August 21, 1989.
Leaky Cauldron,
Kitchen.
London.
Tom, the innkeeper of the Leaky Cauldron, never thought he would encounter such good help by hiring that scrawny little kid with a mercenary set of eyes. He called himself Jamie and didn't provide a last name. But Merlin had his ways, and he was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Jamie was good at keeping up with the rush hour. The kitchen shined, the floors were devoid of dirt, and the tables refreshed with a snap of his fingers. People started saying that old Tom had finally gotten a house elf to meet the needs of the patrons.
Tom denied such sayings and kept serving the meals. Jamie was earning decent pay. Then, another thing added to Tom's day-to-day life: a stray dog. A ball of black hair and a mean growl arrived at the Leaky to stay. The dog immediately began following Jamie. Jamie kept telling the mutt he was not interested in adopting massive dogs. The dog seemed to understand Jamie's words; it sat on his rear and acted all offended by the rejection. The third time he did that, Jamie cracked up and the dog began wagging his tail.
The funny thing was when a seedy customer tried to manhandle Jamie, the mutt transformed into a monster and made the man piss his pants after he released Jamie. The mutt turned and sniffed Jamie and licked his face. Jamie replied with a laugh. Tom asked the man to leave and not come back. Jamie was his worker. The customer complained about the dog, and Tom retorted that the dog was a bouncer and he was good at it.
Both Jamie and the dog blinked. Both of them stood a little taller and then. Mr. Borgin stepped into the scene and said, "Urchin, what are you doing here?" The mutt began quietly growling. "Working for more than seven galleons a day, Mr. Borgin, plus I have a mouth to feed now, mind you, he's a bit possessive, and I can have my fill of Tom's good cooking," Tom turned to Jamie and said, "I'm not going to serve you double, you already eat for three, and your dog is no slouch, stop trying to butter me, boy," the clientele laughed and Jamie continued picking up dishes from the empty tables.
Borgin just nodded and said, "Cheeky little scamp," He echoed, "Working for more than seven galleons a day," The dog stopped as though he caught a scent and reacted by digging to hide his droppings he made a dismissal to Borgin, and walked away.
Jamie tried not to react, but his smile was visible. He, too, felt a bit embarrassed by his dog. He asked, "Has the crazy blonde bothered you again, sir?" Now Borgin was smiling, which scared half of the patrons.
"No, thank Merlin for small blessings," replied Borgin and sat at the bar. Jamie placed the service, and Tom served a pint. Jamie passed a personalised snack platter. Borgin asked for the specialty of the day. Five minutes later, he was eating. When done, he said to Jamie, in a sotto voice. "That's not a normal dog, just like that crazy blond lady was not a lady to start," He left, and Jamie nodded.
Later, when he finished his shift, Jamie took the dog into his room.
"Come on, I got to get ready for the gym," As soon as the dog stepped into the house trunk, he received an electric discharge from a rune filter, marking him as not being in his original form.
Sirius woke up, for the second time in his life, a prisoner, staring into the eyes of his godson. The shock was that his godson never looked so devoid of emotion and more like a machine than now. He teared up as the guilt of being partially responsible for crafting that hard face added weight to his soul instead of the one he had in his memory of when he was a baby.
In another life, Jamie was known for being a human lie detector. When that strange man woke up and found he was back in human shape, his eyes became heavy with tears. Jamie could tell the man wasn't afraid of death or being caught, it was something else. Jamie sat down and said, "You have a story to tell, I'm paying attention, now talk."
"My name is Sirius Black," Jamie didn't react. He never got familiar with the story of the Harry Potter kid.
He wished Jane would be here. She wasn't, he was. He would follow his gut instinct.
The Harry part of his consciousness also noticed the tears and attitude of the captive.
Jamie sighed and said, "I'm sorry, I don't know anything about my past, who my family was, I'm an orphan, my name is urchin, you, disguise yourself as a dog, and gain my trust, but, why, what is so fucking special about me?"
Sirius replied with a broken voice, "Everything, and I fucked it up,"
"Please tell me you are not my father, please tell me that you didn't impregnate my mother then leave and cause me to be given up for adoption to those horrible people, the Dursleys. Tell me you didn't go on your merry way then decide you can no longer live with the guilt of breaking my mother's heart, and not meeting me, and decided to come back?" asked Jamie.
Sirius looked as though he had been punched in the gut.
He denied with a passion the question, then he swallowed the lump in his throat, closed his mouth, and cleared his throat. "I knew your parents. We grew up together. All of us went to Hogwarts. Your father was my best friend until his last day of life. Your mother was a scary lady, so smart and talented with magic. When they got married and you were born, Jamie, you were named Harry James Potter. When you got baptised by magic, I made a magical promise to protect you. If anything happened and your parents went missing, I would take their place. However, the times were not the best. We, the magical side of England, were in a civil parents became targets of a maniac who wanted to make an example of them and you. You lived, they got killed, and I was crazy with grief. I wanted to avenge them. I left you in the care of Albus Dumbledore and began my chase of the traitor who sold your parents out to that noseless freak bastard Voldemort. Ah, I failed, I got incarcerated while being innocent, and once I was locked up, no one came to my aid. But I had left you with the great Albus Dumbledore. Your parent's wills stated there were several good families available to take you as their own. Albus decided to block that avenue, and you got sent to the Dursleys, that fucking cunt Petunia and her stupid dimwitted husband who is thicker than a brick sandwich. When I learned of your disappearance from the muggles and the wizarding world. I lost it too and used my animagus form to escape. I needed to find you and apologise for being a stupid arsehole, who could not be there for you when you needed me the most and try to make amends. But," Sirius laughed bitterly, "but, you are your parent's kid, you set a trap, and I fell for it."
"Fuck, tell me, did we at least win the war?" Jamie asked with a scrunched face. The side of his soul that was Harry's was in tears, and now Jamie was leaking tears, too.
Sirius replied, "What? No, wizarding England is still ripe to be conquered by the followers of that bastard, Voldemort,"
"So, let me get this straight, my parent's death was meaningless, your incarceration got lost in the system, and I got placed in the wrong house. This place, wizarding England, is still a latrine, and I, we, just have to suck it all up?" Asked a miffed Harry, who began glowing.
Sirius wanted to stop the laughter building up on his body, but the reasoning from this kid was spot on, and it all sounded just as bad, but in the voice of his godson, who was behaving like an adult, it just cracked him up. While he tried not to, the laughs followed, and he just said, "Yeah, pretty much,"
"Ah, hell no!" exclaimed Jamie while his magic exploded in a rain of green and blue rays. Sirius was shocked by Harry's wild magic, and before passing out, he thought to himself. 'James, Lily, he is just as powerful as you predicted.'
Brutus, the house elf, who had remained invisible in the exchange and undetected by the two unconscious wizards, materialised, observed, and added to the oblivious ones, "You two are going to make Master Arcturus go spare, thankfully, you are not as bad as his granddaughter Bella,"
The house elf walked out of the house trunk and left a message to Tom, the innkeeper, replicating Jamie's chicken scratch. In the note, he stated that he was going on vacation. But he left the newspaper clipping for a house elf service, which was not as pricey as his salary was. He apologised and paid for his stay on the Leaky.
Jamie and Sirius woke up, cleaned, and rested in Castle Black. And, not a moment too soon, since Dumbledore was on the move, Jamie's signature and wild magic had raised a flag.
Dumbledore sighed and decided to wait. He had no choice. He hated not knowing everything, and to date, Harry had proven to be a slippery little brat.
Phineas observed Albus and hid his smile. He was a patient being, and he would wait.