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"It's Sirius!" Harry heard himself exclaim again under his breath, his eyes wide with excitement as he flew over the ground between the table and the door leading outside of the cozy little pub, leaving behind a very surprised looking Ron and Hermione, who were scrambling to get up and follow him.

"Harry, wait!" he heard Ron call from behind him, but he was already halfway out the door, the cold wind doing as little to stop him as his friends call.

The road outside the Three Broomsticks was filled with students, but Harry ignored them all, his eyes busy scanning the area … seeking out the source of the barking … looking for any sign of the large black dog.

Then … he saw him, directly across the street from the window they had been sitting on the other side of, standing in the shadowed alley, his form just visible between the buildings.

Harry's face split into a wide grin as he dashed across the road, almost completely oblivious to the fact that he narrowly avoided a high speed collision with a small group of Beauxbaton girls. Already being six paces away when part of his brain registered Fleur's voice, "Harry …. ?"

However, he was so focused on the alleyway he didn't turn around as he called out an apology.

"Sirius!" Harry exclaimed quietly as he burst into the alleyway, immediately being greeted by the sight of a large black dog stepping out of the shadows, his tail wagging furiously.

Unable to prevent himself and without hesitating, Harry launched himself at Sirius, wrapping his arms around his godfather's neck and tackling him to the ground with a force that he wondered for a second might have hurt him had he not been so sturdy.

"Sirius …" Harry gasped again, burying his face into the thick fur. He could feel the hot sting of tears threatening to spill over but fought them back … mostly successfully. "It's really you!"

Sirius barked happily at the passionate greeting, licking Harry's face enthusiastically.

Harry struggled to compose himself and look up and meet his godfather's "eyes" for the first time since the Ministry but by the time he felt he was finally getting a hold on his emotions, Ron and Hermione had caught up with him. Visibly panting from the chase.

"Blimey, mate," Ron said as he was trying to catch his breath. "Did you have your Firebolt with you under your robe. I don't think I've ever seen anyone move that fast and that includes Neville when he hears Snape's voice coming around a corner. You nearly gave us a heart attack back there."

Hermione, though similarly breathless, wore a soft smile as she turned to the dog in the alley. "It's good to see you, Sirius." She said as she crouched down to scratch behind his ears. After several seconds of seemingly much appreciated attention Hermione stood up and looked back out the entranceway to the alley.

"Well looks like Harry didn't draw any continued attention over here … although there were at least three groups of people you nearly ran over …but perhaps we should find somewhere a little more secluded, otherwise might draw a little attention … do you know any place we can go, Sirius?"

He immediately barked again, then nudging Harry gently, gestured with his head, before he started walking towards a narrow path at the back of alley that was squished between two buildings, one that looked to lead away from the main road in Hogsmeade.

Keeping pace, still holding onto Sirius's fur, as if nervous to let go, Harry walked side-by-side with his godfather as he led them through the winding alleys of Hogsmeade, moving towards the quieter less frequented parts of the village.

Finally they reached a small, deserted looking building at the edge of the village. It's windows were boarded up and the sign above the door had long since faded to the point it was almost impossible to read, although it looked like one of the words might have been "Potions."

Nudging the door open with his nose, Sirius led the entire group inside the building.

As soon as they safely in one of the back rooms, what might have once been a store room based on the amount of large shelves along the wall, Sirius began transforming back into his human form. A sight which immediately caused Harry's breath to catch in his throat.

His godfather looked more tired and much thinner than the last time he'd seen him but his eyes sparkled with the same warmth and mischief that he remembered.

Harry unconsciously took a step forward, eager to embrace his godfather but then stopped abruptly, a wave of hesitation crashing over him. The memories of that night at the Ministry of Magic surged forward. He saw Sirius falling through the veil – those same eyes completely emotionless, he saw his own actions that led to that moment. He knew it was his fault that Sirius had died … and the guilt of that was like a physical barrier, stopping him in his tracks.

Noticing the change in Harry's demeanor, Sirius looked at him. "Harry?" he asked softly, his brow furrowing with concern.

Harry swallowed hard, his eyes filling with tears that he fought to control. "I'm … sorry, Sirius," he choked out. "I … it's my fault … it's because …"

Sirius's expression softened and he took a step closer to Harry, reaching out to place a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Harry, listen to me. I know we didn't get to talk much before … not nearly enough. Something I really look forward to changing. But I need you to know, what happened wasn't your fault. I made my own choices and while I could have paused and taken a second to think, the consequences are on me definitely not you."

Looking up in shock, Harry stared at Sirius surprised by the mans words as he continued talking. "What I did thirteen years ago … that's on me as an adult, not you. You didn't cause that to happen."

Pausing for a second, Harry realized that Sirius thought Harry was having trouble dealing with seeing him or that he was blaming himself for Sirius's actions that led to him ending up in Azkaban.

Shaking his head, Harry looked back to Sirius, "That's not really what I meant. If I had …"

Sirius pulled Harry into a tight hug, cutting him off. "No 'ifs', Harry. The past is the past and what's important is that we're here together. Don't carry that burden on your shoulders, it's too heavy … and if your father ever found out you were doing that to yourself … I'd be on the business end of more stinging hexes than I could count, and I doubt I'd ever be able to sit normally again."

Unable to stop himself, Harry felt himself chuckle briefly at the imagery of his godfather's joke as he finally embraced his godfather back, letting Sirius's words wash over him. Even though Sirius though Harry dealing with something else, his words combined with the strength and warmth of his embrace finally breaking through his guilt that Harry had been carrying with him since that night at the Ministry.

As he hugged his godfather, he felt all the pent up regret and sadness slowly melt away, resulting in a feeling of lightness that Harry had doubted he'd ever felt.

When Sirius finally felt Harry's grasp beginning to relax he leaned back, looked down and let out a laugh. "Well that was a good one but now's probably a good time to stop. If we kept that up any longer your friends are going to start talking about what a softie I am."

Again, unable to stop himself, Harry began laughing, for what felt like several minutes, eventually being joined by Sirius, Hermione, and Ron.

As the laughter began to die down, Sirius leaned forward once more and gave Harry one last quick hug. "I missed you too, Harry." He said gently, his voice thick with emotion. "You have no idea how much I regret not being there for you or helping you grow up. But you don't need to worry about me going anywhere … you're stuck with me now kiddo."

Smiling up at him, Harry nodded. "That's what I am hoping for."

When they finally pulled apart, Harry saw that Ron and Hermion were giving them a respectful distance though they were both smiling.

"It's really good to see you, Sirius." Hermione said again, stepping forward to shake his hand. "You're looking … a little better."

Giving her a weary smile in return, Sirius glanced down before looking around the room and running his hand through his hair. "Believe it or not, this is the best I've looked … or felt in the past thirteen years … but don't worry I'm getting there. Every day is better than the last. Especially now that I'm here." He said, looking over and patting Harry on the shoulder.

Nodding, Harry smiled, finally allowing himself to breath normally. "I'm just so glad that you're here," he said, his voice noticeably less shaky than it had been previously. "I can't believe it."

Sirius ruffled his hair affectionately. "Well clearly it would take more than an entire prison full of dementors to keep us apart and I wouldn't miss this for all the galleons in all the vaults belonging to the Black's. But we should be careful. The Ministry is still hunting me and based on what you said Harry … I think something is coming. In between your dreams and then you being forced into the tournament … something is up."

Harry nodded, knowing just how right his godfather was, as he saw Ron staring around the room.

"Sirius … are you staying here?"

The man looked around and laughed, "Here … no. This isn't much of a space for literally Britain's most wanted bachelor. But no, I found a cave about thirty minutes outside of town. However, I had found this place when I was exploring the village and have been storing supplies here just in case I need them and I thought having our meeting here would be more convenient than making you three walk all the way out there to where I am actually staying. Until I find a wand and can actually protect myself or locations, this is a little too close to other witches and wizards."

Harry did a double take, "What? You don't have a wand? You came all this way without a … what if you ran into trouble …"

Sirius shook his head as he held up his hands. "Hold on there Lily, I'm supposed to be the adult here. But do you ever sound like your mom there. I'm not exactly defenseless even without a wand. Besides it's not that I don't know where to find one … I just didn't have time to grab it … and well didn't really want to go back there … at least, not yet."

Harry stared at his godfather as he mumbled under his breath, "Grimmauld Place?"

However, it wasn't quite quiet enough or perhaps Sirius retained some of his dog-like hearing as his eyes shot up in surprise as he nodded towards Harry. "Umm … yes actually. How'd you …"

But the rest of his questions was cut off by the sound of a floorboard creaking from the front of the building, instantly causing all four pairs of eyes to look in the direction of the noise.

At the same moment, Harry and Sirius took a step forward. Sirius shook his head and motioned Harry to take a step backwards. "If its someone here for me, there is no need for you to get hurt. I'd never be able to forgive myself."

Harry put an arm on his godfather's shoulder and whispered. "Thanks for the noble sentiment but you just got here and I don't want you going anywhere just yet. Besides you don't have a wand and the three of us have been practicing a lot this year, we'll be fine … but it might not be anything. Change back to a dog and we might still be able to play this off as three kids breaking into a deserted shop with a dog."

Without looking to his godfather for confirmation, he looked back up towards the door to the room, having heard another creak … closer this time.

By the time he looked back at his godfather, the man had already retaken his animagus form.

Smiling, Harry patted him on the head and whispered, "Good Boy," almost laughing out loud at the snort that Sirius released.

Turning to Ron and Hermione, he pointed to the other side of the door, motioning for them to go there, while he and Sirius took the near side so they would be able to see who it was who entered the building.

They didn't have to wait long as less than a minute later a lady walked into the room, momentarily oblivious to the four individuals hugging the wall on either side of the door.

Noticing that her wand was undrawn, Harry slowly lowered his wand, while motioning for Hermione and Ron to do the same, at the same time he coughed to get her attention. The surprising noise from behind her caused her to jump slightly and spin around, reaching for her wand which Harry saw sticking out of her pocket. However, as she turned she stopped her hand before she picked up the wand, although he was unsure whether that was because she saw the wands pointing at her or she recognized his face.

The look of familiarity on her face confused Harry for a second as he looked at her, knowing that she looked familiar but was having difficulty placing her. However, as she began to open her mouth a lightbulb went off in his brain and her remembered meeting her in the summer.

"Ms. McDonald?" he said completely surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Harry," she started hesitantly. "I followed you here from the Three Broomsticks … I had overheard when you mentioned …" she trailed off as she caught of Sirius who stepped out from behind Harry, still in his dog form although his tail was wagging. She mumbled, almost quiet enough to have been missed, "Sirius …"

Harry stepped forward, his had grasping his wand that was still lowered to his side. "Ms. McDonald, it's not what you think. Sirius isn't dangerous. He didn't do what he was accused of."

Seemingly oblivious to what Harry had said, she continued to stare at Sirius who had taken a step forward and was standing beside Harry now. "Sirius … so help me, if you knock me over and lick me … I'll leg-locker curse you so quick your head will spin, and we will see how fast you can move with all four legs stuck together." She said, finishing with a small laugh.

Harry's mouth dropped open in surprise, certainly not expecting that comment. Looking over to his friends he noticed matching expressions of confusion on their faces.

Out of the corning of his eye, he saw that Sirius had completed his transformation back to human, which was then immediately followed by the sound of Sirius laughing.

"I wouldn't dream of doing something like that … well … I wouldn't dream of doing something like that again." He paused and looked back to her. "Hey Mare … it's been a while."

Harry spun around to face Ms. McDonald, surprised by the level of familiarity between them, only to see that she was staring at him unblinkingly before her face fell into an expression of remorse. "Sirius … I'm so sorry." She blurted out, rushing to and hugging him. "I'm so sorry I didn't do anything. When I heard what the Ministry said … I didn't believe it … but I was so shocked … I can't believe you were locked up in Azkaban for betraying James and Lily; and then killing Peter … I couldn't believe they managed to find you guilty. Anyone who spent even half a second with you and James would have known that there is no way you would have ever betrayed them. You even treated Lily like the little sister you never had. And to think that you would kill Peter …"

Sirius's face hardened for several seconds at the mention of Pettigrew before it softened as he seemed to melt into her embrace, looking more relaxed that Harry ever remembered seeing him. "It's alright Mary. I'm 'out' now, sort of at least, and that's what matters. Although for what it matters I don't think there was a trial. One moment I was surprised on a street corner and stunned and the next moment I was waking up alone in that never-ending nightmare of a hellhole, with only a couple disjointed, blurry moments in between."

At the memory he seemed to shake slightly as his face paled.

Noticing this Harry closed the distance between them and placed a comforting hand on Sirius's arm which seemed to startle the man out of his memories of his time in Azkaban before calming him down slightly. "You're not alone anymore, Sirius."

His godfather nodded slightly as some of the tension slowly melted from his posture, however they stood in silence for several seconds unsure what to say.

Eventually Sirius seemed to shake off the memories as his coloring and posture returned, and he turned to Harry. "So how about we get off that topic … and leaving the how and why you ended up in the Triwizard Tournament for another chat, why don't we start with what you know about the first task … do you actually know anything or is this a sort of show up and show us what you can do in the moment sort of task?"

Harry chuckled slightly as he glanced quickly over to Ron, "Well … actually Ron had just found out earlier today what the first task was going to involve … at least to some degree dragons will be part of the first task …"

"Merlin's saggy balls!" Sirius exclaimed loudly.

Mary McDonald who had remained standing right next to Sirius, turned and swatted his arm gently, which caused him to smile and turn to her. "Oh how I missed that … but seriously, I mean, they've got to be saggy by now don't they?"

She was unable to fully conceal her smile as she half-heartedly swatted at him again, this time missing as he weaved out of the way.

Turning back to Harry he adopted a more serious expression. "Ok … tell us exactly what you know about dragons or the task and maybe the five of us can come up with something. While maybe not as smart as your mum, Mary here was at least twice the student I ever was."

She smiled slightly as she looked back to Sirius, "Maybe if you actually attended any of our classes, I'd only have been twice as good as you."

This got a laugh out of Sirius before he shrugged and looked back to Harry, expectantly waiting for him to answer his questions regarding the task.

And so he did, and even though Ron didn't have much else to offer beyond what Harry had just mentioned, for the next two hours the five of them sat on what had once been broken chairs from the side of the room that Mary had repaired, cleaned, and cushioned with one quick wave of her wand, and discussed various strategies he could use in a variety of situations he might encounter. Debating the various weaknesses and strengths of the different dragon breeds that Ron had seen.

Over time, a plan began to form in Harry's mind, that he felt might be a little more effective than the last time he faced off against the dragon and while he didn't voice it out loud he nodded every time someone made a point, smiling at the thought that this might work out a lot better.

Finally they all seemed to run out of ideas at the same time, staring around at each other waiting to see if anyone had something else to add.

Seeing as no one else did, Hermione stood suddenly, tugging on Harry's and Ron's arms. "Perhaps we should go. It's getting late and I still want to stop by Scrivenshaft's before we have to leave."

Harry opened his mouth to object but stopped seeing Hermione shake her head and nod back to Sirius and Mary McDonald.

He paused for a second before smiling slightly, noticing for the first time that seemingly without them consciously noticing they had unconsciously been moving closer to each other over the past couple hours, to the point their knees were almost touching at this point.

Looking to Hermione and nodding, before he looked back to Sirius, "That's a good idea, besides I'm sure you two have plenty to catch up on."

Sirius gave him a grateful look as he nodded. "Thank you, Harry. We really do, but I'll be in touch, Harry. I promise you aren't done with me yet. But if you need to chat or you need a hand with anything Hedwig seems to always be able to find me … or perhaps you could sneak out and we could meet up, I could show you the cave. I solemnly swear we could get up to no good."

Harry laughed at the sight of Mary's eyebrows shoot up.

"Oh no … you passed along the map?" She paused shaking her head, ignoring Sirius's protests about it not being him that had given Harry the map. "You shouldn't be encouraging him to sneak out, Sirius. The last thing Hogwarts needs is for him to become his father." She turned to Harry. "If you need to see Sirius you can tell your professors you ordered something from my sports supply store and need to pick it up in Hogsmeade. Students do it all the time to avoid the owl shipping fees."

This caused Sirius to laugh, "Oh and lying to the professors is so much more respectable than sneaking out. I forgot what a bad influence you are Mary. Between James and you it's a wonder Lily even stood a chance."

Harry smiled watching the back and forth between the two of them. "Thanks, Ms. McDonald. I'll keep that option in mind though, it might be nice not sneaking through passageways."

She shook her head slightly, "Mary is fine, Harry. If you are comfortable with it that is. Besides if he gets to be Sirius, I feel old being called Ms. McDonald."

Sirius laughed, "But you are older than me … I always felt weird having a thing for an older witch while we were students."

The rest of them didn't even see her draw her wand or cast the sticking charm between Sirius's shoes and the floor as he had begun standing. In fact, since she had cast it silently, they only learned what she did when Sirius ended up falling forward onto his face when he tried to take a step forward to give Harry a hug.

After laughing along with everyone else, he got up once the counter spell was cast.

Looking back to Harry, he gave him a firm look. "Just remember, Harry, no matter what happens, I'm here for you and I'm here to stay."

Feeling a warmth in his chest that seemed to keep building Harry leaned over and embraced his godfather. "I know, Sirius. I don't think I'm strong enough to lose you again so you better."

With that one last one last hug, the trio made their way outside after saying their final goodbyes and started heading back towards the center of town.

They had gone several paces, when Ron looked back, "Oh … I forgot something. I was going to ask Ms. McDonald about her shop. I've never gone but it might be interesting to see her store … especially now that we know the owner … do you think they'd mind if I go back and ask her."

Hermione shook her head and scoffed. "Seriously Ron. I think she stayed to have a serious chat with … well … Sirius. Obviously, they have a history and while I'm sure he appreciated seeing us, especially Harry, I'm guessing he doesn't want to burden us with the memories of Azkaban or how he is actually doing. He went through a lot with being wrongly imprisoned almost right after his best friends were murdered and forced to spend thirteen years surrounded by dementors … I don't know if the wizarding world even has therapists but it's not like Azkaban's most wanted fugitive can just walk into the corner therapist to chat about the mental trauma he experienced while being incorrectly and apparently unlawfully incarcerated for actions which he didn't commit before he had even begun to try to work through the issues with having someone you thought was your friend betray you best friend. In lieu of actual help, some things can only be talked about with other adults and I'm pretty sure he'd be even more unwilling to chat with us as he didn't want to pile more on Harry."

Ron looked over in surprise. "One person can't feel all that, they'd …" he paused and looked back the way they had come, " … actually never mind, that makes sense. Just feeling the dementor being near us for several seconds on the train last year was a lot … I can't imagine being around them for twelve years. Hopefully she can help."

And with that the three on them continued back to Scrivenshaft's, where Harry bought Hermione a couple items before heading back to the castle … arriving just as the evening meal was starting, much to Ron's delight, who suddenly remembered that his breakfast had been cut short and other than a single butterbeer he hadn't actually had lunch.

Kind Regards,

FavoriteAuthor


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Thanks to those of you out to those of you who enjoy my stories, I promise to keep updating the stories as long as you enjoy them, and a special thanks to those of you who have taken the time to leave feedback or reach out to me directly.

Story Note 1 – A large part of this chapter was dealing with Harry and Sirius first meeting. Their interaction at the start was depicting Harry who was feeling an intense amount of guilt and pain due to his actions which led to Sirius's death and having trouble processing it in the face of seeing Sirius alive. Sirius however, thought the guilt was coming from something else (and had not also travelled back through the veil or anything) he was trying to console Harry for what he thought was the problem was and it just so happened that Harry was able to look at those words from his perspective and help him come to terms with where he was at. In reality this probably would take a lot longer, but in an effort to not write an entire three chapter arc I felt this was a reasonably accurate portrayal of how it might go. That being said, there will be times where Harry will still feel guilt and he shall certainly talk to Sirius more and it might be some time before he fully gets over the guilt of getting Sirius killed.

Story Note 2 – Congrats to the one person who messaged me with the guess of Mary and to all others who had figured it out as well!

Story Note 3 – Now the Ron comment at the end was me trying to show that while Ron is certainly still a little more immature than Harry or Hermione. He has significantly grown with respect to emotional maturity.


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General Feedback - A piece of feedback that I had gotten was that there was alittle more non-story writing than necessary. In order to cutdown of exta stuff - I'm getting rid of recaps, only using story notes that I want to use to focus the readers attention on specific things, and combining reviews if they deal with similar things. Hope this helps!

littleemberlou - Thats really great to hear! Of course since Draco was acting differently I thought it would be a good idea to explain why and there ended up being enough to make a small arc which should pop up once in a while to look at what is happening with Draco.

Lucy Elizabeth Dawson - Yay indeed! And thanks so much!

Soraslove - It seemed a good place to start and explain how things got to where they were going.

Hudy Leak613, jkarr - Thanks so much for the review and I appreciate the time you took to leave a comment.

Rebell 01 - Almost busted indeed! Got to be careful who might be listening!

Vukk - Rita was a good guess and had considered it but in the end I thought Rita will have her interview soon enough with Harry.