arguably are."
Fudge's eyes narrowed slightly, and he gestured for Sirius to continue.
"You might be aware, but my godson, Harry, has patronage with Hades," Sirius said, and Fudge nodded slowly.
"Yes, though that grim of his still makes people at the Ministry nervous."
"Well, in return for his patronage, Hades demanded that Harry become a shadow mage," Sirius said, and Fudge's eyes widened slightly. "Not only does he have to become a mage, he has to do so by the time he turns seventeen. He has to have the purely elemental magic learned by the time he turns fifteen."
"Impossible," Fudge said dismissively. "Hades set him up to fail."
Sirius shook his head. "You're quite wrong on that. Harry is very proficient in his element, but he's started getting to the most complicated parts, and while I believe he can accomplish it by the end of his next school year, I would like to help give him extra time."
Fudge frowned. "What are you asking?"
"I"m asking for an exemption for the restriction on underage sorcery," Sirius said and he raised his hands heading off a complaint, "but only when he is observed by an adult. Mad-Eye normally watches him, and Tonks and I were already talking about keeping that going for when I get back to the department. Leading up to that, I'm going to have Mad-Eye get me back in shape, which means that he and I will be there to watch Harry. Additionally, Mad-Eye was teaching Harry to protect himself after I . . . well after I broke out of prison, and I would like to keep that going, but actually give Harry some dueling practice."
Fudge grimaced slightly but then sighed. "It's not generally done, but as long as Harry is around yourself, Moody, or Miss Tonks, then I will allow it. I can make the argument of it being extracurricular homeschooling. Any other arguments can be fought simply by the fact that he was the one to bring you in, and bring in Lockhart, among the other unpleasant things he's faced already. However, any other magic done outside of school will be punished."
Sirius smiled and nodded. "I'm glad we could come to an understanding. I don't want to take up anymore of your time, Minister. I have a statement to make."
**HP**
The ride home to Hogwarts had been very smooth. It certainly helped that they'd gotten their exam grades back, and they'd all, unsurprisingly, passed everything, and in many of their classes passed quite well, save for Hermione who of course had top grades in everything.
Plus, the mood was still high for all the Gryffindors, having won the House Cup for the third year in a row, largely due to them winning the Quidditch Cup for the first time in eight years, so there was still a fair share of celebration going on around the train.
The mood was a little different in the compartment that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny had taken refuge in, since Hermione was finally revealing how she'd done all of her classes the previous year.
"A Time Turner, really?" Harry asked in confusion, and Hermione nodded.
"It was given to me by Professor McGonagall on the first day, and it allowed me to go back in time and do hours over again. That's how I made lessons and exams that were at the same time."
"Hermione, that sounds mental just to do a few extra classes," Ron said.
"Wait, if you could go back in time, why didn't you go back and give yourself extra time for rest and for homework?" Harry asked with a confused frown.
"Well, I was only supposed to use it for school," Hermione defended. "Professor McGonagall had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic so I could have one. She had to tell them that I was a model student, and that I'd never, ever use it for anything except my studies . . ."
"Hermione, I would argue that homework, and the rest needed to attend classes fell in that same category," Harry pushed back. "Did you ask McGonagall about it?"
"Well . . . no," Hermione admitted, and Harry couldn't help but admire and curse her stubbornness and pride. "Not like it matters now though. I went to see Professor McGonagall this morning, just before breakfast. I've decided to drop Muggle Studies."
"But you passed your exam with three hundred and twenty percent!" said Ron.
"Bloody hell," Ginny said, looking a mixture of impressed and properly disgusted.
"I know," sighed Hermione, "but I can't stand another year like this one, and I can self-study for it and still take the OWL. That Time-Turner, it was driving me mad. I've handed it in. I also dropped Magical Theory and World Languages," she said, to Harry's surprise. "Professor Dumbledore said I have a good grasp on theory, and he thinks I could take the OWL with my own self-study, and now that I know the language learning charms, I can do self study for languages as well, whenever I choose to. There's no OWL for them anyway. You just take proficiency exams once ready. Without Magical Theory, World Languages, Muggle Studies, and Divination, I'll be able to have a normal schedule again."
"Still one more class than me, and two more than Ron," Harry said in amusement, not even bothering to count that she was clearly intending to self-study for three of the classes she dropped, though he knew she wouldn't really need to do so for Muggle Studies, and the languages could ebb and flow as she chose.
"So, this summer, you both are going to have to come and visit. It's the Quidditch World Cup! Dad can usually get tickets from work. How about it, Harry? Hermione?"
"That sounds brilliant," Harry said with a grin.
"It will be brilliant," Ginny agreed.
"It would be fascinating to see an international wizarding event," Hermione said.
"You guys need to come watch the National Dueling Circuit with me," Harry said. "I'm not sure how I'll do, but I bet we'll all get to see some incredible magic out of the Under 21 Bracket and the Open Bracket. Maybe even in the Under 18 Bracket."
"Ooh, we'd love to," Ginny said eagerly.
"That does sound interesting and educational," Hermione admitted.
"It'll be brilliant," Ron said. "We went and watched my brother Bill compete a couple years ago. It was incredible. Bill won quite a bit of gold by winning the Under 18 bracket."
"I really want to compete in the Dueling Circuit someday too," Ginny said wistfully, and Harry grinned at her.
"Maybe next year, Gin."
Conversation continued lightly throughout the rest of the journey, as they all talked about their possible summer plans, and whether or not they'd meet up before the Quidditch World Cup or at the Dueling Circuit.
Finally, they arrived back at King's Cross and Harry grinned broadly, looking out onto the platform and seeing Dora and Sirius waiting for him.
"Wotcher, twerp!" Dora greeted brightly, pulling him into a hug, while Astra rubbed up against her legs.
"Hey, kiddo," Sirius greeted with a wide smile, looking much more like the man from Harry's photos, before he turned to Ron, holding up a cage with a small, gray fluffy owl. A very tiny one. It kind of looked like a very fluffy snitch.
"I thought you might like this, since it's my fault that you don't have a rat anymore," Sirius said.
"For me?" Ron said in shock, and Sirius handed him the cage.
"For you," Sirius confirmed with a grin.
"Come on Ron," Ginny said with a laugh, and she pulled Ron towards their parents, and Ron finally shook himself out of his shock and yelled back.
"Thanks Sirius! Harry, I'll owl you about the World Cup!"
Harry waved and then glanced over at Hermione who waved before she ran over to her own parents, so he turned back to his guardians.
"You ready to see the new house?" Sirius asked, and Harry glanced at him in surprise.
"New house?" Harry asked. "You managed to get that done already?"
"Yes and no," Sirius said with a shrug. "I've got the house, but we can't move in for another week. The realtor is letting us drop by to show you around. Figured you'd like to see it."
"I'd love to," Harry agreed.
"You'll love it Harry," Dora said brightly, banishing Harry's stuff to their apartment.
"Wow . . ." Harry said softly.
"Alright, let's go!" Sirius said, looking excited, and Harry chuckled leaving with his guardians, looking forward to another brilliant summer, now that he had a proper family.
**HP**
Harry gazed around in amazement at where Dora had just side-apparated them too. Astra was running around, barking with joy. They were in a field, surrounded by forest on all sides. That had been after appearing in a small clearing surrounded by trees and walking along a small path through the trees to the field. In front of him was a nice two-story home. It looked fairly large, but yet still quaint. Behind the home, Harry could see a greenhouse and a barn. In the distance, he could hear a creek running, but no sound of anything else.
"So, obviously we just came from the apparation points," Sirius said helpfully. "Beyond that cusp of trees over to the left of the house, there's another large open field that I figured we could put up some goals to make a little makeshift quidditch pitch," Sirius continued, grinning. "What do you think?"
"It's brilliant," Harry said softly.
"Good, let's take a tour of the inside," Sirius said. "We'll let Astra keep exploring. It's a very, very large piece of land, roughly seven thousand acres in size or 28 squar kilometers. There's a lake a bit away, but it has creeks and rivers that flow from it, one not far from here. This land is a protected conservation area, which means that nobody is allowed to mess with most of the nature, even us, and construction is strictly controlled, and with how thick some of this forest is, it's nearly impossible for people to build the types of properties that would make this profitable for the muggles, so I bought it, since magic makes most of those problems go away, and a large property to run around is also nice. Much of it is covered in forest, but there are plenty of open fields and pastures and there are dozens of hidden, but good sized fields like this spread throughout the property, some close enough to be neighbors, but yet far enough for privacy and to establish independent wards within the property wards, so I was honestly thinking, if you, or any other future family members like it here, we might even build other houses, and turn this into a family plot of land, like some still do. That offer obviously went to Dora as well. It's plenty big that we could easily do it and still feel like we're living in different places."
Harry gazed in awe as he followed Dora and Sirius into a mudroom before they walked into a fairly spacious kitchen. Harry grinned, seeing Mad-Eye sitting on a barstool at the countertop, looking towards them.
"Hey there, lad," Mad-Eye said gruffly. "Good to see you."
"Hey, Mad-Eye!" Harry greeted happily.
"Alright, kiddo," Sirius said. "We'll come talk to Mad-Eye after a quick tour, and then we're all heading to dinner together to welcome you home."
Harry grinned and nodded in excited agreement to that.
Sirius guided Harry around the home. There was an unfinished basement that Sirius was planning on turning into a gameroom, and that he wanted Harry and Dora's help with. On the main floor was the kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, the mudroom, and a bedroom that would be converted into a library and study, which Sirius said would be filled with everything from Sirius's family home (some of which was quite dark and depressing, but still useful knowledge), as well as a good variety of other subjects that Sirius had bought during a trip to Diagon Alley the previous day, and lastly was a nice sized formal dining room.
The second floor had five bedrooms and three bathrooms, including the master bathroom. More bedrooms than they needed, but Sirius confided that he was hoping to get Remus to stay over often enough, and having an actual spare guest room could be nice, in Sirius's opinion, especially if any of Harry's friends wanted to stay over. Harry already planned to take the middle room, which was next to Dora's planned room, and a little ways from the master bedroom, where Sirius would be sleeping.
After the tour, they made their way back down to the kitchen where Mad-Eye was still waiting for them.
"So, now it's time for the discussion," Sirius said, as they all settled into the kitchen.
"Discussion?" Harry asked. Sirius made it sound more ominous than it should be.
"Yes, well, after listening to some of your adventures, both from you and little Nymphie here," Dora scowled at him, "I must say I agree with my dear cousin in saying that you need to spend part of this summer, like last summer, learning to defend yourself."
"So, Mad-Eye and I are going to continue our classes?" Harry clarified. He figured that was going to happen anyway. He rather enjoyed them, so that didn't bother him. Besides, now he had a goddess to keep happy, and he figured this could only help with that, and he was still planning to compete in the Dueling Circuit in two weeks time, assuming Mad-Eye deemed him ready.
"Yes, but with a pleasant twist," Sirius said with a grin. "I managed to get a partial exemption for underage magic for you."
"Wait, what? I can use magic?" Harry nearly exclaimed.
"When supervised by one of us three," Dora said with a wink. "In theory, this is for you to work on your elemental magic, but Mad-Eye here is going to be helping Sirius get back into shape to be an Auror again, and the two of them will work with you in some other areas, but you will spend some time working on your elemental magic, and working on the other aspects of being a mage. The first deadline is coming up, afterall."
"No complaints here," Harry said eagerly.
"Good, because tomorrow we're going to test your knowledge of creatures, and assuming you pass, we'll start working on rituals and rites," Mad-Eye growled out. "You're also going to pick out another weapon to start working on, and Sirius is going to find someone to help you learn the basics to smithing, metalwork, and crafting, to help prepare you for forging down the road."
"Don't worry though," Sirius said with a grin. "We'll still have plenty of fun this summer. It won't all be studying and training. We just think this is important, with how often you get into situations."
"I understand," Harry said with a sigh, before he grinned slyly. "You just need to remember that you now count as one of my bad situations I was involved in."
Sirius pouted at that while Dora laughed, and even Mad-Eye smirked.
**HP**
Harry was gasping for breath as he finished the run with Dora and Sirius, though the latter looked quite winded himself.
"Somebody thought we'd keep taking it easy on him," Dora teased, and Harry chuckled weakly.
"I didn't realize you were taking it that easy on me in the first place," he wheezed.
"Well, we're going to push you farther this summer," Mad-Eye growled out, hobbling towards them. "I'm going to be beating Black back into shape, and you'll do some of his drills with him, specifically dueling and mobility drills. Might even teach you some new spells to add to your arsenal. Lupin's going to come over and work with you on days he doesn't have to work, so that I can focus on Black. In addition, each day we'll continue to have you studying either creatures, rituals, or spiritual rites, and you'll spend some time each day continuing to work on whatever elemental magic you still need to learn. Lastly, Black's going to track down somebody to start teaching you everything that goes into forging items, and we'll continue to work on your martial skills, though Black's going to look into a new teacher for the sword. I'm only proficient, lad, and you've gotten quite good with a blade, but we will talk about a new weapon for you to pick up. Assuming you've been studying, you also have the Dueling Circuit in two weeks, and I want you to compete in the singles matches for wand and for sword. For now though, let's see how much you remember about all your creatures . . ."
Harry smiled, watching Mad-Eye absolutely thrash Sirius in the dueling ring they'd set up in the field in front of their house. Harry had managed to pass Mad-Eye's creatures test, much to the ex-Auror's grudging respect and pride, and now Harry had been given some time to work on his own elemental magic while Mad-Eye got a feel for where Sirius was, physically and knowledgeably, since he'd been in Azkaban and on the run for so long. Sirius was clearly a very good duelist, at least as far Harry could see, and probably could give Mad-Eye a run for his money or maybe even beat him, but Sirius was still recovering physically and a mentally, so he wasn't at his best yet, hence Mad-Eye thrashing him. Granted, Mad-Eye wasn't at his best compared to how he was when he was younger, so it was all subjective.
Harry was enjoying taking a moment to watch Sirius's misery to distract him from his own because the last of the elemental magic he needed to learn was extremely difficult. He was sure much of it wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't going into his fourth year, since much of what he still needed to learn seemed to be very similar to very advanced transfiguration and charms that he'd only heard the older students like Percy talk about.
He still needed to learn elemental travel, which Astra could help him with eventually, and he needed to learn elemental illusions, and solidification and animation. So far, he had made zero progress with any of them, though that wasn't surprising.
Elemental travel was the one he was most eager to learn, but Astra seemed insistent that he wasn't ready, so instead he was devoting his time to illusions, and in his opinion, failing miserably.
"Alright, Potter," Mad-Eye growled out. "You're looking too comfortable over there, so let's get you involved in this dueling practice."
Harry grimaced and moved over, knowing Mad-Eye was going to make him pay for lacking in attentiveness.
**HP**
"Come on, wittle Hawwy!" Dora taunted. "You're not going to let Sirius of all people show you up."
Harry smiled as he bent low over his broom and dived hard, and then pulled up going through a corkscrew.
"Pfft," Sirius scoffed. "Come on pup, you need to make me work to match you. I may not have been a seeker, but I was on the Quidditch team with your dear old dad, and he didn't tolerate any slouches."
Sirius easily copied Harry's move, and Harry smiled as he and Sirius continued to trade off accomplishing maneuvers that the other had to match. Dora was flying around too, but she wasn't nearly as accomplished at the fancier maneuvers and left that to them.
"Don't let him lie to you, Harry," Remus said with a grin. "Your dad tolerated slouches like Sirius every day."
"Shut it, Remmy!"
"Keep it up, Wolfie!" Dora cheered out, and Remus mock scowled at Dora who winked at him in amusement.
Still, these evenings or weekends off where the three of them could have fun like this were some of the best parts of his week. It was times like these he truly appreciated how much better his life was compared to how he grew up.
**HP**
Harry couldn't help but look impressed as two throwing knives embedded themselves into the tree that Dora was aiming at, especially in contrast to the two that he'd thrown which weren't anywhere close.
"First, do I actually get to pick a weapon, or do I just have to learn the ones you all tell me to learn?" Harry said with only a minor protest. "Second, how the hell did you learn to throw knives and why?"
Dora laughed.
"Blame Charlie Weasley. Your Weasley best friend taught you wizard's chess and turned you into a Quidditch fanatic. My Weasley best friend, while loving Quidditch, was an outdoors nut, and with that came an interest in both muggle and magical survival and outdoorsman skills, useful and well . . . otherwise."
Harry grinned and then laughed at that.
"You can pick a weapon too, if you'd actually pick a weapon," Sirius said with a snort. "Besides, you did say a bow would be kind of interesting, and I've started teaching you that. So there, you picked!"
"True," Harry said with a slight nod. "Though, I guess I am still confused at how you all are decent with these types of weapons, when you all have magic. I mean, Mad-Eye's good with a sword and incredible with a quarterstaff. You're Robin Hood, and Dora here can throw knives like a pirate."
Dora snorted at that, and she morphed her body to look like a mangy, toothless old man that had been at sea for far too long, while Sirius chortled.
"I forget how little you know in some ways," Sirius said with a sigh after the laughter died."Harry, what do you know of the founding of the Ministry? What do you know of pureblood families, like the sacred twenty-eight? What do you know of Ancient and Noble Houses?"
"I mean, I know the Ministry succeeded the Wizard's Council, but not much more than that," Harry said thoughtfully. "I've heard of the sacred twenty-eight, and I know the Weasleys are on it, but other than that, nothing, and I've never heard of Ancient and Noble Houses."
"Oh, I'm a failure," Dora said sadly, having morphed back, looking angry at herself. "I should have realized that you'd have no idea about that stuff. I forgot that Binn's doesn't really teach it, and you're not in the Wizard's Studies or Magical Law classes, so unless you had someone deliberately teaching you about it, you'd have no clue until you started getting to your NEWTs and were forced to study a bit more on your own."
"It's fine," Harry started to say, but Dora shook her head.
"It's not fine. It's important to know," she said firmly, "and especially for you!"
Sirius nodded. "She's right, kiddo. It is important for you to know, since you have a seat on the Wizengamot."
"Wait, what?" Harry said in shock. "Why would I have a seat on the Wizengamot?"
"Because of your family," Sirius answered. "Before we get to that, let's get to the Ministry. So, before the Ministry existed, there was the Wizard's Council. That was the governing body for the British wizarding world, and the leaders, the members, were from the most distinguished families or Houses. These Houses are what we would refer to as Ancient Houses, though there are some newer Ancient Houses that gained that title after the originals . . . though it's very rare."
"Okay," Harry said, nodding along. "I've heard of the Wizard's Council, but not much on it . . . or I slept through the lessons on it. I think I also remember Hermione talking about them with Percy."
Sirius nodded with a grin, and Dora laughed, shaking her head in amusement.
"Now, this was back in early medieval times and well before that as well, before we even went into hiding and when we still worked with Muggles, and back then, worship of deities was high and families made names for themselves with their skills, either on the battlefield or in certain magical fields, and notice was taken when signs of great skill were shown or signs of incredible magical power or wealth," Sirius continued. "For instance, the Blacks were noted explorers and treasure hunters, especially by sea and navigating by stars, which is where our tradition for naming our scions after stars and constellations comes from. Back then, my family generally sought favor from Selene, the moon Goddess, Krios, the Lord of Constellations, Artemis, the Goddess of the Wild Hunt, and whichever of the major elementals that the explorer favored, be that sea, land, or sky. Because of our general familiar favor from Artemis, it became tradition for Blacks to have skill with a bow."
"Ok, so people having skill with some sort of weapon goes back to specific deities?" Harry asked.
"For some," Sirius said. "For others, it started due to skill on the battlefield. Your dad, for instance, was quite talented with a sword and that was because of Potter family tradition that dictated he would learn the sword, even if he never actually used one in combat, though I would argue that was more to do with us not fighting goblins during our time, since these types of weapons are often more useful against goblins than our magic at times, or at least they enhance our odds."
Harry nodded slightly, somewhat understanding where Sirius was going with this.
"Now, the families that led the Wizard's Council, in many if not most cases, gained titles and land, many of which still hold titles and land today. Not all, but a fair number," Sirius said.
"Wait, like legit Lords and Ladies?" Harry clarified in amazement. "People that would possibly answer to the Queen and Parliament?"
"Yes," Sirius said with an approving nod. "Indeed, during times of war for muggle Britain, Parliament and the Queen, who are aware of the Wizarding World, have required aid from the various lords, earls, dukes, and ladies of wizarding Britain, even if that aid is often simply financial aid. That's something that irritates a great many purebloods."
"I didn't know that," Harry said in amazement. Why couldn't Binns teach this?
Sirius nodded.
"Anyways, many of those families that led the Wizard's Council became the first families to become Wizengamot Elders. Now, Wizengamot seats are passed down through families until either a family dies out, does something to discredit their name on the government body, or until the member elects to remove themselves from the body, which does happen occasionally."
"Okay," Harry said, frowning slightly. "Is that why some of the snootier purebloods think they're better than others?"
Sirius nodded. "A lot of it does, yes. Many of them obviously think they are better, simply because they are of pure blood, but even among purebloods, there are plenty, like the Malfoys, who think they are better because they have a title and a spot on the Wizengamot. The Malfoys are an Ancient House."
"So, what about the Weasleys?" Harry asked with a frown. "Since they're on the list of Sacred Twenty-Eight, then they would be an Ancient House, right?"
"Well, the list of Sacred Twenty-Eight isn't exactly correct," Sirius said with a shake of his head. "There are plenty of pureblood houses not on the Sacred Twenty-Eight, and it really doesn't care about Ancient or Noble Houses. In addition, back then the Weasleys were not one of the ruling families. Eventually, they distinguished themselves, and they are a Noble House, but they are not an Ancient House. Truthfully, many of the Ancient Houses have died out. I think there are only seventeen Ancient Houses remaining, and several of those have no Heir to continue the line, so they will likely die out within the next hundred or so years. Now, Noble Houses are those who distinguished themselves later, and some of them joined the Wizengamot, and others didn't, and for some of the families, it's been a revolving door where you might find them on the Wizengamot for a century and off the next. The Weasleys are like that," Sirius said. "As are the Potters. Your family has, historically, put out many great Aurors and potioneers, the latter of which produced much of your family fortune and the former of whom spent it."
Harry snorted at that.
"So, I have a seat because my family is considered a Noble House and we never gave up our seat?" Harry clarified and Sirius nodded before kind of half shrugging, letting Harry know he got it mostly right.
"The Potter's have given up their seat before, but they haven't given it up since the last time about a hundred and fifty years ago when they were offered a seat once again. Your seat is currently being held in trust until you turn seventeen, which is the age that the Wizengamot requires before you can serve on its body, or until you decide you don't wish to serve on it, in which case they will vote in a new family to take the spot. You and I need to have a talk on whether you'd like me or even Dora to act as a proxy for your seat until you are able to claim it yourself, but we can do that later. There are fifty House seats on the Wizengamot, and then the Chief Warlock, the Minister, the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, and the heads of the major departments all hold seats as well, making a total of sixty seats in the Wizengamot, though there aren't currently that many actually on the Wizengamot."
"Why not?" Harry said in confusion.
"Well, some people currently hold two positions," Sirius said. "For instance, Madam Bones, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement holds a seat due to that position, but the Bones family already had a seat, and thus she has two votes on that body. It's the same with the Minister. Fudge has his family vote, and his position's vote. There are also situations like yours, where nobody currently is utilizing your vote, or situations like the Lestranges who are almost all imprisoned, except for Lestrange Sr., who signed over the proxy vote to dear old Lucius Malfoy. My seat was like that, though I had no proxy, so my seat was simply being held until I died and then I suspect Narcissa Malfoy, my cousin, would have been able to seize it. The Lestranges are in a similar situation. Malfoy currently holds their vote, as I said, but once they die, the family seat would have been taken away, if it wasn't for the fact that Bellatrix Lestrange, used to be Bellatrix Black, and is also Narcissa Malfoy's sister, so she will likely seize that seat as well, making the Malfoy family truly powerful."
"Who might take my seat if I decided I didn't want it?" Harry asked.
Sirius shrugged. "Not many families have been reclassified as Ancient or Noble Houses in the last few centuries, which doesn't make some families happy, especially since some Ancient and Noble Houses continue to use it as a sign of class, but earning seats on the Wizengamot still comes down to making a name for yourself. Albus holds a position as Chief Warlock, but if he had been interested in a family seat, he could have taken one back when he defeated Grindelwald. Still could if one opened, but he's turned it down several times. I don't think he likes the power and prestige that comes from holding that many seats on the Wizengamot. The Moody family has a long history of being distinguished aurors and have served on the Wizengamot before, though in recent years, Mad-Eye probably would not be offered the position, however you see where I'm going with this."
"It will be offered to people who have made a name for themselves, either through magical knowledge, professional achievement, magical power, money, influence on society, or magical or physical prowess, or perhaps feats of courage," Harry summed up.
"Correct," Sirius said with an approving nod. "Even in modern times, skill with a blade can win you renown. The Professional Dueling Tournaments, both nationally, the European Open, and International competitions, are a great way to win renown. There are competitions for nearly any weapon, and that type of skill attracts notice in the higher circles, especially if it brings praise or honor to Britain. Your grandfather invented Sleakeasy's, something that could have earned him enough renown, should you not have already had a seat."
"So, most purebloods, especially those from Ancient and Noble Houses have skill in these types of weapons because of deities, war with goblins and other magical creatures, and simply for shows of strength and skill," Harry summed up, and Sirius nodded. "It seems kind of weird to choose who leads our country based on that."
Sirius and Dora laughed at that.
"That's something we're criticized for in other parts of the world," Dora said, "but at the same time, our country loves tradition, and prides itself on having extremely talented and powerful witches and wizards. As long as those with power continue to hold power, it isn't likely to change."
Harry nodded slowly and sighed.
"Alright, I guess that means I'll just stick to the weapons you guys know."
"Good choice," Sirius said with a smirk before frowning. "It doesn't help that we really need to be choosy on your instructors, and finding ones isn't easy either. I haven't been able to find a single smith out there willing to spend time teaching you."
"Are there no other mages you could find?" Harry asked curiously.
"Oh sure, there are other mages," Sirius said with a wave of his hand, "but there aren't that many here in England, and all of them have their own projects and lives and aren't willing to take on a student at this time, especially a student that is still in school and thus can't spend full time learning the trade. That doesn't bring in the fact that you're learning an abnormal element. Those outside of the country are hard to entice to come here, again, simply for a teaching job, and not a full time one at that."
"Mages aren't exactly common, Harry," Dora said with a sigh. "Most of those who do walk that path travel a lot, fulfilling the wishes of their patron, or earning a living utilizing their skills. Not to mention, there are plenty of other holy or magical sites in the world better suited for specific gods and goddesses."
Harry nodded in understanding. Mad-Eye had already had him study some of the major magical sites that serve as focal points for Hades's dominion.
"What about the goblins?" Harry asked after a moment.
"The goblins?" Sirius said in confusion.
"Yeah, what about asking to hire a goblin to teach me to smith? Maybe even training with a sword?" Harry asked.
"Harry, the goblins tolerate us at best," Sirius said with a snort. "They tolerate each other at best. Besides, they guard their secrets to their weapons and armor enchantment jealously. Unless we are illegally willing to reveal the secrets of wandlore, something that would get us murdered, we'll never get them to teach you their secrets."
"I'm not talking about their secrets with weapon and armor enchantments," Harry said pointedly. "I'm just talking about the basics. Things that anyone could learn, and things that goblins have no reason to hide, and would probably have no issues making a profit on teaching."
Dora nodded slowly, and grinned. "He's right, Sirius. It could work, on both counts. We're not asking them to reveal their secrets. Just teach a basic trade and a skill that isn't race specific. For a price, I'm sure the goblins would be willing to teach Harry. They like gold."
Sirius thought about it, and nodded slowly.
"I'll look into it, but I wouldn't hold my breath."
