"Professor it's my fault, I was meant to protect him and I failed." Tonks said mournfully
"Nymphadora, your job is to protect Harry from danger, from what Xenophilius has told me you did exactly that." Dumbledore said kindly
"But I should've been on deck with him before that beast showed up, if I had been able to react sooner Harry wouldn't have needed to use that shield!"
"Harry would've tried to help regardless of how many people were on that deck. The magic required to power that shield is proportional to how much energy it needs to stop, if all three of those tentacles had struck his shield the power would've killed him. It took both you and Xenophilius were needed to make sure only two tentacles struck."
Albus didn't truly know where Harry had learned that charm, Nicolas had sworn he hadn't taught it, which led him to believe Gilderoy had taught it. When he had first employed Gilderoy he had wished for a better alternative, then he had shown a remarkable spike in his abilities.
Around the same time that Harry had started taking private lessons from the man. Now Gilderoy was stuck in St Mungo's severe injuries ward, trying to undo whatever dark curse Tom Riddle used on him, the healers were unsure if he would ever be able to see again.
Albus looked at the sleeping form of Harry sadly, he hadn't woken since returning to England through an emergency portkey arranged by the Caribbean republic. Poppy had looked over Harry and determined he was just suffering magical exhaustion yet again.
Physically it was hard to guess Harry's age, he had entered Hogwarts as one of the smaller children but by the time his first year was over he had become one of the tallest. Albus attributed this to Harry's power and mithril.
A wizard's magic would always enhance his body, this was how students were able to eat whatever they wanted while maintaining near perfect health. If a wizard had magic to spare then it made sense it would enhance the body beyond what was normal.
Deep within the high security wing of Azkaban, Sirius Black stared at the Daily Prophet intently. Fudge's visit had been delayed by Dumbledore's attempts to make him see reason, as such when Sirius had asked for the paper Fudge had unthinkingly sent the issue stating Dumbledore believed Voldemort had returned.
Sirius had read the article so many times the words were seared in his brain, when he had first read it he had been filled with dread, but that dread had quickly turned into purpose. Previously he had known his godson was safe and the blind depression he had fallen into was greater than his desire to see his godson that thought he was responsible for James and Lily's deaths.
But with Voldemort back Sirius saw a chance to do his duty and keep his godson from harm, it was a guiding light to bring him out of his depression and work on his escape. Each time he read the article it was like a flash of light on the horizon, something to draw him home.
It had taken Harry several days to get back to full strength, luckily he hadn't burnt through his blackthorn wand. Unlike his walnut wand the blackthorn wand had been made to channel an abundance of magic, if the magic passing through the wand started to exceed the capabilities of the wand the magic would be pushed into the petrified elder wood hilt.
The petrified wood could then steadily radiate the magic and flush it out of the wand. It was almost the exact inverse of what the Philosopher's stone did which impressed Harry immensely.
Dumbledore had decided to wait until Harry had recovered before breaking the news of Sirius' escape.
"Harry my boy, please sit down… there is something I need to tell you. What do you know of House Black?" Dumbledore asked seriously, there was no humour or warmth in the man's expression and his eyes were sad and downcast.
"Very little, I only remember Bathsheda mentioning a magical mirror the Blacks owned and Tonks got me the Black book. Oh and that Harold Black collected two of the Hallows."
"I'm not surprised, well the Blacks were one of the first families to start believing in blood purity, their family motto is even 'always pure'. That should give you some idea of their views. Despite their views they were also notoriously powerful combatants, one of the reasons for their belief in blood purity was the numerous magical abilities they possessed."
"Like metamorphing? Tonks is related to the Blacks isn't she?"
"Yes and yes, almost every metamorphmagi over the last millennium have been closely related to the Blacks. Over such abilities include a natural affinity for occlumency and phobikinesis, the ability to control and manipulate fears. There are also rumours that the Black grimoire is the single biggest collection of dark spells in the world."
"My father was friends with a Black… Sirius Black right?" Harry asked suddenly, remembering the report cards Dumbledore had given him on the day Hermione had died.
Dumbledore sighed deeply "Yes, it is Sirius we need to talk about. Despite his upbringing it was thought he was different from his family, by the time they had reached their fourth year your father and Sirius were like brothers. So much so that when they went into hiding under fidelius charms they were each other's secret keeper.
"It seems we had all been fooled though, as Voldemort was able to walk right into your parents home and Black was seen moments after their death it is clear James put his trust in the wrong person. It is our belief that Black was Voldemort's second-in-command." Dumbledore spoke softly as he didn't want to upset Harry further.
"Sirius Black is the reason my parents died?" Harry asked coldly, while his face was like stone his eyes looked like a fire had been lit behind them. His magic radiated off him angrily and Dumbledore felt a shiver of fear run down him when the boy's magic danced over the room.
While Harry wasn't strong enough to beat Dumbledore yet his magic was still capable of dealing a great degree of damage, it was only his belief that Harry would never hurt him that stopped Albus bringing his own magic to bear.
"What happened next?" Harry asked after a moment
"Peter Pettigrew, another close friend of your father, went after Black. He caught up to Black in a muggle street. When the ministry arrived all they found was Black standing over a crater, the bodies of a dozen muggles and Pettigrew's finger."
"And why are you telling me this now? Did you not think I'd have wanted to know this years ago? Or did you not think I was ready" Harry spat, his face contorting in anger
"You are right… I didn't think you were ready to handle the news… Sirius was locked up in Azkaban and you seemed happy." Dumbledore said sadly "I wanted you to be focused on the future and not the past."
"Well you thought wrong… So why tell me now? Wait, you said he was in Azkaban, he escaped didn't he? So much for being inescapable"
"Yes he has, before he escaped the guards said he would say 'he has returned' nonstop. Fudge then decided to send dementors to Hogwarts, which will only endanger the students and make it easier for Voldemort to free his remaining followers."
"So what? You want me to be on my guard against Black and Riddle?"
"Yes, but hopefully they will not be able to get you at Hogwarts. It's actually the dementors I am most concerned about, we already know you can at least hold your own against Tom but only one spell is known to defeat a dementor."
"The patronus right? Well I guess I'd better start learning it, how hard could it be?" Harry said bitterly, he was angry at Dumbledore for keeping secrets about his own life from him, Black for getting his parents murdered. He was also angry at Fudge for not believing them and setting dementors on Hogwarts.
"It will take a long time to learn, luckily the new defense teacher is more than capable of teaching it to you. For now Auror Moody and I were about to inspect Black's cell for clues, if you wanted I could bring you with us."
The boat to Azkaban island had been built specifically for the purpose of bringing prisoners to the island and guards back home. While not huge it was large enough to hold just over a dozen people and still have room for cargo, this meant it looked rather empty with just Dumbledore, Moody, Tonks, the two guards escorting them to the prison and Harry.
Azkaban itself was a tall imposing building that looked like it had risen straight out of the sea. There were no seams or cuts and the only gaps in the fortress was the single gate and small barred windows, even the bars were made of the same material.
As they got closer his mage sight was able to tell him what his eyes couldn't, the feel of the fortress was like a twisted version of his mithril, right down to the way the fortress was made of pure magic. But while his mithril was a brilliant green and the sword of Gryffindor was a bright red Azkaban was a horrible blend of dull grey and cold icy blue.
The drain of the fortress was like nothing he had felt before, it made the ward towers in the Caribbean had look like a mild inconvenience. Harry noted with some alarm that Dumbledore visibly sag the closer they got to the prison.
When one the guards asked if he wanted to turn around and go back Albus waved him off "It's nothing to worry about, when you get to my age you become more dependent on your magic, having it leave is a shock to the system."
Once ashore they were led quickly up the small path and into what passed as the reception area, they met the warden of the prison who personally checked their identities and had them hand over their wands and any weapons. If the atmosphere wasn't so gloomy Harry would've found it funny when Dumbledore pulled out three of his wands, one after another.
Just like his Cloak the Elder wand could avoid all forms of detection and was certainly too valuable to leave in the hands of the guards, Harry then looked over at Moody's table and was surprised to see five wands of various shapes and sizes, his staff, a dagger and a small sword that he had hidden in his false leg.
Harry's own wand was handed over easily along with his saber's ring, the gauntlet's ring remained unseen even with its weakened protections. Just like in the Caribbean the philosopher's Stone had started to heat up, as if it was determined to counter the constant cold of azkaban all by itself.
The warmth from his ring spread along his entire body rather than focus on just his finger so it wasn't too uncomfortable, when he noticed how much Tonks, Moody and Dumbledore where shivering he privately thanked his ring for keeping him warm.
They were led up so many staircases Harry lost count and soon he lost all sense of direction, he was glad they had the guards as he had no idea the way out. When Harry thought about it more he realised that was probably the point, if he couldn't find his own way out then the prisoners probably couldn't either.
Eventually they reached the high security wing and an empty cell, the guards then helpfully told them this had been Black's cell as if they would've brought them to a completely different and empty cell. There were a couple newspapers scattered around the cell, but all but one had been pushed under the slab of mithril that passed as a bed.
Harry used his magesight to try and get a fix on Black's signature but if any signature was left it was being hidden behind the mithril's signature. Turning to Moody he saw the auror living up to his name and frowning moodily, his magical eye whizzed around frantically but Harry figured the auror couldn't find anything.
Looking at the newspaper carefully he was just able to make out a faint red rose colour on the paper, he quickly picked up a second paper and noted how the paper itself didn't have a signature. This indicated the signature on the most recent paper was Black's, to be sure Harry handed it over to Moody and pointed out the signature.
"The boy's done it again Albus, this is Black's signature alright. Potter, do you think you can track this?" Moody said gruffly, Harry couldn't help noticing the auror was speaking very quietly.
"Probably not, as azkaban drains magic a signature wouldn't last long, especially not long enough for me to track it now."
They spent a few more minutes searching the cell but they found nothing of note, eventually they left the foul prison and returned to Godric's Hollow. Far away in Little Whinging a huge black dog ran between the shadows, he had a vague memory of Hagrid saying he needed to deliver Harry to his relatives so that was where he would begin his search.
Sirius won't be different to canon or have new powers, but I felt if the Black family had several powerful abilities that were relatively unique to them it would definitely increase their desire to stay "pure".