Chapter 7

Shoutout to some more reviewers!

Articdranzer – I'm delighted you think my story is great! Honestly when I posted this I didn't think anyone would like it as some friends thought it wasn't great when they read it before I started posting stories on this website. I'm so happy you like it enough to reread it, that makes me feel very appreciated and happy as a writer.

KappaIota – you make a very good point! I'm sorry I wasn't very clear on this and will do my best to clear it up for you. Since he is legally emancipated he can take control of all his legal stuff like medical records etc however I believe he can still have a guardian and especially since he is still underage in both worlds I think he should have a one, but sort of through his choosing rather than one just given to him? And I believe Harry would need a father figure in his life as well, considering how awful the Dursleys were to him he would want the confirmation he was loved and so a legal show of that like a guardianship would solidify the fact he is wanted.

BellaK26 – I'm so happy you liked that part! I thought it fit well to have his father appear to him one last time when finally claiming his family's heritage.

TheLittleRoguex – so glad you loved it :)

Sirius allowed Harry to poke around his room for a few minutes, showing him the photo of James and him back when he was a baby, tactfully making no mention of the tears in his godsons eyes. Leading Harry to his bed they sat down, Harry seeming very focused on the floor.

"I think we need to have a little talk," Sirius began hesitantly. "I – I know I haven't been in your life for very long, but I'm here to stay."

Harry nodded, trusting his godfather as he twisted his frayed shirt in his hands. "What do you want to talk about?" He couldn't help asking this, though he was almost certainly sure he already knew. However, he didn't want to let something slip that Sirius didn't already know about, he didn't want to burden his godfather even more.

"Let's start off with your inheritance. Basilisk venom? Phoenix tears? Slytherin's heir?"

Harry swallowed. "In my second year, the chamber of secrets opened." Opting to ignore the slight gasp from the man, he continued. "People kept being attacked but no one died and so Hermione, myself and Ron investigated it. Hermione did work out the monster but she was attacked before she could tell us." His voice broke slightly at that and Sirius wrapped a comforting arm around his godson. He of all people knew how awful it was when someone you cared about was hurt.

"We found the chamber after Ginny was taken but when Lockhart attempted to do a memory charm on us it backfired and not only wiped his memory's but it also collapsed the chamber's entrance with Ron on one side and I trapped on the other."

He felt the grip on his shoulder tighten but was thankful Sirius understood it was better to say anything. If he did, Harry didn't think he'd be able to keep going.

"When I entered and found Ginny, a diary she had had a memory in it of Tom Riddle, now known as Voldemort. He was draining her soul." Harry then began to speak very fast, eager to get this over with. "The monster in the chamber was a basilisk but Fawkes saved me and I killed it but got stabbed with a fang. Fawkes cried on me and healed me –"

"But Basilisk venom is deadly," Sirius whispered hoarsely, "It only takes minutes to kill. You were dying."

Harry didn't know what to say to that. He was right, Harry had almost died. His thoughts were cut off when he was hauled into a massive hug, Sirius burying his face in his messy hair. "You almost died. I almost never got to know you," he cried, rocking Harry gently.

Harry clung to his godfather, the implications of his adventure only now starting to hit him. He would've never seen his friends again, he would never have met his godfather. Ron would waiting outside the chamber for hours, waiting for his best friend who was lying dead only metres away through a stone wall. Ginny would've never made it, the Weasley's would've lost their only daughter. Tears started to leak out of his eyes as these realisations made themselves known, Sirius switching from upset to a concerned, caring parent in a matter of seconds, immediately comforting Harry.

Harry sped through the rest of his adventure curled up on Sirius's lap and is thankful that once he's done Sirius moves on, preventing him from dwelling further on the situation. Though Sirius does mention he will want to know the rest of Harry's school years, he will wait for a better day and a warmth fills Harry at how much his godfather cares for him, something he wasn't used to having to live with the Dursleys.

"We also need to talk about our future."

Worry shot through Harry. Did Sirius actually not want him after all?

Seeing the panic, Sirius swiftly rectified what he was saying. "For a start, this house is no place for you to live in, so with your permission I'm probably going to pick one of the current Potter properties." At receiving Harry's agreement, he continued. "Also, though you've been legally emancipated which is where you can have all political and legal stuff like doctor documents without parental permission, you still have to live with guardian which will be me. From what I've gathered you haven't had any vaccines, doctors checks, grade readings –"

"Grade readings?!"

Alarm jolted through Harry. The Dursleys had never cared about grades and between Ron and Hermione, both opposite sides of the spectrum about opinions related to work, it had been difficult to navigate.

"Hey, pup, talk to me," Sirius said, immediately noticing his godson's change of demeaner.

Harry didn't know where to start. Terrified of disappointing his godfather, he just froze. He wasn't doing badly in all his classes exactly, but with all the glowing records from his parents he was in no way living up to them.

"Pup?" anxiety was clawing at Sirius from the silence. Had he already messed up? "Well, what electives did you choose in third year? Are you continuing any of them for N.E.W.T's?"

In his panic of disappointing Sirius, Harry felt a coldness creep over him. Since he had only taken what Ron had, what if Sirius wasn't proud of him? Especially since he didn't exactly apply himself in lessons. He would never be good enough for him.

As panic and terror swirled in Harry's mind Sirius sat there patiently, but as the silence stretched longer his worry grew. Was Harry hiding something from him? Why was he so quiet? Was something wrong? His apprehension intensified. "Harry?"

No answer. Sirius started to panic by Harry's silence and moved Harry to see him properly who was staring at the floor, twisting the blanket in his hands. Cupping Harry's face in his hands, he tilted Harry's head up to look at him at eyelevel. His heart shattered to see the anxiety ridden face and unhappy, scared green eyes staring back at him. "Oh pup, what's the matter?"

"You – you'll hate me," he stuttered.

"Pup I will never hate you. I promise. I just want to go over your subjects to prepare for your O.W.L results, but I don't know your electives."

"Divination and COMC," Harry whispered, "I didn't know what to sign up for because I didn't know what any of them were really. Ron picked those too, so I just went along with him, thinking if I didn't enjoy them at least I'd have a friend."

"Pup, I would never hate you, especially not for that. I completely understand that you would want to be with a friend, and didn't the school give you any information on the electives?"

Harry shook his head. "Hermione just signed up for everything and as Ron was pureblood and had so many older brothers, I assumed he knew what he was doing."

"It's completely understandable but why would that make me hate you?"

"Because you, Remus and my parents were all so smart," Harry answered, looking down at the floor again, his eyes filling with tears, "Everyone expects me to be perfect and anyone who mentions my parents say they were literally angels that walked the earth. I already had to be top because of the boy who lived and then they judged me on how my parents were," He started to cry, "It's so unfair, because however hard I tried I couldn't do better than average, so I just gave up."

Sirius immediately pulled him into a hug, hating Hogwarts and everyone in the wizarding world for placing this on his pup. He immediately made up his mind that he would tell Harry millions of stories of Lily, James, himself, and Remus all being fools as well as good ones, so Harry didn't feel the need to be perfect.

Once Harry had calmed a little, Sirius started to speak, "COMC was a good choice but Divination is useless. If I got your guardianship earlier," irritation was painted on his face with that, "I would have recommended dropping that and maybe taking up Ancient Runes and Arithmancy as they are far more useful and open many more job choices. You can try them at least and see if you like them."

"Really?" Harry asked, looking up. "But I've done my O. ?"

"Not every witch or wizard studies at Hogwarts you know. Either they go to another school or are home-schooled. If you want to, Moony and I would be happy to introduce you to them and if you like them we could tutor you in either both or one and you could take the O.W.L at the end of sixth year. It would give your more job opportunities and depending on your job, could be incredibly useful."

Harry nodded, twisting the blanket again before saying quietly. "I always rather wanted to be an Auror. I suppose it kind of stemmed from everyone expecting me to fight Voldemort and well, I want to make the world a safer place too."

Sirius smiled, relief bubbling in Harry at that. "You'd be a great Auror pup, I'm sure. Mad eye's already got his eye on you so if you didn't chose that I think he'd make you become one anyway."

Harry laughed and Sirius relaxed slightly, glad to see Harry loosen up. He did feel for Harry, especially with someone like Hermione as a friend. He had nothing against the girl, she had saved him for Merlin's sake, but with his godson already having such a low self esteem due to the Dursley's her constant need to be the best and therefore often, albeit accidently, putting others around her down could make being her friend a little difficult… well, girlfriend now. Maybe Moony could have a small word with her about toning down her… enthusiasm about grades and school works.

"Alongside with those subjects, I will teach you and Hermione wizarding politics. I'll be getting McGonagall's permission to take you out on weekends as I'm sure she'll understand the situation. However," Sirius's face turned more grave, "there's a few more things we need to talk about. Mainly Dumbledore and Snape, and also Umbridge."

Harry's face paled. Sirius couldn't know. There was no way. He had been so careful to hide everything.

"Hermione told me, while you were recovering in St Mungo's from the battle in the ministry." Sirius's face was grave. "Why didn't you tell me pup? If I had known –"

"You would've murdered her! I didn't want to say anything because since you're so protective of me you'd be willing to compromise any chance of getting your freedom back!"

Guilt immediately crashed over Harry at seeing his godfather's crushed face. Before he could say anything more though, Sirius spoke quietly. "You will always come first to me. I failed as your godfather when your parents died, and I would do anything for you, even give up my freedom for you to have no more suffering in your life. You've been drawn an awful lot in life, and I will do everything to prevent something bad happening to you again."

Harry swallowed thickly. He couldn't remember the last time an adult had ever been so concerned about his welfare, the closest being Lupin back in third year. "So what's going to happen to her?"

"Whether you want to or not, I will certainly be pressing charges. The Wizengamot will be horrified to hear any child being subjected to that, especially if they have children at Hogwarts themselves. Alongside that, I will also be charging Snape with child abuse because though he's never physically harmed you or any other student that Hermione knows of, what she, Ron, Neville, Luna and the twins have told me about him he is certainly emotionally abusive, which is no better."

Harry nodded, heart swelling slightly at the love and care Sirius was showing him. The same care his friends felt for him shown by confiding in his godfather both filled him with happiness that he had such good friends but guilt at worrying them so much. They just didn't understand that what they thought was bad was fine for him because of all the things the Dursleys had subjected him to, which when he was younger he thought even that was normal for a family.

"Lastly, I will also be pressing charges against Dumbledore."

Harry blinked. "But – but there's no way that'll go through. Even with the ministry's attempts to ruin his reputation this year –"

"And the wizarding world will be furious at the childhood their hero was subjected to. And even with his reputation, I won't let him get away with this." Sirius's face was grim. "There is never a good reason to keep a child in an abusive home. Ever. The Dursleys will also be facing prison, whether magical or muggle I don't know."

Harry nodded, relieved Dumbledore would no longer be meddling in his life and that he would never have to worry about uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia again. "Dudley won't be charged, right?"

Sirius looked at him in surprise before hesitating. "He could be, certainly. Why?"

"He was only doing what he was taught by his parents. Ever since I saved him from the dementers –"

"Another thing that the ministry needs to answer"

"He's been… nice to me? Or at least far better than he was. He was only doing what Aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon taught him. Don't ruin his life for that."

Sirius wrapped an arm around Harry, amazed at how kind his godson still was even after all life had thrown at him. "I promise he'll be kept out of it. He will however be getting therapy and will have a close eye kept on him to keep him in line."

Harry nodded, knowing that was the best he could ask for. "I love you," he murmured, closing his eyes as he lay on his godfather. Sirius's heart melted. Shifting so his godson was more comfortable, he carded his hand through Harry's hair, thinking while his godson fell asleep. Looking down at him, it amazed him how he could love him so much. If you had told him this when he was in his later Hogwarts years he would've laughed, saying it would be impossible for him to love any kid, even if it was Prongs's kid and the idea of settling down with one? He would've told you that the idea was ludicrous. It showed him now how much Harry had changed his life. How good he was for him. Pressing a soft kiss on top of his godson head, he murmured, "Love you too pup."