Chapter 3
Days passed and nothing interesting happened. I did my homework and now was just free to do whatever. So, I kept going to diagon alley, spending my days there. That is, until one fateful morning, when I -as I had grown accustomed to- checked the daily prophet, I saw that the headline was ‘Sirius Black, monster or innocent?!’
Reading the article, it was written that Sirius Black was found and bound for a trial, since he didn’t get one prior. Pettigrew had been found living as a rat with the Weasleys. He escaped Dumbledore who had apprehended him but the memories of all the Weasleys present was evidence enough to put Black on trial, which he apparently didn’t have before. I was so excited, maybe soon, I would be able to live with Sirius!
The trial was planned for in one week.
I counted down the days before the trial… 5 days… 4… 3… 2…1…0.
The day of the trial, I was nervously awaiting the results. From morning till evening, I was nervously trailing from one place to another but finally, the evening prophet arrived and I could only celebrate! Sirius was found innocent!
Soon after that, I got a letter from Sirius, asking for me to meet him and Dumbledore in Diagon alley the following day. I wrote him a quick reply, agreeing to meet the duo before going to sleep, a smile on my face.
The next day, I woke up earlier than usual and rushed to diagon alley. I was there ahead of schedule, so I sat down in a Cafe and ate some breakfast. Sirius, now a free man, noticed me eating and walked over to me with Dumbledore. He looked a lot better than he did when I first met him, his long hair was combed and put into a ponytail, his face wasn’t as pale anymore and all in all, he looked healthier.
“Harry, there you are!”, he barked, looking happy to see me.
“Happy to see you too, Sirius, now what are we here to discuss?”
“Let me explain”, Dumbledore said raising a finger, “You see, when your mother died protecting you, that created a magical barrier which is protecting you from Voldemort. Now, this protective barrier lives on through your relatives, the dursleys, meaning, you have to return to the Dursley home at least two weeks to keep the enchantment alive. However, I know how much you would love to live with sirius, therefor, I have come back with a plan to maybe make the protection work with Sirius as well”
At first, I was bummed out but then I was excited when he mentioned a solution, “Really, what is it?”
“I would have to adopt you Harry”, Sirius said, “and not just any adoption but an adoption by blood and magic. This would make you my son, both legally, magically and biologically. We theorize that that would be a connection enough to keep the blood wards erect, that is, if you want to live with me”
“I would love to, how do we do this?”, I practically jumped at the opportunity. Everything was worth not being at the Dursleys again.
“Good to hear, Harry, good to hear”, Dumbledore mused, pulling out a vial, “What we need is this potion and the blood of both of you, a few drops should be enough”
I drew blood and let the drops hit the potion, Sirius did the same, “Now, drink this, Harry”
“Okay, here it goes…”, I drank it in one go, it tasted vaguely of muggle cough medicine but I drank the whole thing. At first, I didn’t feel any different but then, my body went stiff and an unimaginable pain went through my veins. I could feel my flesh being destroyed and rebuild, cell by cell, atom by atom. I wanted to scream but no noise came out of my mouth. After close to five minutes, which felt more like 5 hours, it stopped and I regained control over my body, “never… want to do that again, damn that hurts”
“Yes, it is quite unpleasant, or so I have heard”, Dumbledore stroked his beard and then pointed his wand at me and then at Sirius. He silently cast some kind of spell and then, smiled widely, “Great news, it worked! Lily’s sacrifice lives within Sirius now”
“Great! So… I can live with Sirius now, right?”
“That is exactly right”, Sirius said, “I even have a house for us to move into. It is in a little muggle village. I bought it right before that night”, he shuddered, “it should still be there, if a bit dusty, wanna visit it with me?”
“Yes!”
As we were talking, golden balls appeared from Dumbledore and Sirius, which I collected.
[+10 magical energy]
[+50 magical energy]
The first one came from Sirius and the second from Dumbledore.
“Well, I think the house should still be connected to the floo network, so let us use that. You know how to use the floo, right?”
“Yes, I know. What is the name?”
“New Black residence”
I took a handful of floo powder and threw it into the flames, saying loud and clear, “New black residence”
On the other side of the the flames, was a dark room, with some nice, red and orange furniture and a nice, wooden table. On one side of the room were two doors, on the other, a smashed in window. Everything was covered in a layer of dust.
Sirius followed me and we were in the residence together, “Huh- that won’t do”, he pointed his wand at the window and chanted, “reparo”
The broken glass mended itself before my eyes.
We investigated the house further and found the bathroom, the kitchen, the bedrooms and so on and so forth. Sirius kept dedusting the rooms with a few household charms and I just looked in wonder about my new home. My room was so big! I would actually be living here, with someone who loved me from the depths of their heart, it was fantastic!