Astrid Elladora Black Chapter 8, a harry potter fanfic

Harry wondered how his life had changed so much and if he could indeed trust that it would stay the same. Good things never really did happen to him. Currently he was standing in a huge balcony, cocooned in a warm puffy coat looking over a beautiful snow covered town. He was still bewildered on why Astrid thought it was a good idea to pretend that he had been kidnapped along with 'Violetta' but she had just said that it was just step one with such an intense and creepy smile that he had decided to leave her to it and gone along with it.

It did have the advantage that he didn't have to explain anything to the Dursleys. After that Astrid had forced them all to polyjuice into different people and taken them to Switzerland through muggle means.

The reason for her being fixated on Switzerland? There was a small, but dedicated research facility which dealt with various kinds of dangerous and weird spell damage. One of the teams here were currently conducting clinical trials on too much exposure to dementors and she wanted to get Sirius into it and wanted to get Harry's scar scanned there too.

The town being in a time bubble was just another bonus for them, it would allow them much more time together. Every 1 day in the outside world would equate to 1 week inside the time bubble and Astrid said they would be spending 9 real world days there giving him two months of unimpeded time with his godfather. The first night when he had found that out, he had wept in happiness in his room. It was, it is the best thing that had ever happened to him even if he hated the apparently "mandatory" counselling sessions the doctors had convinced his guardians was necessary for him.

He scowled, gripping the railing beneath his fingers as he remembered the past few sessions, the therapist, a jovial blonde Swiss man, Dr. Blauch had an uncanny ability to pull the most inane things out of Harry which he didn't even know had affected him and which left him feeling completely wrecked majority of the time.

"Hey pup, what are you doing?" He heard Sirius's voice from behind him. Harry sighed leaning his elbows on the railing. "Just thinking."

Sirius hummed, coming to stand beside him. He looked better than he had even back in Surrey. It seemed being subjected to various medical procedures / healing (or necessary torture as Sirius put it) were a good thing.

"I never thought I would get to do this." Sirius whispered into the cold air. "It was- the time in Azkaban was the worst, and for a long time-, a long time I was convinced that that was all I would ever have, it was what I deserved to have."

"Padfoot-" Harry began aghast.

Sirius shook his head gently before speaking again. "To be honest I didn't even realise I was thinking these thoughts Harry. I think - I used to think that what happened to James and Lily, what happened to you, was my fault. It's not I know that, but knowing it and believing it are two very different things. Being in therapy, doing what they are telling us, is probably one of the hardest things I ever had to do." A rueful smile crossed his face as he turned to look at Harry. "But it is also something I am going to do because it will ensure that I am that much more prepared to take care of you."

"I know you don't like the therapy classes, but I also know that there are things that have happened that have had an impact on you Harry. I should have been there to protect you from them, but I wasn't due to my own recklessness. Please, please at least let me do this for you, please let me take care of you now."

Harry said nothing, feeling guilt and anger at himself surge up in himself. He hated the therapy sessions, hated how they made him feel, hated how they made him evaluate and look at things around him in such a different light. Hated how they showed him that he had such a negative view of himself. Even though he was reticent about the sessions, he knew deep down that they were helping him.

"I am trying Sirius." He mumbled. "It's just-" mortifying, horrifying, humiliating, embarrassing, "hard."

"Hey we're Gryffindors, we don't run from hard situations, we run into them remember?" Harry's eyes rolled at his godfather's admittedly lame joke.

" says that classifying people through their houses is very classist and perpetuates an idea of who that person is before you get to know said person and their attributes."

Sirius winced at that, he too had been reprimanded severely and repeatedly for that one issue. Apparently his brain growth had been stunted at the age of 21, in the height of war and after escaping a prejudiced, abusive house and they were now working on correcting that issue so that he could function as a whole adult human being.

"Yes yes deer." The old mocking fell from his lips seamlessly. Just as the first time he had used that particular phrase and explained its meaning to Harry a small, nostalgic smile spread across his face. Harry had felt that the one small phrase connected him to his dad in a way, he had so little of them, so few stories and pictures that he would take any ounce of remembrance of them he could, from the way he squinted when concentrating like his mother to the way his hair looked exactly like dad's no matter how much he tried to tame it.

"Hey, you know what would be fun?" Sirius asked, his eyes lighting up. "Let's go get hot chocolate! We are in Switzerland! You should always have chocolate in Switzerland, especially magical chocolate!" Saying so he began dragging Harry from the balcony into the snow filled streets.

Amelia sat in the gargantuan office room draped in rich mahogany and neutral greys. Her eyes took in the minimal decorations and the multiple certificates and awards dotting the walls.

"My apologies Madam Bones." A woman in sweeping cream robes spoke as she strode into the room and situated herself behind the desk. "My subordinates were having a bit of trouble with a few of the cases."

"Of course Attorney Tonks." A small smile spread across her own face. She liked Andromeda Tonks; she had been a couple years older to her and one of the few neutral Slytherins who hadn't given into the innate blood prejudices. She had been surprised to learn that Andromeda Tonks was the barrister and legal representative for the House of Black especially after the rather spectacular fashion in which she had been disowned for 'marrying beneath her station'.

"May I ask what this is about?" Andromeda asks. Amelia doesn't say anything merely slides the letter she had received previously towards the attorney. "Imagine my surprise at finding out that you were the legal entity in charge of the House of Black after your rather spectacular showdown two decades ago."

Andromeda's face did not change from her politely interested smile. "The Regent thought it to be a strategic decision, considering I am the best lawyer in magical Britain and I hail from the House. I was always set to be the legal representation, it has just been, well a rather roundabout route shall we say?"

"Yes I suppose so. You don't seem surprised by the bit about Sirius Black."

"Of course I am, to be anything other than surprised would imply that I am in contact with a wanted criminal." Neither the sarcasm nor her impatience were hidden in any way.

"Yet if there were some discrepancies with that title, one would assume you would be the first one Sirius Black would contact."

"Maybe he isn't aware that he could gain legal representation from the House of Black, the late Lady Black did make a lot of fuss about disowning him no matter how baseless they were."

Amelia merely hummed, she couldn't get the location of Sirius Black out of Andromeda that wouldn't endear Andromeda to the courts when the time came, no matter how false the accusations on Sirius Black. The Wizengamot would be looking to throw the case out on any charges.

At least the unsaid words had been enough to confirm that Sirius Black did have good legal representation and the backing of his House whether he was aware of it or not.

Just as she was about to ask another question a patronus swooped into the room and the cool voice of Kingsley Shacklebot sounded through the room, "Madam Bones your presence is requested immediately, Code Alpha Blue, Target specification 12." Harry wondered how his life had changed so much and if he could indeed trust that it would stay the same. Good things never really did happen to him. Currently he was standing in a huge balcony, cocooned in a warm puffy coat looking over a beautiful snow covered town. He was still bewildered on why Astrid thought it was a good idea to pretend that he had been kidnapped along with 'Violetta' but she had just said that it was just step one with such an intense and creepy smile that he had decided to leave her to it and gone along with it.