In the Cards

“Sirius!”

Remus hurtled down the front stairs like his life depended on it, before flinging himself onto the newcomer and both toppled down to the ground in a chorus of tears and laugh. Albus chuckled at the sight, his mirth only increasing as he took in the reactions of the rest of his staff. Minerva was pressing both her lips together in an attempt to keep from laughing while Pomona had none of her restrain and was watching over the boys with crinkles around her eyes and Filius’ eyes were suspiciously wet. Unsurprisingly his Potion Master was nowhere in sight, likely brooding in his quarters or experimenting in his lab. Or both.

It had taken a while to reason someone as inflexible and ruthless as Bartemius Crouch into allowing an investigation and a subsequent trial to take place in order to confirm or refute Sirius’ guilt in the attack on the Potters. Crouch had been ridiculously intransigent, and Albus had not been able to move past the “Sirius Black was the Potter’s secret keeper” argument for over an hour. This had been Albus’ main proof of Sirius’ guilt as well, and as such he had been quite indulgent at the beginning of the meeting, before the man’s stubborn blindness had started grating on his nerves in a way that even Cornelius had not managed. For the sake of not rendering things harder for him than they already were, he had maintained the perfect image of the collected and wise grandfather figure he so often sported, but it nearly had been all he could do not to explode all the windows of the overly lavish office. The heated argument – on Crouch’s part – was thankfully interrupted when the Minister Bagnold herself came in the office, interrupting the broken record rant Albus had to once more patiently sit through. As efficient as ever, she had overruled her head of justice department and signed an investigation order, assembled a team and gave Albus free reign in conducting the proceedings in less than an hour.

His first stop had been to visit the Magical Law Enforcement Squad, responsible for taking Sirius in and allegedly still in possession of the young man’s wand. He discovered that priori incantatem had indeed been cast and that none of the recent spells included the Blasting curse, which was responsible for the death of the Muggles and the destruction of the street. A report had been written, yet no one had followed up on it, and said report had lost itself in the unfathomable depths of the Ministry administrative ocean. He ordered several members of his assigned team to gather the names of the witnesses for him to interrogate once more and gathered that most of their memories were far from as accurate as everyone had seemed to let on. Albus went as far as using Legilimens on every single one of them, and discovered that not only the memories were quite blurred in the middle of the chaos that had reigned that night, but that most of them had only inferred on who was the attacker and who was the victim based on the sole declamations of Peter. Albus had subsequently decided a visit to Azkaban was in order. Sirius had been exactly as described: apparently as mad as hatter, alternating between laughing hysterically, screaming manically and rocking his curled body back and forth. It was a pathetically pitiful sight to witness one of his brightest students ending up in a cell, apparently demented and potentially responsible for one of the most horrendous crime he had seen as of late. For what other words could be used to describe the betrayal of one’s brother?

Although as days passed, Albus’ doubts on that version of the events only strengthened in light of everything new to come to light. The wand showed no signs of blasting anything in the last days before the attack and the witness’ version of events was not quite as probing as he had initially assumed. Now that Albus was standing in front of his former student, he could not help the pained tug at his heart the sight caused. Sirius had only been here for a few days and already looked ravaged by the Dementors. He stood there for several minutes, and was quite taken aback by Sirius’ reaction when the young man finally took a notice on him. He jumped to his feet from the crumpled position he’d been sitting in, and was facing Albus, gripping the bars of his cell tightly in a matter a seconds. The look on his face was so reminiscent to Remus’ from that day in his office that Albus’ breath hitched imperceptibly. A tortured, despaired look lit otherwise dull eyes, worry and pain etched all over his face.

“Albus, Albus, how’s Harry? Where is he, is he safe? What about Lily? She’s alive isn’t she? I didn’t dream that? Did you find Peter? Oh please tell me Harry is alright!”
Sirius had croaked out the words in raspy voice and started crying by the end of it. Albus could only stand there, aghast and unmoving as the young men dropped to the ground in silent sobbing, murmuring pleas and Harry’s name.

Albus had gotten him out in the hour.

After the brief moment of shock hefted away, the anger followed suit. Engulfing, blazing, and terrible anger. Why no one had thought of questioning this man under Veritaserum was beyond him. Considering Crouch’ method of justice, he should not have been surprised, but the last of his doubts had flown out the window, all replaced with the destroyed form of a suddenly very young looking Sirius Black, pleading for his godson to be safe.

His directive had spurred quite some protestations from the head of the prison but they didn’t last long. No one in their right mind would willingly oppose an angry Albus Dumbledore. And so Albus took Sirius out of the prison after requesting a legal transfer out to the Ministry and there the young man had been interrogated under Veritaserum in the presence of the entire Wizengamot. As it turned out, Sirius and Peter had switched place in being the Secret Keeper for the Potters without informing him, and it had been the latter who had betrayed the family to Voldemort, leaving a devastated young wizard to act upon his grief and fury in pursuing the one he knew to be responsible. The man had not been sorted in Gryffindor for nothing… Acting before thinking was taken to a whole new level in the case of young Sirius Black.

A week or so after his arrest, Sirius had been freed and acquitted of all charges by the Wizengamot and referred to a Mind Healer at St Mungo. A week’s worth of Azkaban might have brought about a laughable amount of damage compared to the average convict’s time, but it was still enough to induce some sort of psychological issues, especially in the traumatic context in which Sirius had been incarcerated. He had spent a week or so in the Psychiatric ward of the hospital, resting and attended by a Mind Healer twice a day to assess the damage and help him recover. Seeing as he recuperated quite quickly, he had been sent home – or in this particular case Hogwarts where his family was waiting – with the personal apology from the Minister of Magic herself.

It was with a particularly satisfied smile that Albus watched the affectionate reunion taking place in front of them. They all deserved some good news. He noticed that it had gotten quite the attention as a few students in the park were looking curiously at them, whispering in each other’s ears.

“I’m so sorry I doubted you, so so so sorry,” Remus was repeating over and over between his tears while Sirius only tightened the hug they were engulfed in, patting the other’s back and murmuring reassurances.

“You couldn’t have known, it’s ok, I’m ok.”

After a while, they had attracted quite the crowd, including students that had known the two from attending Hogwarts at the same time, and Albus thought it time to bring them both inside. He clapped his hands once, commending the attention among all present, and amiably directed the students back into the castle and for Remus and Sirius to follow him.

As happy as Sirius had been to reunite with Remus, the young man perked up further at the call from his former headmaster and Albus smiled knowingly at him for he seemed to have grasped quite quickly their destination.

They had moved Lily in a private room of the Hospital Wing after first being examined that Halloween night. It was equipped with permanent monitoring charms that ensured both her and her baby’s condition remained stable and would alert Madam Pomfrey of any changes. They had decorated the room so as it less resembled a ward for terminally ill patients and had ensured to create a small wing attached to both said room and Madam Pomfrey’s office for Harry to stay in. It was where Albus led both youngsters after greeting the Matron and allowing a few minutes for her to welcome Sirius back.

She gave him a pat on the cheek before letting him go, and Sirius could only produce a faltering smile. The young man seemed restless, wringing his hands nervously as he tentatively stepped into the room. He stepped into the padded floor of Lily’s room, and reached her bed in a few steps despite how cautiously he took each one. Remus stayed behind, having spent a considerable amount of time beside her since he had come to learn of her condition. In fact Albus was amused at how prodigiously acrobatic both he and Severus had shown themselves to be, in avoiding being in each other’s company while both spending a lot of their time next to her. On hindsight, perhaps Severus’ self-imposed isolation had helped somewhat with that. Albus could only hope that Sirius’ arrival in the castle would not upset the potion master further and result in him shutting out more.

Sirius sat down on the same chair everyone had sat on next to the slumbering young woman, and took her hand, stroking the back of it with his thumb gently. Lily had been a big presence, not only for James, but for Sirius, Remus and Peter as well. It was a shame the latter had not proven worthy of it, but Albus knew for a fact that Remus and Sirius were caring for her deeply, as they would a sister.
Sirius stayed by her side for a little while, murmuring words Albus couldn’t hear, but considering the small smile on Remus’ lips and the moist in his eyes, it must have been good. When he got back up and approached them once more, Sirius’ nervousness hadn’t abated and he looked up unsurely at Albus, lip caught between his teeth.

“This way,” he indicated with a hand gesture towards the closed door leading to Harry’s room. Both young men followed him, but stopped dead in their tracks after Albus after he opened the door and froze on the spot.

Well, this he had not expected.

Severus had shed his austere teaching robes, and was left seating on the floor in black slacks and white shirt, sleeves rolled up. In front of him was Harry, babbling enthusiastically and showing off various cubes before he pushed them in the right holes of the little wooden puzzle in front of him. It seemed that both the boy and the man were entranced in the game, for neither reacted at the door opening. Severus was answering every single one of Harry’s more often than not non-sensical sentences, nearly beaming – well, Severus Snape’s version of beaming – whenever the boy actually answered properly to a question or a comment.

Sirius and Remus had managed to take a peak from above each shoulder of the Headmaster and were now standing either side of him, flabbergasted. Albus observed their reactions carefully, knowing of the feud the three of them had entertained at school and unwilling to let it derail now. He relaxed minutely as he saw Remus’ shocked expression turned into a wistful one, carefully observing the other wizard with a hint of amusement that was nothing but genuine.

Sirius on the other hand, seemed lost as to what reaction he ought to have. Not that Albus could blame him, considering every single one of his teaching staff, including himself had needed time to wrap their head around Severus Snape caring for little Harry Potter. Then again, the little boy had all of them wrapped around his little finger already.

Albus purposely shuffled his feet, perhaps a little more loudly than necessary, and the potion master looked up, instantly losing the serene expression in favor of a deep scowl at the sight in front of him. He nearly jumped to his feet, snatching his teaching robes off the armchair he had abandoned them on, and they were back on in the next second.

“Black,” he nearly growled as he threw a venomous look to the newcomer. The word seemed to break Sirius’ shock bubble for his expression soured considerably. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the sole consequence and all men’ attention soon turned to the nearly forgotten presence in the room when Harry whimpered.
The Potion master hasty movements and sudden change of attitude seemed to have frightened the boy, and the atmosphere of the room had considerably chilled in a matter of seconds, something the boy had obviously picked up on.

All the mounting anger in Severus evaporated and he dropped to the floor next to the toddler, shushing him gently as he reached out to gather him up. Harry accepted the embrace readily, like each time Albus had seen the young man pick him up, and the little boy snuggled in the potion master shoulder, sniffling a few times.

Albus threw a side glance towards Sirius, who yet again looked like a goldfish, the previous emotions once more evaporated to be replaced with shock. The old wizard had to repress a chuckle at the sight and if the knowing glance from Remus and the dark look from Severus were any indication, he perhaps had not been as successful as he had thought. No matter.

“Hum,” Sirius eventually and very intelligently said gaining an eye roll from Severus who was still rocking Harry very slowly.

“Get over yourself Black, I won’t break him,” Severus bit out scathingly. Sirius’ eyebrow rose and could only stare with wide eyes, unable to think of a comeback.
“So that’s where you had disappeared to Severus,” Albus intervened, eyeing his old student pointedly with a faint smile. “I was afraid you had cooped yourself up in your lab to find a remedy to Lily’s condition again.”

Severus scowled at the twinkling in the old man’s eyes, and even more so after both his former classmates looked up at him with surprised expressions.
Damn the old man. He just knew that Albus had purposely revealed his whereabouts to…what? Break the ice between them all? Fat chance. They both had almost managed to kill him not even ten years prior and received absolutely no retributions for their actions. How was he supposed to get over that?

At Albus’ pointed look, he huffed and turned his back to him. No one was more surprised than he was when Harry straightened away from his shoulder and looked at him intently with those big green eyes of him, before putting his chubby hand on his cheek. Severus deflated like a balloon and he sighed deeply. How had he become so complacent in the little boy’s presence so fast, he’d never know. Regardless, he closed his eyes for a moment before finally turning back around. The mutt was here to see his godson after all. Despite his private vow to protect the child Severus had technically no right to be here, he thought bitterly.

As he lowered himself to the floor and started putting Harry down, the toddler looked at him questioningly. Severus only smiled and placed him facing the other three. It only took Harry a moment to recognize the new arrival, and his entire face lit up with wonder, a big grin splitting his face.

“Pa’foot!” he screamed before half-waddling half-running over to his god father, who had snapped out of his trance to lower himself to Harry’s height with his arms wide and an equally happy smile on his face.

As soon as the little boy had reached him, Sirius was swirling him around and engulfing him in a tight bear hug.

“Oh my Harry how I’ve missed you,” he said, eyes closed as he relished in the embrace and stroke Harry’s wild locks softly.

“Miss Pa’foot too,” the little boy’s muffled voice said. Sirius felt himself forget the past week, the despair and the hurt; it all melted away from the comforting warmth now resting against his chest.

He had been devastated when he discovered the house in the state it’d been in, and had broken down at the sight of James’ lifeless body. It had taken him several minutes before he had the courage to climb up to the first floor and go check on the rest of the family. He heard Harry’s cries first, lost in the harsh wind that was engulfing itself through the blown up walls. He had stood there, mouth agape with his cheeks drowned in tears from James as he stared at the unharmed form of his godson. He had expected to find the little boy immobile and lifeless, and he was faced with a crying toddler. He had been approaching the crib when he noticed Lily’s body, sprawled across the floor and his tears had come flowing back. Until he realized, like Minerva, that a dead body could not be warm. He had felt a pulse and a small laugh drowned in tears had escaped from his lips. Lily and Harry were alive. How, he had absolutely no idea, and he couldn’t have cared less. For as soon as the reality dawned on him, another thought, viciously unpleasant, poisonous, had made it to the forefront of his mind, drowning everything else.

Peter.

Peter had done this. He was secret keeper. The Fidelius charm could in absolutely no way be broken unless the secret keeper talked. Burning rage filled him then, blurring his sight, making him sick to his stomach. He couldn’t think as he retreated back out of the house, the fury consuming everything. He would kill the bastard. He would find the despicable rat and kill him, destroy him. All his certitudes had blown up to his face in that moment. Sirius had been supposed to be the Secret Keeper. James would be alive, Lily and Harry would be unharmed, if only they’d gone ahead and made him the secret keeper like it was intended. And yet no, Sirius had trusted Peter blindly, and thought it would be safer for the family if their secret was kept with a less obvious choice. It was his fault… He’d insisted with James for Peter to take his place and now he was dead.

Sirius had been sick that day, before reaching the muggle street where he caught up with Peter, and had emptied the content of his stomach in painful heaves for long minutes. He had needed several minutes to be able to stand up. And then he had run after the disgusting traitor.

Then everything had blown up to pieces and he lost it. So stupid… He had been so stupid.

And now he was with Harry. The little one he had sworn to James he would protect. The little one he would never abandon again like he had done in that house. Sirius felt the sting of tears in his eyes once more as he listened to the soft breathing and the little “pa’foot” the boy was whispering over and over. He would do right by him. Never again will he make the mistake of leaving him.

Another thought came up then. Unwelcomed, but factually true. He looked up at his old school enemy, who was watching entirely elsewhere. Sirius kept staring until eventually Severus felt the eyes on him and turned to him with a surprising lack of scorn. No this time it was the blank unreadable mask that met him.

Snape had not left like he had. Snape had stayed, despite Harry being the son of James. Remus had told him how Albus and Minerva had found the place when they had turned up, not long after he himself had left. They had found Snivel- Snape embracing the little boy and calming his down. Something that Sirius had failed to do, too caught up in his idea of revenge, he had left himself consumed by his rage and ran out of the house without second glance.

Snape only stared back, eyes, unfathomable black pools, strained on him unblinkingly. And Sirius did the only thing to do and mouthed: “Thank you.”

Snape kept staring, until he finally blinked and gave a curt nod, before departing the room in his usual swirling of black robes.