Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

...

Harry sat within the confines of his room at Privet Drive, the pencil in his hand copying down ingredients that he would be need to look into purchasing for the following school year. Of course there was the stock of standard ingredients that would be necessary for Potions Class with Snape, but then again those would be the ingredients everybody would be getting their hands on.

He, of course, was looking at something well above and beyond the curriculum.

The end of year feast had been quite entertaining from his standpoint and he couldn't help but think that the fireworks had been the creation of the Weasley Twins. He recalled how they had told him of the fireworks they had let loose over the Christmas period and as a result he knew that there was a possibility that people would connect the dots. All providing they wanted to of course.

At the moment, Harry had to admit that the biggest reason why none of them had truly been tracked down yet, cause goodness knew Albus Dumbledore could if he wished, was because nobody wanted to track them down. The faculty and their peers were always amazed and astounded whenever Potter Club brought something out of the blue, reminding them that magic was meant to be magical.

The opening of his bedroom door snapped him out of his musings as he looked over his shoulder to look at his aunt. When he had gotten picked up from the station by his uncle he had played as much of a pacifist as he could, knowing full well that a single inappropriate word would send his uncle off on a spiral about the freak he was. Harry had just been grateful that his uncle had actually remembered to pick him up but assumed that Hogwarts would have sent letters out to all the parents and guardians informing them of when the train would arrive at the station.

It had been two weeks since that day and he hadn't had any run ins with his relatives as of yet, his uncle and cousin having wanted nothing to do with him with the exception of giving him jobs around the house. Harry imagined that this was likely still due to the whole pig tail incident with Hagrid. On the scarce times he had seen his aunt, especially when the rest of her family was vacant from the room, he had seen her giving him peculiar looks. If they peculiar as in, 'I wonder what the freak is plotting,' kind of way Harry would have understood it. These facial expressions however he just couldn't truly explain and it confused the hell out of him.

"Can I help you Aunt Petunia?" he asked politely as he put down his pencil and turned to look at her.

"I'm just here to inform you that we are going out for dinner tonight," she said sternly. "There is bread and jam for you downstairs."

"Have fun at dinner," said Harry before he returned to his extra curricular activities, hearing the door close behind him. Once more his aunt had been looking at him with minimal disdain and he pushed the thought to the back of his mind. He would figure it out at a later date.

It wouldn't be much later before he heard the car start up outside and knew that it was safe to venture downstairs and not get in the way of his relatives. Pushing himself away from his studies, Harry exited his den and made his way downstairs towards the kitchen. Bypassing his former room/prison, Harry entered the kitchen only to have his breath catch in his throat at what he saw before him. He knew this moment was coming but hadn't prepared for it as much as he would have liked, especially when it had come earlier than expected.

"Dobby," he said softly as he spotted the house elf standing on the kitchen tiles, looking up at him in awe.

"Harry Potter, he knows Dobby's name?" said the house elf in admiration.

"Well," said Harry slowly as he tried to figure a way to bullshit himself out of this situation. "I'm a great wizard you see, and great wizards know these kinds of things."

"Harry Potter is indeed a great wizard, a very great wizard indeed," said Dobby repeating on himself. "Dobby though is here for a reason. Harry Potter…"

"Wait Dobby," said Harry putting his hand up and preventing the house elf from continuing. "I'm going to use my powers of awesomeness to assume exactly what it is you are here for."

"Harry Potter can do such a thing. Dobby never heard of this kind of magic."

"Dobby, I sense you are here to tell me not to go back to Hogwarts, that dark things are soon to happen and that I would be safe here," said Harry knowing exactly what was to come. Or at least what would happen if he decided not to throw a monkey wrench into the works.

"The great Harry Potter knows many things and thus must know that he must not go back to Hogwarts," warned Dobby.

Ignoring how convoluted Dobby's sentence was, Harry sharpened his eyes as he knew exactly what was needed to be done. No way was he going to end up flying with Ron back to Hogwarts this year if he could help it. "Dobby, allow me to be very clear about this," said Harry as he knelt down so that he could look Dobby squarely in the eyes. "I know terrible things will happen at Hogwarts this year but I have the power to stop it, the power to save people."

"Harry Potter must save Harry Potter before anyone else…"

"Dobby, if people died while I could save them then I wouldn't be able to save myself," said Harry, his eyes sharpening. "Harry Potter is a great wizard, and great wizards do great things. Now, you can be certain of this Dobby, I am going back to Hogwarts and I will do great things."

Dobby just stood there, looking at Harry, the young wizard basically able to see the cogs turning in the elf's mind. Dobby's attention turned to the floor and for a moment it looked as if the small creature was going to start doing some damage to both himself and the furniture around him. "One of the great things Harry Potter will do this year is to make sure Dobby goes free," said Harry, stopping Dobby before he started.

"Free Dobby?" said the house elf quietly as Harry put a finger to his lips, Dobby understanding that this was to be a secret. "Dobby understands, Dobby will do nothing to stop Harry Potter from going to Hogwarts. You are a great wizard Harry Potter, please do great things."

With a click of his fingers Dobby blinked out of existence, leaving Harry alone in the kitchen. Allowing a sigh of relief to escape his lips, Harry stood up feeling that this year was now going to be better as a result of what he had accomplished just then. Sure, he still needed to get the diary off of Ginny -preferably before this whole Heir of Slytherin debacle began, goodness knew he didn't need that nightmare again- which basically meant he needed to be in Diagon Alley on the same day as the Weasleys. He was sure that he could arrange that.

Focusing back to the present, Harry made his pitiful excuse of a sandwich and exited the kitchen, not wanting to be there anymore than he had to. Upon entering his room though he found a neat stack of letters sitting upon his desk. "Oh yeah…" said Harry as he took a bite of his sandwich, now recalling that Dobby had been stealing his mail to this point to try and dissuade him from going back to Hogwarts. Funny how that had never popped up in conversation this time round.

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry sat down at his desk and had a quick look at the letters he had been sent. Hermione's letter was to be expected, so too was Ron's, Harry having tried to rekindle the friendship that wasn't going half as well as it had during the first part of the school year. The one from Susan wasn't much of a surprise but the one from Neville was one indeed, Harry not having expected the timid boy to write to him.

That though was nothing compared to the envelope at the end which immediately caught his attention. Putting the other letters to the side for the moment, promising to himself that he would read them as soon as he could. Tearing open the envelope, Harry quickly opened the letter and began to read through the contents, his eyes widening slightly as he realized the importance of this letter and was so happy that Dobby had returned this letter above the rest. He was also glad the set meeting date had yet to pass and knew that he had to mentally prepare himself for the event he had to attend.

The fun part would be explaining it to his uncle.

…

"And just where do you think you're going, boy?" asked Uncle Vernon as he saw Harry head towards the door.

"I have a meeting to attend," explained Harry as he looked his uncle in the face. "Before you say anything, please know that this is something important and I will…"

"Don't give me any of that codswallop boy! Now get out into the garden and do the weeds like you're meant to," ordered Vernon.

"With all due respect, I'm about to meet with someone that very well may ensure that you never have to see me again," said Harry. "Think about it, never having to see me ever again uncle, doesn't that just sound wonderful."

"Ever again," said Vernon as if in a trance before focusing on Harry once more. "Boy if you're pulling my leg just know that no amount of freakishness will protect you from me."

"Trust me Uncle Vernon, this is something I would never lie about."

…

Harry had to admit that he had never actually wanted to enter the Ministry of Magic, the only times he had actually done so had been both highly illegal and made this current way seem rather drab and boring. "Name?" asked the clerk, not even having the decency to look at him as she played with her platinum blonde hair.

"Harry Potter."

That got her attention.

Peering over her desk she looked at Harry who simply stood there smiling whilst waving at her. "Hello there."

"Mister Potter, my apologies," she said quickly.

"That's quite alright, Natasha."

"Harry Potter knows my name!"

Harry simply pointed at his shirt in the same location that Natasha's nametag was located. This of course caused Natasha to sober up somewhat and remind her that she had a job to do. "What purpose are you here for, Mister Potter?" she asked.

"I have an appointment with the Minister of Magic," announced Harry. "Unfortunately I haven't the foggiest how to find his office."

It would seem that fate had decided not to be kind to him this day as an extremely loud clearing of the throat tore his attention off of Natasha to one Dolores Umbridge adorned in her painfully pink attire. "Mister Potter, the Minister of Magic has asked me to escort you to his office," she said.

Harry sincerely doubted that she had been asked to do so and more commanded but had little time to say anything as Dolores turned on her heel and began marching away. "See you later, Natasha," said Harry as he quickly jogged after Umbridge, closing the gap within seconds.

Harry wasn't surprised that Umbridge practically refused to acknowledge his existence, walking at a pace he had trouble keeping up with. If he got lost within the masses she would likely apologize but ultimately say that the blame was not on her. Considering though she stood out like a sore thumb in the crowd it would be nigh impossible to lose her.

Eventually they reached a private elevator and Harry was mildly upset that Umbridge was still accompanying him past this point but said nothing of it. The rectangular box burst into life, firstly shooting backwards before stopping abruptly and heading upwards. The crazy path continued for roughly a minute before it came to a stop, revealing a receptionist room, two oaken doors proudly standing past the pink monstrosity that Harry could only assume was Umbridge's desk.

Rolling his shoulders, Harry marched forth with purpose in his stride and pushing both doors out of the way and marching straight down the middle towards Fudge's desk. "Harry my boy, glad you could make it," said the Minister of Magic as he stood up from the work he was doing, shuffling around the piles of paperwork to properly greet him.

Harry took a quick moment to actually inspect his surroundings and found it surprisingly relaxing. Other than the mountains of paperwork -which actually went to show that as Minister of Magic there was some manner of work to be done as opposed to just posing for photos- there were a few newspaper headlines hanging on the wall, all of them praising Fudge in his efforts over the years. Surrounded by one's accomplishments, Harry started to realize just how Fudge could have become so stuck up in his own ego over the years. Regardless, that was not the reason why he was here.

"Thank you for having me," said Harry as he shook the Minister's hand. "Will there by anyone else joining us this morning?"

"Madam Bones will arrive shortly," said Fudge as he fluffed around with his suit jacket. "Can I offer you any refreshments while we wait?"

"Firewhiskey," said Harry without missing a beat which in turn got an awkward chuckle out of the Minister.

"Perhaps Butterbeer is more appropriate," said Fudge as he walked past Harry to where an alcohol cabinet stood tall and proud. Opening up the left hand side, Harry couldn't help but feel a chill come through and figured that there were some manner of runes or charm work in play in order to keep that part of the cabinet at the same temperature as a fridge. "Here you are my boy," said Fudge as he passed the beverage to Harry who managed to mutter out a thankful response. "Once more, I'm so glad that you could make it today."

"Your letter meanwhile didn't really give me anything to go off," said Harry as he had a sip of his drink.

"Unfortunately, the nature of this discussion is not to leave this room due to the context and I trust that you'll be able to keep what is said today a secret," said Fudge. "While I like to think that our system is flawless I am more than aware that things sometimes don't go as they should."

"Your letter said that I'd been summoned here for my outburst when last we met, I take it though I'm not getting a slap on the wrist."

"Far from it my boy! You opened my eyes to a great injustice that was carried out by our system and I intend to see true justice prevail. However, the situation is what you would call…delicate."

"May I have a guess at the situation," said Harry, Fudge gesturing for him to continue. "The only thing I can think of here is that this is about Sirius."

Nod of approval.

"However you can't simply announce that he is innocent without covering all of your bases. While you could use claim his innocence through the use of the Daily Prophet he would still likely be hexed in the back were he to step foot into Diagon Alley. The public would still fear him and if knowledge of his freedom were to spread then he would be in even more danger. What you need is a way to swing the popular belief of his innocence without a shred of doubt."

"I so look forward to the day you join the political game," said Fudge with a cheeky smile. "You are right in that Black would be targeted. Calling him innocent would create pandemonium and rob us of any true chance to sway the belief of the people. Retrials for all of our prisoners would be demanded so for the moment we require evidence that would pin the guilt on someone else."

"Peter Pettigrew," said Harry.

"Yes, Black told me about that."

"You've spoken with him?" asked Harry.

"But of course, after your little tirade I had to discover the truth and as you said, Black was never given a trial. Due to the fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, my predecessor had sentenced Black to Azkaban to await trial but it seems but for some reason the trial never began. I visited Azkaban to question him with Madam Bones escorting me. We spoke with him at length and for a man who has spent such a long period of time in Azkaban he seemed quite sane, even joking around with his words as if just happy to have a conversation. When Pettigrew's name was brought up the room became quite serious; my apologies for the pun."

"Bound to happen."

"Anyway, Black explained everything from his perspective, vowing upon both his magic and his life that he was telling the truth. I felt no need to place him under Veritaserum, I could tell when he was speaking the truth. Somewhere out there is Pettigrew and he is the key to allowing Black back into society. If he has evaded capture this far however I fear we may never find him. Who would have thought that he was an unregistered Animagus and a rat at that? He could be living beneath London itself, have stowed away aboard a ship for some foreign land. I fear that he will never be found."

"Sirius isn't still in Azkaban though is he?"

"Heavens forbid, Black's currently holed up in an Auror safehouse, only Madam Bones and I know of its location."

"Unless of course you want to go see your Godfather," said Amelia, the head of the DMLE standing in the doorway having someone crept into the office unnoticed.

"Trust me, you have no idea how long I've waited to hear that," said Harry before putting the Butterbeer to his lips and chugging the entire bottle before slamming it on the desk. "So what are we waiting for?"

…

Sirius glanced at his image in the mirror, small cuts from his shave burning at his face but he knew that it would be worth it. The chunks of hair scattered about his feet went to show his skill with a pair of scissors was minimal but at least it was better than the shaggy mop he had previously had. Without his wand though he was effectively powerless to do anything and for the moment there was no way to get hold of a new one. There was a spare back at his family home but under no circumstance was he permitted to leave his temporary location.

For good reason he had to admit.

Splashing his face with water he was delighted to hear the wards chime out, signalling that somebody had just arrived via portkey and a smile lit itself upon his face. Arguably there was more than a little spring in his step as he made his way down the stairwell towards the kitchen, knowing full well where the portkey dropped off it's occupants. Amelia had likely come to visit once more, the chats they had been having as of late had helped him overcome his time spent with the Dementors. It wasn't that simple on paper but for now this was as best they could do. Recruiting a trained psychiatrist to peer inside his mind would have to wait a little while.

"Well hello there," said Sirius suavely as he swung into the kitchen only to pause as he noticed that Amelia wasn't alone. Fudge wasn't particularly a surprise, the Minister of Magic having come to visit him on a number of occasions, usually to apologize for the injustice caused by the government. He had nothing against him but the amount of times he had apologized for something he had no power over was starting to grate on his nerves. He tolerated it all however as undoubtedly, he was the reason that he was currently out of the Azkaban.

The third person to appear before him was someone he had not yet been introduced to, at least not since he was a little bundle of joy. One could question how he knew exactly who the boy was but the resemblance of his best friend at that age was uncanny. There was no chance that he was anybody other than his Godson.

Harry meanwhile struggled with the lump that had formed in his throat. He had thought that he had been ready to see Sirius once more, ready and prepared to face the man who he had been closest to. It turned out no amount of mental preparation had been able to ready him for this.

"Harry," choked out Sirius as he knelt down to be closer to Harry's eye level.

Harry couldn't prevent the tears running down his face, nor could he prevent himself from charging forward and engulfing his godfather in a hug. While Sirius was unsure of why exactly he had nearly been tackled to the ground he couldn't find it in himself not to return the hug, his best friend's son wrapped safely in his arms.

It had been a moment he never thought would happen.

It would be a moment he would cherish forever.

...

Hope you enjoyed. Wasn't sure whether I'd get this chapter out in time as I'm moving state tomorrow and have spent a good deal of time packing up my life once again. Not sure when I'll next get a chance to post but please be patient and know that Potter Club will be back.

Hope to see you then

P.S. I'm terribly sorry if I insulted anyone with my terrible Italian translation last chapter, blame Google