‘You have been wrong before, old man.’
‘I am not wrong about this,’ Dumbledore said, ‘It is in the boy’s best interest. He will be safe there and it will be good for him to grow up, where no-one knows his background.’
‘Well, my therapist and I disagree.’
‘Your therapist?’
‘Yes, this great resource Muggles use to help them with their mental health, you should try it some time. In fact, the school could benefit from a school counselling service to help students deal with any trauma.’
‘Trauma, what trauma? Do you not think that you are exaggerating just a bit?’ Dumbledore’s voice and expression intimated that he thought Sirius was being a bit of a drama queen, which infuriated the decidedly haggard looking Gryffindor even more.
‘I would not expect an old fossil like yourself to embrace change, but you can’t be that blind to the ongoing trauma in this school. First of all,’ Sirius said, as he started to list the problematic items, while counting them on his fingers, ‘there is bullying, accidents, cruel and unusual punishments, inappropriate behaviour by teachers, child endangerment, discrimination and I could go on.’
‘And why did you need therapy yourself, may I ask?’ Dumbledore said, looking genuinely intrigued.
Sirius looked at Dumbledore to see if he was mocking him, but this appeared to be an actual question.
‘Being locked up for over four years for a crime I did not commit in a prison that would make hell sound like paradise, following the death of two of my best friends, might have been the initial trigger, but add my family circumstances to that and the disappearance of my baby brother and you have a proverbial powder keg,’ he said sarcastically.
‘Powder keg, interesting word choice. You seem to have embraced the Muggle vocabulary as well as their therapy, it seems. You have changed, Sirius, you don’t sound like your usual self. You sound bitter and angry.’
‘No shit, Sherlock,’ Sirius exclaimed, earning him another raised eyebrow from Dumbledore. Sirius knew he was rude and petulant, but he didn’t care. He was no longer putting up with the superior nonsense from his former headmaster.
‘Anyway,’ Sirius continued, as if his previous outburst was unimportant, ‘We feel that Harry would be better off with me and Remus than with his aunt and uncle, and apart from that, I am his godfather. This is what James and Lily would have wanted and you darn well know this.
I have visited Little Whinging quite regularly over the last few months and have observed these Muggles.’
He did not add that he had been observing them as Padfoot.
‘Their house is nice enough and they look as if they could afford to look after Harry, but any time I have spotted Harry, he looked quite dishevelled and underfed, in clothes that are clearly too big for him. Furthermore, his, so called, aunt and uncle do not appear to like him very much. Not once did I hear them refer to him by his name and any time they addressed him it was to bark orders. ‘Boy, do this; Boy, do that.’ They are the worst kind of Muggles. When I mentioned it to my therapist, she said that it sounded like emotional neglect and possibly even general neglect, if not worse.’
Dumbledore was reminded of Minerva McGonagall pleading with him not to leave Harry with his aunt and uncle, after she had observed them all day in her cat animagus form, and had said that they were the worst kind of Muggles, the exact phrase Sirius had just used. He also knew that legally, he had no leg to stand on, as Sirius was Harry’s godfather, but he had been, and still was, absolutely certain that Harry would be better protected living under the roof of a blood relative of his mother and he hated being told he was wrong.
But maybe Sirius was correct in his assessment that this was more to do with James and Lily’s wishes than with his pride being knocked down a peg or two.
‘Have it your way,’ he finally said and, with a dismissive wave of his hand, gestured to Sirius that their conversation was finished.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After being released from Azkaban, having been incarcerated for allegedly killing twelve Muggles and Peter Pettigrew, it had taken Sirius quite some time to come to terms with his freedom and then with all the things and time he had lost. He had never really had the chance to properly mourn the death of his best friend James and his friend Lily and it had taken a while to find the same ease of partnership he used to have with Remus. At first he had been very angry with Remus, when he found out that Dumbledore had taken it upon himself to leave Harry with his aunt and uncle, and that Remus had allowed this and had never visited Harry and had lied to him about Harry’s wellbeing when they last met. It had taken him a while to accept the fact that Remus had been in no position to do anything other than object to this, which he had done, as had Minerva, but in the absence of a legal guardian, Dumbledore had done what he saw as being best for the boy. In hindsight he could also understand why Remus had not wanted to burden him with this knowledge moments before he was being led back to prison.
After the initial euphoria of being released, Sirius had sunk into a deep depression.
The therapy had been Remus’ idea.
Finding out that Remus had been living in a Muggle boarding house had sounded insane initially, but it turned out that this Muggle perspective, had given Remus a very good insight into what was lacking in the Wizarding world.
After six months of therapy, Sirius was in a much better place and ready to tackle his role as godfather.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
‘First we will have to tackle this house of yours,’ Remus had said.
‘We can’t bring Harry into this shrine to pure bloods.’
Sirius had agreed wholeheartedly. The place was dark and stuffy and full of creepy stuff that had belonged to many generations of the Noble House of Black.
‘We can always sell the house and buy somewhere else,’ he had suggested, but the house was in a very convenient location and neither of them were particularly keen on house hunting.
Remus, who was still living in the boarding house, while Sirius was completing his therapy, suggested that they give the house a bit of a makeover and that was what they did.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
‘The number one priority is to get rid of all those house elf heads mounted to the wall and then I think we should remove all the portraits of your ancestors, unless there are any particular family members who you want to keep around.’ Remus had suggested and not wanting to overstep any further, he had added, ‘You could store them up in the attic, if you like.’
Sirius could not believe that he was struggling with the idea of throwing out the portraits of his family members. They had tried to disown him and blasted his name off the family tree, but they were still family and not all of them had been bad. Those who had been removed from the family tree themselves had some redeeming qualities, at least in Sirius’ eyes, but any portraits of them had probably been destroyed long ago, or possibly banished to the attic already.
‘We might leave the portrait of former headmaster Phineas Black in the spare room. Always good to have a direct line of communications with Dumbledore, I suppose. But the rest can be moved up to the attic,’ he finally decided.
Having removed all the offending objects and stored them in the attic, Remus set to paint the hall, stairs and landing. ‘Pitturo croceus,’ he said, as he pointed his wand at the walls and watched as they turned a lovely understated shade of yellow. They vanished the old dark green dusty and dirty carpets on the stairs and the hall and replaced them with Gryffindor red ones. In the front room, Remus restored the tapestry of the family tree to reinstate Sirius and a number of other family members who were removed for consorting with Muggles or blood traitors, such as Eduardus Limette Black, Cedrella Black, Andromeda Tonks and Alphard Black, who had been blasted off for helping out Sirius financially after he ran away from home at the age of sixteen. While the wall hanging was another reminder of his family, Remus knew that Sirius would not be able to part with this 13th Century heirloom, which was objectively speaking a real piece of art and of historical significance. It also suited the room and once restored, it looked majestic. Remus replaced the dark carpet in this room with a nice beige one and re-upholstered the newly polished, antique furniture in brightly coloured, rich fabrics. This is one job that he was very glad to be doing using magic, rather than the Muggle way.
They cleaned the chimneys, dusted and polished all the bookshelves and desks, removed any books from the shelves on pure blood rhetoric and dark magic, to be added to the ever increasing pile of items to be banished to the attic, and gave the curtains a good magical whacking and airing.
They chose Sirius’ old room as the Master bedroom and had a long debate over whether to remove the pinups and the other old posters from Sirius’ boyhood. In the end Remus’ argument that they were starting a new chapter in their lives, settled the argument in favour of removing all old posters and decorating the walls in a nice white and blue striped wall paper. They reluctantly removed the photo of the four Marauders. With James gone and Peter in Azkaban, the photo had lost its appeal.
‘Sirius,’ Remus said, staring at the picture, ‘Remember when you told me that Padfoot wasn’t as affected by the Dementors? Do you think that there is a chance that Peter will figure that out also? And do you think that, once he turns himself into a rat, he might be able to slip past his guards?’
Sirius pondered this question for a while.
‘Hopefully the Ministry will take measures to bind his ability to turn into a rat. In my case they were unaware that I was an animagus, but after my interview with Alastor, the Ministry is aware of Peter’s status, so hopefully they see fit to take appropriate precautions. If they don’t, there certainly is that possibility’, he finally answered, ‘I had been thinking along those lines of escape myself, when I was in there. There is the issue of the prison being on a rocky island in the middle of the sea, of course, and you can’t apparate on and off the island, but it might be easier for a rat to slip aboard one of the transport ships, than it would be for a large dog.
But, you know what my therapist always says, You can only control your own actions and reactions, the rest is beyond your control, so there is no point even thinking about the what ifs.’
With a last look at the photo, they removed it from the wall and put it in one of the drawers of Sirius’ old desk.
It didn’t take Remus long to redecorate Sirius’ old room into a stylish masculine master bedroom. He vanished the old bedding off the four poster bed and promised to buy a brand-new mattress and bedding the next day.
‘There are some things you just have to buy brand new, Sirius, and this is one investment, I am very happy to make.’
Sirius rolled his eyes at him, but was glad that Remus had taken control of the refurbishment of this room and the promises it held.
Before they had the chance to move on to their next project, they heard noises in the kitchen. When they went down to investigate, they found Kreacher, the old family house elf, busying himself cleaning the kitchen.
Sirius was about to ask the elf what the hell he thought he was doing, but Remus put a hand on his arm to stop him. The gesture implying that he should let Kreacher take the first step.
Kreacher had always adored Sirius’ mother and his brother Regulus, and there was no love lost between Sirius and the elf. However, the act of voluntarily cleaning the kitchen might signify a change of heart, or least a resignation that he accepted Sirius as head of the Black family.
‘Good afternoon, Master Sirius,’ the house elf said, ‘I have made you and Remus a cup of tea and there will be a cottage pie for dinner this evening.’
‘Eh, thank you,’ Sirius said, after receiving a push in his ribs from Remus. This had been the first time, since Sirius returned from Azkaban, that the elf had spoken to him.
Sirius had been considering ‘retiring’ the elf, but it wasn’t as if there was anywhere for a house elf to go, when his services were no longer required, so he had put off making the decision.
By the looks of it, Kreacher had made the decision for him by choosing to continue to serve what was left of the House of Black, despite the less conventional nature of his new Master.
Remus wondered whether the mending of the tapestry of the family tree had anything to do with the elf’s change in attitude.
They drank their tea at the large kitchen table that had been scrubbed clean by the elf. The copper pans above the stove were gleaming and years of grime had been removed from the kitchen counters and windows. While the elf did not look happy, exactly, he did seem to do his best to try to be courteous.
It was going to be a major adjustment for everybody, once Remus moved back in and Harry joined their family setup.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Their next project was a bedroom for Harry. The obvious choice would be Regulus’ old room, which was next to their Master bedroom, but Remus was worried that this might offend the old house elf. In the end they decided that they inform the elf and see how he would react.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
‘Kreacher,’ Sirius said to the elf, after they had enjoyed an excellent dinner of cottage pie followed by rhubarb tart with custard, ‘My godson is coming to live with us soon and I want to prepare a room for him. I am thinking of turning Regulus’ old bedroom into a room for Harry.’
The elf stiffened slightly at the mention of his brother’s name, but then said matter-of-factly, ‘Master Regulus is dead, he will not need his room any more. Does Master Sirius want Kreacher to clean Master Regulus’ room?’
That had gone much better than either of them had expected.
Sirius looked over at Remus, before replying, ‘Yes, please. Remus and I will redecorate it then to suit a nearly six year old boy. And, eh, thanks for the dinner, Kreacher, it was very nice.’
Sirius ignored the eye rolls from both Remus and Kreacher.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Before long the Black residence was looking spic and span. It was hard to believe that Kreacher, who had not done any cleaning or tidying since his mistress died, had now risen to the challenge of cleaning and polishing bathrooms and cooking daily breakfast, lunches and dinners and generally seems to have changed his demeanour. While he would probably never be a jolly elf, he was certainly a lot more pleasant and strangely even seemed to be looking slightly younger, certainly less stooped, than before.
After his recent therapy sessions, Sirius realised that the elf had probably been suffering from depression after the disappearance of Regulus, followed by the death of his mistress Walburga.
The house itself was also looking at lot less gloomy. All rooms were now freshly re-painted and dust-free and any dark upholstery had been replaced with bright and bold colours.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Harry’s bedroom was a joy to behold. Remus had really outdone himself. The walls were all painted a warm off-white colour with a border of grasses, with flowers, bees and butterflies along the bottom and a light blue border with different shapes of clouds along the top. The bed, desk, a set of shelves and an old rocking chair had all been transformed with a lick of bright red paint and soft furnishing touches had been added in the form of a brightly coloured duvet and matching cushion for the rocking chair.
There was just one thing Remus wanted to do to surprise Sirius, so he sent him off on a shopping spree with instructions to buy a number of children’s books, some cuddly toys and maybe a soccer ball or something.
‘Channel Lily rather than James when you try to imagine what Harry would like,’ he had suggested, not really imagining that Sirius would be able to follow that advice, but it might curtail his impulse buying somewhat.
Once Sirius had left the room, Remus began, what he called, his ceiling project. Using his wand, he drew a series of constellations on the ceiling, while softly humming the Disney tune, he had become so familiar with, while minding his landlady’s children.
He was so engaged in his task that he had not heard Sirius, laden with toys, come back into the house.
After he had observed Remus working his magic for a while, Sirius went over and wrapped his arms around the man he adored.
‘What is that song you are humming,’ he asked, nuzzling Remus’ neck.
In answer, Remus softly began to sing the song, in his beautiful tenor voice.
When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you
If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do
Fate is kind
She brings to those to love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing
Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true
‘And what star were you wishing upon?’ Sirius asked, still holding Remus in his arms.
‘There is only one star for me, as you well know,’ Remus replied, pointing at the Dogstar that he had just drawn at the centre of the ceiling display.
‘Do you like it?’ he asked.
‘I love it and I am sure Harry will too.’
Having accomplished his little surprise, Remus turned his attention to Sirius’ shopping.
With a big ‘Ta-da!’ Sirius produced a two feet tall cuddly black dog and a similar size fluffy wolf.
‘Did you go shopping for yourself or for Harry?’ Remus laughed.
‘Can it not be for both?’ Sirius grinned, still holding the dog in one hand and the wolf in the other, waving them in Remus’ face.
‘I did not go completely off topic,’ he continued, putting down the two cuddly toys, and after some rummaging in the bags, he handed Remus some colouring pencils, crayons, colouring books, quills and parchments and a set of colourful children’s books, some Muggle ones and some wizarding ones, as requested, in an effort to bridge both worlds.
Remus spotted a copy of 'The Paper Bag Princess', which had a dragon on the front cover and a book called 'The Mouse and the Motorcycle' and started to laugh. 'Yes I can see that you definitely channelled Lily and not James or yourself.'
Sirius just shrugged his shoulders, looking the picture of innocence.
Then Remus saw a copy of ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’ and looked quizzically at Sirius.
‘I know, we probably both have a copy lying around somewhere, but the illustrations in this new edition are so much better, look…’, showing Remus the colourful moving illustrations.
Next be brought out a fluffy pink bunny and two broomsticks, a kid size one and an adult size one.
‘Maybe you should keep the broomstick for his birthday,’ Remus suggested, ‘There will be enough new things to get used to without the added pressure of learning to fly.’
‘Fair enough’, Sirius conceded, relieved that Remus did not give him a lecture about Harry being too young for flying.
‘By the way, I also bought him some underwear and pyjamas, just in case,’ he added and showed Remus a pair of boys Quidditch pyjamas and similarly themed underwear.
‘Nice,’ Remus grinned, ‘I am sure Harry will appreciate some new pyjamas for his first night in his new bed.’
He did not know how true that statement would prove to be.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
After Sirius had returned from his visit to Dumbledore with the news that they could make arrangements to get Harry, Remus had urged Sirius that they should write an officious looking letter, as if from a Muggle Lawyer, which would impress the likes of those type of Muggles and would be better than just showing up on their doorstep unannounced demanding that they hand over their nephew.
The letterhead stated Messrs. Moony, Padfoot & Associates
They addressed the letter to the Dursleys.
Mr & Mrs Dursley
4 Privet Drive,
Little Whinging,
Surrey
Dear Mr & Mrs Dursley
Re: the estate of the late Mr James Potter and Lily Evans Potter.
It has come to our attention that you have been entrusted with the care of the son of James Potter and Lily Evans Potter, after their demise dated 31st October 1981.
However, we have now located the godfather of Mr Harry Potter, son of James Potter and Lily Evans Potter, who wishes to take care of the boy in accordance with James and Lily’s wishes as expressed in their final will and testament.
We would kindly request that you relinquish the care of said Harry Potter to his legal guardian, Mr Sirius Black, who will collect him from your premises at 4pm on Saturday, June 1st.
Yours truly
R. J. Moony
They laughed when they finished completing the official looking letter.
‘That time living among Muggles has been very useful, Mr Moony,’ Sirius had laughed.
Indeed it had and Sirius did not even know the half of it.
They posted the letter, Muggle style, the following day.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Ever since his release from Azkaban, the monthly dinners in The Burrow had continued, now including both Remus and Sirius.
It came as no surprise that Sirius got on like a house on fire with the twins, who found a very willing ear for their many ideas for pranks and inventions and much to Molly’s dismay, a certain amount of enthusiastic encouragement. Sirius also was always happy to get on a broom for a bit of quidditch practice with the Weasley crew in the fields behind the house. Remus, preferring to keep his feet on the ground, often talked to Arthur about Muggle customs and inventions, something Remus had become very familiar with, though even he could not satisfy Arthur’s curiosity as to the function of a rubber ducky.
On evenings, when the Weasley kids were up in their beds, they spoke about their plans to take in Harry. Molly was a fountain of advice on young boys that age and beyond. She also suggested that once Harry was settled a bit, they should bring him over to meet Ron and Ginny and the rest of the motley crew.
‘The more the merrier,’ she said. ‘Believe it or not, my gang are generally better behaved when we have visitors. Not that you are visitors any longer, of course, we consider you family.’
That was probably the nicest thing either man had heard in a long time, having no family left themselves.
Molly also had some good suggestions for helping Harry settle in and suggested that they maybe compile a photo album with pictures of his parents, which might make it easier for Sirius and Remus to talk about them with Harry.
Molly took it upon herself to owl all order members for photos of James and Lily for an album for Harry.
The biggest surprise she received was some photos of Lily as a young preschool girl, courtesy of Severus Snape. Until then she had not even been aware that Severus had known Lily before they started attending Hogwarts and she suspected few people did. Lily looked so young and happy and carefree. It brought tears to Molly’s eyes. The note just said ‘Lily age 10’.
She received lots of photos and in no time had compiled a lovely photo album for Harry.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
One evening, Molly, ever the practical one, asked them, ‘What about school?’
Neither of them had given schooling any thoughts. ‘Hogwarts of course, once he turns eleven, but we had not really considered schools before that time.’
‘There is a very elite Wizarding prep school nearby, where I went myself,’ Sirius said, ‘but all offspring of the Sacred Twenty-Eight go there and that is probably not what he needs right now, especially with his notoriety as ‘The Boy Who Lived’ and living with a former Azkaban inmate.’
Every year around the anniversary of the Godric’s Hollow Tragedy and the London Massacre, Rita Skeeter did an ‘in-depth’ piece on ‘The Boy Who Lived’, rehashing the death of Lily and James and speculating where the only surviving member of the Potter family was and what he would be doing at his current age. It would therefore be impossible to enrol Harry in any wizarding school without drawing attention. On this Sirius and Dumbledore were in agreement.
‘We could tutor him ourselves, I suppose,’ Remus said, ‘but the company of other kids might be more beneficial for him.’
‘Nothing wrong with home schooling, it is probably still the most common form of education for the majority of wizarding kids, but I am assuming he is going to a Muggle school at the moment, so maybe you should consider enrolling him in the local primary school for the moment, until you figure out how advanced his magic is. Presumably he has had no training whatsoever in that regard so far.’
The Weasley’s were lucky that there were quite a few wizarding families in the area and Ottery St Cathpole had its own wizarding primary school. The one-teacher school was lucky to have at least one large red-haired family to justify its existence, but there were other families too, such as the Lovegoods, who lived just over the hill and the Diggory and Fawcett families.
‘And what about disciplining? Have you two figured out the good cop-bad cop scenario yet?’
Sirius and Remus looked at each other in surprise, not just because they had not given disciplining any thought, but because Molly used that Muggle expression so casually.
‘What can I say, it rubs off,’ Molly said, seeing their astonished looks and shrugged, looking affectionately at her husband.
‘Love isn’t an issue for you two, you have love to spare for young Harry, but discipline is important. Life isn’t all fun and games,’ she said, looking pointedly at Sirius, who had the sense to look somewhat abashed. ‘One piece of advice, use nicknames only for positive reinforcement and keep the full name for when you are angry. ‘Ronny, what did you just do?’ isn’t as effective as ‘Ronald Bilius Weasley, what in Merlin’s name did you just do!’ Just saying,’ she said as Arthur, Sirius and Remus fell around the place laughing.
‘We get the message,’ Sirius hiccuped between laughs. Merlin, he loved this formidable woman. The Weasley kids did not know how lucky they were.
When they had regained their composure, Arthur scraped his throat.
‘Eh, when you were talking about schools, I was thinking, eh, you know that squibs have to be registered with the Ministry?’
‘I thought that was voluntary’, Remus said.
‘Technically, yes, but if they want to work in the Muggle world, they have to register. I can check if any of your local schools have a registered squib on their teaching staff. That would be a help in case Harry started showing any signs of unintended magic.’
‘You are a genius, Arthur,’ Sirius and Remus said simultaneously, and his suggestion earned him another affectionate smile from his wife.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Between getting the house in order and making arrangements for schooling, June was upon them before they knew it.
When Saturday 1st arrived, they couldn’t wait to apparate to a secure location not far from the Dursley residence in Little Whinging, wearing sharp Muggle suits, as befitting a lawyer and a prospective guardian.
It only took them a short walk to the Dursleys where they were surprised to find the small boy waiting at the gate all alone.
There was no car in the driveway and when Remus went to ring the doorbell, the boy said. ‘There is nobody home. Are you the black man?’ he said to Sirius. ‘My aunt said a black man was coming to collect me and I was to live with him from now on.’
Remus and Sirius looked at each other in shock.
Desperately trying to keep the tears from his eyes and voice, Sirius said, ‘Hello, you must be Harry. My name is Sirius Black and this is my friend Remus Lupin.‘
‘Serious black and Remus looping’ Harry repeated solemnly, as if trying to memorise this. Sirius and Remus both smiled.
‘We are friends of your mum and dad and I am your godfather. ‘
‘My parents are dead’, the small boy said.
‘Yes, Harry, we know and we are very sorry about that, but they asked me to look after you, if anything happened to them. Unfortunately I was, eh, away when they died and only just came back.’
‘That’s OK,’ Harry said, the way only a child can accept things without further questions.
It only now occurred to both Remus and Sirius, that there was no luggage anywhere to be seen.
‘Are your things still inside, Harry?’ Sirius asked kindly.
Harry shook his head and handed Sirius a note.
The note was very short and appeared to be from Harry’s aunt.
Sirs,
The boy was delivered to us without notice and without us having a say in it, in a basket, with only a blanket and the clothes he was wearing. As he no longer fits in those clothes or the basket, I suppose you have no need for those any more.
I would have thrown out the old blanket long ago, but the boy seems inexplicably attached to it.
I presume you are one of their lot.
I tried to stamp out all that unnatural nonsense, as we do not want any freaks near our son.
I would appreciate, if you would just take the boy and leave us alone from now on.
Mrs Petunia Dursley
Sirius passed the letter to Remus, without a word and without looking at him and kneeled beside Harry. He gently put his hand on the boy’s shoulder.
‘Harry do you know what a wizard is?’ Harry shook his head.
‘Harry do you know what magic is?’ Another shake, but the word magic seemed to have triggered some recognition.
‘There is no such thing as magic, uncle Vernon always says’, he whispers.
Sirius looked at Remus, despair showing in his eyes.
This was even worse than they had expected.
Bloody Dumbledore and his stupid idea that the boy would be better off living with his mother’s sister.
They straightened up when they noticed a woman coming towards them, carrying a big cat. When the woman drew near enough to address them, she told them that her name was Arabella Figg and that she lived up the road.
'I have been keeping an eye on Harry,' she said.
'Dumbledore's orders,' she mouthed softly over Harry's head.
'I have been minding Harry quite a lot for the Dursley's, whenever they needed to go out with their son,' she continued.
'They haven't gone long, in case you were wondering,' she added, 'Even they would not dare leave a kid this young outside on his own for long, for fear of what the neighbours would say. I saw them leave about five minutes ago, and Mr Tibbles here and I have been keeping an eye out.'
She turned to Harry and said, 'Mr Tibbles and I will miss you, little man, but we hope you will be very happy in your new home.'
'Thank you, Mrs Figg', Harry said.
Remus took Mrs Figg aside and asked her, how come Harry did not know his parents were wizards, when clearly she knew, as she seemed to know Dumbledore.
'I am a squib, and quite proud of that, so please don’t feel sorry for me, and indeed I do know Dumbledore. I was under strict orders not to say anything to Harry about his parentage, as Albus deemed he was too young. I did not agree with him, but it is very hard to argue with that man. I did my best to keep Harry save, and warm and well fed, whenever he was with me, as those horrible people were practically starving him. Anyway, I am glad he is going be living with friends of his parents and I already can see that you both care for him deeply, so I am sure he will be fine.'
She was about to turn back home, when she said to Remus, 'You wouldn't by any chance be interested in a little kitten, would you? All my cats are part kneazle. I breed them. I have a nice one I could give you for free, for Harry, if you like.'
'That is very kind of you,' Remus said, ‘but I'm afraid Sirius is allergic to cats.'
It was stretching the truth a bit, but kinder than just rejecting the offer out of hand.
'Thank you for everything, Mrs Figgs,' Sirius and Remus said, as she returned to her home further down Privet Drive. They gave her a little wave, as they took Harry by the hand and walked to a quiet part of Little Whinging where they had intended to side along apparate him home. Harry’s complete lack of knowledge of the Wizarding world, did make that slightly tricky.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
In the end they thought, it might be kinder to knock him out with a small dose of Sleeping Draught, rather than frighten the poor lad by side along apparition. When Harry woke up in the large Grimmauld Place kitchen, he came face to face with a strange creature that stared at him, as if he was some sort of curiosity.
‘Hi Harry, I am afraid you fell asleep on the way home. This is Kreacher, our house elf, he lives in this house with us.’
‘A what? Aunt Petunia says elves and fairies don’t exist,’ Harry said with a frown.
‘Well your aunt Petunia was wrong, I’m afraid.’ About a lot of things, Sirius thought, but did not say that last bit out loud.
Sirius didn’t want to overwhelm Harry too much on his first day, so they just chatted a bit about things Harry liked, while Kreacher made the dinner.
It turned out that Harry liked dogs, but not so much cats, so it was just as well Remus did not take Mrs Figg up on the offer of a kitten. Harry liked the colour red (another score for Remus) and other than that there wasn’t much to tell. He did not appear to have any possessions, other than a worn faded blue baby blanket, and the horrible oversized hand me downs he was wearing, and Remus and Sirius had a mind to burn those clothes, as soon as they got the chance.
After dinner, they decided to give Harry a nice warm bath. Not knowing whether a boy that age was allowed to be left in the tub unattended, as this had not come up in their conversations with Molly, Remus volunteered to give Harry his bath, as he was more familiar with young children, having helped his landlady out with hers. When Sirius brought in the new pyjamas, Harry was thrilled, even though he had no idea what the images on them were. He had never been given anything new just for him. Remus and Sirius avoided looking at each other, as they knew they would both start to cry, if they did.
When Sirius suggested that it was time for bed, Harry made his way down the stairs and tried to open the door of the little storage cupboard.
Remus laughed, ‘Where do you think you are going?’, he chuckled, as he bounded down the stairs after him.
‘I’m going to bed, like you said,’ Harry said confused.
‘But your bedroom is upstairs, not under the stairs,’ Remus said still laughing, until something in Harry’s eyes made his blood run cold.
‘SIRIUS!’ he shouted up the stairs and crouched down beside Harry. ‘Harry, he asked gently, where did you sleep in your aunt and uncle’s house?’
Harry pointed at the cupboard under the stairs.
Sirius, who had by now joined them and had heard that exchange, could not believe his ears. He was seeing red and ran back up two flights of stairs, straight over to the portrait of Phineas Black.
‘Sorry to disturb you, Phineas, but I need you to give Dumbledore a good talking to. Could you give him the following message verbatim, and please do it at the top of your voice. HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO HARRY! THEY KEPT HIM IN A CUPBOARD UNDER THE STAIRS, FOR MERLIN’S SAKE! DID YOU EVER CARE TO CHECK ON HIM. DID YOU THINK MRS FIGG WAS JOKING, WHEN SHE REPORTED THAT HE WAS UNDERFED! DID YOU BOTHER TO FIND OUT HOW HE WAS DOING EVEN ONCE. THEY TRIED TO STAMP ANY THOUGHTS ABOUT MAGIC OUT OF HIM. HE DOESN’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIS PARENTS OR ABOUT OUR WORLD. I AM FIT TO KILL YOU AT THIS MOMENT! YOU SAID YOU WERE DOING THE BEST FOR HARRY! YOU DID LESS THAT NOTHING, YOU POMPOUS PIECE OF DRAGON DUNG!’
‘Is that all?’ Phineas asked.
‘Yes, for now,’ Sirius said, feeling a bit better having gotten that off his chest.
‘Very good. It will be my pleasure! I have been waiting for my chance to put that know-it-all in his place for years!’, he chuckled and disappeared out of his portrait.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sirius re-joined Remus and Harry, just as they were coming up the stairs with a cup of hot milk.
Outside Harry’s bedroom they stopped and showed him the sign that said ‘Harry’s Room’.
‘This is your bedroom, Harry, and Remus and I sleep in the room next to you,’ as he pointed to the other door beside it.
Harry couldn’t believe his eyes, when he went inside the room.
‘This is MY room?’ he asked open mouthed.
‘Your room and everything in the room is yours, and tomorrow we go shopping for clothes and shoes and anything else you need.
They tucked Harry in and Sirius suggested to Remus to sing that song about the star. So Remus sang Harry to sleep, hoping that whatever he would be wishing upon the star, would come through for the young boy, who had been through so much already in his young life.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The Grimmauld Place household adapted very quickly to the arrival of Harry, who was an inquisitive child who absorbed all information about the magical world like a sponge.
He was even able to wound Kreacher around his little finger and only had to mention that he would love an ice cream or a biscuit and the elf would produce it, unless Remus was around, who seemed to be the only one who wasn’t indulging Harry’s every whim.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Harry 6th birthday was a quiet affair. Sirius and Remus had felt it was too soon to throw a whole bunch of new people into the mix, even people as nice as the Weasleys. What they had not expected, was to find out that this was the first time anyone had celebrated Harry’s birthday.
Phineas Black was delighted to see Sirius storm into the spare room.
‘A request for me to scream more threats and insults at the illustrious headmaster, I presume? Merlin, I have had more fun in the last few months, than in the past century.’
‘Yes, please yell at him to your heart’s content and tell that good for nothing piece of Thestral dung that THAT SO CALLED FAMILY OF HIS DID NOT EVEN CELEBRATE HARRY’S BIRTHDAYS! and thanks Phineas, much appreciated,’ before he re-joined the birthday celebrations.
Harry, who would have loved just about anything that his godfather would have given him, looked a bit puzzled at the broom he had just unwrapped. By now he had been informed that his parents and his guardians were wizards and he had been told what the pictures on his pyjamas were, but clearly he had not fully understood the concept of brooms, beyond the muggle use of sweeping floors, which he was very good at, despite his aunt always complaining that he missed a spot.
‘It’s a broom, Harry. You use it for flying. Would you like to try it out in the garden?’
That had received a very enthusiastic response from the six year old.
They had gone out into the back and Remus had quickly cast a concealment and muffliato spell, just in case.
Just as well, as the Queen herself probably would have been able to hear Harry’s yells of delight in Buckingham Palace.
Not surprisingly, given his father’s prowess as a seeker, Harry was a natural and when it didn’t look likely he would fall of his broom, Sirius fetched his own one and they soared together through the skies. Remus kept his wand poised, just in case he had to perform ‘Arresto Momento’, but there was no need.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When they took Harry with them the following Sunday for dinner in The Burren, Harry immediately hit it off with Ron and when it turned out that he was at least as good a flier as the twins, they adopted him as a long lost family member.
Harry loved the easy banter of the Weasleys and the general hullabaloo. If Molly hugged him a bit tighter and longer than normal, he either didn’t mind or didn’t notice. Everything was perfect.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Harry’s school days were a one hundred percent improvement on his Little Whinging days, not least because he didn’t have a cousin bullying him at every turn. His classmates were lovely and he had no problem making friends. The customary Muggle tradition of inviting friends over after school and sleepovers, did however require some careful planning because of the Statute of Secrecy, but Sirius, Remus and even Kreacher were happy to go the extra mile to ensure Harry could have as normal a childhood as possible.
The registered squib teacher didn’t become his actual teacher until Year 5, just before he received his letter for Hogwarts, by which time Harry had developed a secret, or maybe not so secret, school crush on her.
Harry had been introduced to Ms Clarence, or Jean, on his first day of school at the age of six, with strict instructions to go to her whenever he was feeling unwell or worried or even just to have a chat.
The school had been informed of the abusive living arrangements prior to moving to this school district and they were very sympathetic to provide assistance in the form of access to Ms Clarence, who as luck would have it was not just a teacher, but was also the school counsellor, which made it even easier to keep an eye on him without raising any suspicions.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The arrival of the Hogwarts letter was overshadowed by the news that Wormtail had escaped from Azkaban. Despite the fact that the Ministry knew that he was an animagus, he had managed to escape.
On hearing this news, Sirius convinced Remus to teach Harry some defensive spells, just in case he would need to defend himself. ‘Expelliarmus’ turned out to be child’s play to Harry, who mastered this spell after a few attempts. ‘Protego’ also did not give James’ son much trouble. He quickly got the hang of the stunning spell as well, much to his guardians’ proud delight, even though technically that was not a defensive spell.
When news reached them that the Ministry was considering letting Dementors assist in the re-capture of Peter Pettigrew, Remus did not need any convincing to teach Harry the ‘Expecto Patronum’ spell. When Harry managed, after some practicing, to cast a shield patronus, both Sirius and Remus were impressed. However, he really bowled them over, when he eventually produced a full corporeal patronus, but not the one they had both been expecting.
Instead of a prancing stag, a brightly shining wolfhound bounded from Harry’s wand.
‘Well, if you ever needed proof of nurture over nature, there you have it’, Sirius said, once they had recovered from the surprise and he hugged his partner tightly.
‘You did good Moony,’ he whispered softly into Remus’ ear and gently bit his ear lobe.