Chapter 9
The day after the Weasleys and Harry got back from the Quidditch World Cup, Sirius had an idea: Harry should go to Remus’ house under the Invisibility Cloak., and Sirius could go with him as Padfoot. “That way, it won’t look suspicious. The Ministry knows that Remus and I are—were—partners, but they don’t know that I’m an unregistered Animagus. And they won’t be able to see you, so it’s not a problem that you’re not supposed to be around Remus. And I’ve checked the lunar calendar, and it’s a while till the full moon.” “This is just the kind of thing you loved doing with James, didn’t you?” asked Harry. “But is there any way that the Ministry can recognize you? Because if they find out that you’re an unregistered Animagus and that you’re trying to circumvent the restraining order against Remus, then I’ll never see you again. You’ll likely get sent to Azkaban for life, this time for something you really did.” “The risk was always what made our adventures fun for James,” said Sirius, “and he would not approve of you being separated from Remus.. He’d want us to do this.” “You’re in more danger than you realize, Sirius,” said Harry. “So is our whole family. If we get caught…” “I’m willing to take this risk,” said Sirius as they arrived at the cottage that they had once shared with Remus.
But just as they came inside, Minerva tumbled into the living room through the Floo Network. She said, “Sirius, you cannot risk getting sent back to Azkaban any more than I can risk getting sent there to begin with. You will be accused of enabling child abuse if you let Harry see his werewolf father, and you and I both know that Professor Dumbledore will be sent to Azkaban for the same offense if the Ministry ever finds him. I personally think that Dumbledore would deserve such a punishment much more than you would. In fact, Sirius, you yourself might not be a suitable father if you’re willing to take such a risk.” “All right, Professor,” said Sirius, “Harry and I will leave.” “I’ll go with you,” said Minerva, “because I am still Harry’s caseworker even if you’ve adopted him now. I have been ever since I took it upon myself to rescue him from his abusive family. I only wish I had known what an abusive family you were going home to every summer…I imagine that’s part of the reason why you agreed to James’ and Lily’s request that you adopt Harry if anything happened to them.”
Sirius and Harry then went back to their tent on the Weasley property; Mr Weasley came in to talk to Sirius. “I know you don’t get along with most of your family,” Mr Weasley said, “except us—we’re very distant relatives of yours through my mother, I checked our family tree. But is there even one closer family member you can trust in a family crisis? I mean an adult family member, not your adopted son Harry.” “The only family members I can trust,” replied Sirius, “are those who were disowned like me—such as your mother…or my cousin Andromeda. She was disowned for marrying her Muggle-born husband Ted Tonks.” “You should go and see if you can live with her,” said Mr Weasley.” Okay, I will,” said Sirius. “But, no matter what happens, I promise that Harry and I will be at King’s Cross on 1 September.”
After Sirius and Harry apparated to the Tonks home, they knocked on the door, and Andromeda let them in. “We have a lot in common,” said Andromeda, “but, Sirius, could you tell me why you came to see me unannounced?” Just then, Andromeda’s daughter Nymphadora came inside, but of course Harry didn’t recognize her. “This is my daughter Nymphadora,” Andromeda explained to Harry. “She works as an Auror—a Dark wizard catcher,” Andromeda elaborated, seeing Harry’s look of confusion. “I just qualified,” explained Nymphadora. “Being an Auror requires quite a bit of post-Hogwarts training. And you have to be capable in a wide variety of disciplines to do it.”
“I can see why that would be,” said Harry, shaking Nymphadora’s hand. “It’s nice to meet you,” “But, Sirius,” Andromeda said, “Why have you come here unannounced?” “I’m wondering whether you and Ted could magically expand Nymphadora’s room and do Geminio twice on her bed. Because Harry and I have been legally separated from Remus due to Remus being a werewolf.” “Of course we can do that,” said Andromeda. “Thank you,” said Sirius. “This does not mean that I hate myself for being gay, but if one good thing came out of this, it’s that I hope you can be to Harry what he’s never had in his own family: a mother figure.” “I’ll see if I can do that,” said Andromeda. “I am sort of Harry’s adoptive aunt, after all, if we consider ourselves to be like siblings.” “At least, I view our relationship that way,” said Sirius, “since we were both disowned by our family, so it’s like all we have is each other.” “I’m certainly of an age to be Harry’s older sister,” added Nymphadora. “But, Harry, you can call me Tonks. I’m rather self-conscious about my given name.”
After Andromeda and Ted had magically expanded Nymphadora’s bedroom and magically duplicated her bed twice, Sirius and Harry settled down on their new beds. Harry said to Sirius, “You know in my first year, when I wrote to you and Remus about the Mirror of Erised that I had seen? Even though you’ve never seen the Mirror of Erised in person, I think I can predict what you’d see if you looked in it now.” “And what would that be?” said Sirius. “Didn’t you tell me that it showed you your heart’s desire? How could you predict what that would be for me?” “You’d see a world where our current family crisis never happened,” Harry predicted. “You’d see our true family reunited, including a version of Remus who isn’t a werewolf. Although I don’t know what you’d see if we’d been separated from Remus on the basis of you two being gay instead—would you see yourself single? I agree with you that we need to get revenge on this Madam Umbridge from the Ministry who drafted this anti-werewolf legislation, if we ever meet her.”