[Fic] Dreaming of magic: Chapter 9 - Arcturus

[gingerspark]

Title: Dreaming of magic
Fandom: Dreaming of sunshine, Naruto, Harry potter
Summary: DOS team 7 reborn into the Harry Potter universe

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Sirius

Sirius stepped out of the floo into the familiar office, dressed in the robes Halton had somehow managed to have tailored in less than a day.

"Sirius," Dumbledore greeted him, "my dear boy, it is so good to see you, sit down, sit down." He gestured to the chair Sirius had sat in every time he was in trouble during his schooldays.

"Morning, Professor," Sirius responded, taking a seat.

"Lemon drop?"

"No thanks, Professor."

"What was it you wanted to discuss Sirius?" Dumbledore asked.

"Harry," Sirius responded.

"Ah, yes of course, of course. You will be glad to know Harry is safe and hidden away from those who might wish him harm." Dumbledore smiled kindly at Sirius.

"I'm glad you kept him safe, but I'm free now, and I'm his legal guardian." Sirius wasn't so certain Harry was safe, not after the hints Shikako had been letting slip.

"Sirius, surely you cannot mean to take the boy in yourself?" Dumbledore sounded shocked. "You've been through quite the ordeal, I'm not certain that would be the best of ideas."

"Professor, it's what James and Lily wanted," Sirius countered.

"I'm afraid, Sirius, that Harry is safer where he is," Dumbledore said firmly. "Lily's love protects him so long as he lives with his mother's blood relatives. Besides, would you really tear the boy away from his family?"

Sirius scowled. "Petunia hated magic, hated Lily. I don't trust her with Harry."

"My dear boy, she may not like magic, but he is still her nephew. There is no need to worry," Dumbledore said, and Sirius thought he actually believed it.

Sirius remembered being fourteen and writhing on the dining room floor screaming while his mother hexed him. Blood ties were no guarantee of safety, whatever Dumbledore thought. He took a deep breath and stared at the arched ceiling for a long moment.

Sirius looked Dumbledore in the eyes. "Shikabane-hime, the benevolent spirit who granted me sanity and protection from dementors, says she can adjust Lily's wards so that Harry is protected even if he doesn't live with the Dursleys." Sirius had the joy of seeing Dumbledore's jaw actually drop.

Dumbledore adjusted his glasses, still staring at Sirius in bewilderment. "Shikabane-hime?" he asked.

"Yep." Sirius leant back in his chair. "She came to me in Azkaban and granted me protection from dementors."

"One of the fae spoke to you?" Dumbledore looked incredulous.

"Eh, I think she's a human blessed by one of the old powers," Sirius mused. "Either way, she offered to adjust the wards, so could you tell me where you hid Harry?"

"Sirius, do you know why this Shikabane-hime is interested in Harry?" Dumbledore asked.

"She seems to want him safe and happy. I trust her," Sirius stated.

Dumbledore gave him the kind of dubious expression Sirius remembered getting so often as a schoolboy. "Sirius, it would be incredibly irresponsible of me to hand Harry over to the whims of who knows what kind of spirit."

Sirius straightened. "Dumbledore, I'm his legal guardian. It's my decision to make, not yours."

"Regardless, Sirius, I simply can't let an unknown being mess about with the only thing keeping Harry safe. I thought better of you, really Sirius." Dumbledore looked disapprovingly over his half-moon glasses. "You have had rather a difficult few years. Perhaps you should think this over once you have had time to recover? Harry's well-being must be the priority after all."

Sirius scowled. He had a good deal less faith in Dumbledore's decision making skills than he had had pre-Azkaban. Something about the man spending months condemning him in the press and only noticing his innocence mid trial had fractured Sirius's trust in Dumbledore's wisdom. That the man hadn't even bothered to apologise for his part in Sirius's lengthy imprisonment was yet another mark against him.

Sirius was seething at the implied insults. He was putting Harry first! He took a deep breath. "Alright Professor. Shouldn't I at least visit?"

"I don't think that would be appropriate, my boy. As you said, his family is wary of magic, we wouldn't want to alarm them, would we?"

"So you won't give me the address?" he asked.

"I'm afraid I must look after Harry's welfare first, Sirius," Dumbledore said.

The tight control Sirius had been keeping on his temper snapped.

"And your decisions are always right?" he shouted, standing up from his chair and leaning over the desk "James and Lily are DEAD, Dumbledore. You said they'd be safe! You didn't even bother to talk to me, ask if I betrayed them, anything." He trailed off in frustration.

Dumbledore seemed smaller than he had a moment ago. "Sirius, you must understand, I acted on the information I had at the time."

"Thank you for your time Professor Dumbledore." Sirius strode towards the fireplace and grabbed a pinch of floo powder.

"Black manor," he called, stepping into the fireplace.

*

Lysander

Lysander stared at the letter like it was a live snake.

"What is it dear?" Theo asked, reaching for the marmalade.

"It's an invitation from Lord Black."

Across the breakfast table Sylvanus snapped upright. "Lord Black?"

"But why would Lord Black invite us to visit?" Theo asked.

"Well, this says it's to thank us for our role in apprehending Pettigrew, and Katherine's invited too, but..."

"You think it's a cover for something else?" Sylvanus asked.

"We didn't really do anything," Lysander pointed out.

"Madam Black seemed very interested in Katherine at the party last week. It's probably so she can get a chance to talk to her," Theo said.

Lysander wasn't entirely convinced, but it would be unspeakably rude to refuse without a good reason. By early afternoon he, Sylvanus and Katherine were all dressed into their best robes and headed to Black Manor.

*

Arcturus

Arcturus wasn't sure what to make of Katherine Darby. She seemed like a polite young witch, and Sirius was correct that she looked entirely harmless.

However, the secrecy binding she'd placed on all three of them entirely prevented them from asking the questions they wanted to ask in front of Lysander Urien. It was a disconcerting amount of a power from such a small and harmless looking child.

"I wish to discuss a matter of House Black with Miss Darby, Lysander. Might we borrow her for a moment?" he asked. The House of Urien was not a traditional ally of House Black, and the man was clearly somewhat discomfited to be in the stronghold of the Blacks, and made more so by Arcturus's request.

"Ah, well..." the man equivocated.

"I'll look after her, Father," Sylvanus volunteered.

"I know what this is. It's nothing to worry about," Katherine added, which seemed to reassure Lysander.

"Alright then," he conceded.

Cassie swept in, striking up a conversation with Lysander as the children followed Arcturus out of the sitting room.

Inside Arcturus's office, Sylvanus took up what was very blatantly a guard position just behind Katherine. Arcturus ignored this, just as he ignored Sirius's untidy sprawl against a bookshelf.

"Sylvanus is excluded from the binding then?" Sirius asked, looking curiously at the serious little boy.

"Of course," Katherine responded, "Sylvanus already knows everything."

Arcturus nodded in acknowledgement, then bowed low to Katherine, with Sirius mirroring the motion beside him.

"Katherine Darby, Shikabane-hime, chosen of Gelel, my house owes you a great debt. Your actions have freed my heir and will allow him to continue our noble line. Any boon you ask of us will be granted, now or in the future."

"Sylvanus and Naruto helped too." Arcturus noted that Katherine seemed incredibly uncomfortable, but he couldn't make sense of why.

Arcturus nodded. "We extend our debt and gratitude to them as well." He gestured for them all to sit.

Seated behind his desk, he raised the most pressing issue. "The matter we asked you here to discuss concerns Sirius's godson Harry. Sirius is his legal guardian. Despite this, he has been refused Harry's address by the person who hid him. Sirius indicated that you are already in contact with the boy and would be able to provide his address to us."

Katherine was smiling at him, relieved. "He lives at Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. The blood wards are currently tied to the house, and they'll prevent any adult wizard from getting close, although I think Sirius should be exempt as Godfather. I've got a set of adjustments planned-" she broke off, pulling a sheet of parchment out of nowhere and spreading it out on the desk. "I've added a secondary layer to Lily's array that should allow the wards to keep functioning with Petunia's blood. All it needs is about half a pint, willingly given, in the centre of this array, then Harry needs to activate it himself."

"Blood magic?" Sirius asked, nervousness showing through.

Katherine frowned. "Is that a problem? I couldn't find anything on it in the library, but from what I can see of Lily's initial work it's very simple."

"We don't doubt that it'll work. It's just that the ministry frowns on such magic." Arcturus commented.

Katherine's eyes widened. "Ah." Apparently the girl hadn't realised it was banned - she had a very odd approach to things, like with that incineration array.

"We'll claim it as Black family magic if anyone asks," Arcturus stated. Any number of sins could be covered that way, and this wasn't even technically dark magic if the blood had to be willingly donated.

Both children eyed him suspiciously for a few seconds, then Katherine nodded in acceptance.

"I'm going to pick him up this afternoon, I - my temper's not the best, I'd rather know in advance," Sirius said. "How bad is it? I know they hated Lily."

Katherine winced and Sylvanus's eyes grew flinty. "It's bad," she stated. "He lives in the cupboard under the stairs. They told him his parents died in a car crash."

Arcturus felt his magic flicker in fury and ruthlessly tamped down on it. Beside him Sirius was glaring fiercely and taking deep breaths. What Dumbledore had been thinking leaving the boy with muggles, Arcturus didn't know.

"We've done what we can, but it's not good," Sylvanus added. "He's isolated."

"I'll get him this afternoon." Sirius said, seemingly to himself.

"He gets out of school at half-past three, he'll be home by four," Shikako added. "That'll be the best time - Petunia will be home, but only her."

Arcturus and Sirius shared a glance. Sirius would be there at four and not a second later.

Arcturus considered Katherine and Sylvanus's investment in the boy's welfare. "Harry will, of course, need to be introduced to magical children his own age."

Katherine smiled, clearly picking up on the implications. "Yes, we'd like to see him regularly."

Arcturus nodded. "Our house owes the both of you, and Naruto, a great deal. Is there anything you would like to ask as of today?"

"The resources of our House are at your disposal." Sirius added. Arcutus hadn't really considered it, but they were very young, perhaps they didn't quite understand?

"Anything which is within our power to grant you, we will." Arcturus explained.

Katherine and Sylvanus exchanged glances.

"Could I speak to Kreacher?" she asked.

"Kreacher?" Sirius asked. "Why Kreacher?"

Arcturus glared at him. Questioning a seer they owed a debt to was poor form, not to mention stupid.

"Of course, Miss Darby. Would you like me to summon him now?" he offered.

Katherine and Sylvanus exchanged a glance.

"Yes please," Katherine said.

"Kreacher," he called.

The elf appeared with a crack.

"You will do what Miss Darby asks of you," he commanded.

"Hello Kreacher," Katherine spoke gently," I'm Katherine Darby. I'm a seer."

Kreacher stared at her with wide eyes. "Miss is stars," he breathed. "What does Miss Darby want with Kreacher?"

Stars? Arcturus's brow furrowed. That could imply a greater connection to House Black than he'd previously considered. Was she working to restore House Black for its' own sake?

"I want to help you destroy the thing Regulus gave you, Kreacher."

Arcturus exchanged a confused look with Sirius as the elf burst into tears.

"Kreacher tried! Kreacher tried to destroy it," The elf wrung his hands. "But Kreacher failed!"

Arcturus stared at the hysterical elf. This was a very clear confirmation of Katherine's strength as a seer, Arcturus could think of no other way she could have known about whatever this was.

"Kreacher. Kreacher, it's alright. We'll destroy it. We're going to destroy all the others too, and finish what Regulus wanted to do." Her tone was reassuring, and Kreacher looked up at her with awe and hope in his bulbous eyes. "Could you fetch it for me Kreacher?" she asked.

"Kreacher will." The elf vanished with a crack.

"Wha- what was Regulus trying to do?" Sirius croaked as Katherine pulled out another large sheet of parchment.

"He turned against Voldemort and tried to destroy one of his horcruxes, I don't know the details I'm afraid." Her tone was remarkably casual as she placed the parchment on the floor.

Arcturus's blood had run cold at the mention of horcruxes, but he could only see shock and grief on Sirius's face, rather than the terror he expected. Ah, of course, the boy had never finished the education he should have had as heir of the House of Black. He likely didn't even know what a horcrux was, didn't understand the foul thing Voldemort had done to his own soul. That would have to be rectified.

Kreacher reappeared with a crack, holding a locket.

"Could you drop it in the middle Kreacher? Thank you."

Merlin's beard, was that Slytherin's locket? He leant forwards, mentally comparing it to the familiar portrait in the Slytherin common room. It was!

It was at this point, watching the foul wisps emanating from the locket struggle against the circle of runes blocking its influence, that Katherine's earlier words came back to him.

"One of his Horcruxes?" Arcturus asked, gripping the arms of his chair.

"Yep," Shikako responded, staring at a set of changing runes at the bottom of the parchment the locket rested on.

Arcturus stared blankly at the girl. That was an atrocity. To split your soul was blasphemy and lunacy. To split it more than once - Merlin. Arcturus didn't know what that would do to a man.

Katherine was kneeling on his office floor, Sylvanus beside her, talking quietly as she made notes. Sirius was slumped in his chair, head in his hands, and Kreacher was still staring at Katherine.

"-the separation array should work then?" She was saying, pulling yet another sheet of parchment out of thin air. She slid it underneath the locket and murmured "separate".

A writhing thing rose from the locket, calling out to him with promises of power. It was subtle and enticing, and for a moment his hand lifted from the chair and started to reach for it before he caught himself. Arcturus firmly ignored its trap and steeled himself against its influence. Curiously, neither the children nor Sirius seemed to even notice the thing's call.

Sylvanus carefully slid the locket out of the circle using the end of a quill.

Katherine grinned in triumph. "So, can either of you cast fiendfyre?"

*

Sirius

Sirius had had a bizarre day. Dealing with Shikako-Katherine always gave him a headache. It was something about her tendency to upend everything he thought he knew about the world and still be utterly casual about it. Today's revelations had been as bad as ever. Your godson lives in a cupboard! Voldemort isn't dead! Regulus turned against Voldemort and died a martyr! Let's destroy a part of Voldemort's soul!

Most frustratingly for the Blacks, they'd made no progress paying back the debt they owed. They'd hoped Katherine (and apparently, Sylvanus and Naruto) would ask for something large but achievable. Instead Katherine had asked for something that cost them nothing. Then they'd been left with a priceless artifact, and had finally found out Regulus's fate, leaving them even further in debt to the trio. They also had valuable information, being aware of Voldemort's continued survival allowed them to prepare for his return, and that was priceless. Sirius might have been tempted to let his skills slide, forgo learning the trickier or darker parts of the family magic, had he not known that Voldemort could still come for Harry.

He was honestly dreading 1991. Not only would Shikako and her two friends be getting wands (they were scary enough without them), Harry would be starting school. Sirius had loved baby Harry from the moment James had handed him the tiny bundle, but he was self aware enough to know that he was mostly attached to seven year old Harry in the abstract. That wouldn't be the case after he got to know his godson.

Sirius firmly shoved the whole pile of confusing events into a mental box labelled 'Shikako and associated chaos' as he apparated onto Privet Drive at four o'clock on the dot.

It was muggle suburbia, and he was dressed appropriately, although his hastily transfigured clothes were probably years out of date. He strode up to number four and rang the bell.

He'd never met Petunia before, but the shrew-like woman who answered the door did look a little like Lily.

"Petunia Evans?" he asked, trying not to let his hatred of this woman show as she looked him up and down, her face contorting into a sneer. "I'm here-"

"We don't want your kind here!" she shrieked, trying to close the door in his face.

"I'm here to collect my Godson, Petunia." he asserted, jamming the door open with his foot.

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Why didn't you come and get him years ago? We never wanted the freak!"

Sirius pushed down his fury at the insult to Harry and grinned at Petunia. "I was in prison."

If she actually seemed reluctant to hand over Harry he could easily explain the whole thing, but honestly he was enjoying scaring the awful woman.

Petunia looked horrified and alarmed, but reluctantly opened the door. "Get in before the neighbours see you," she snapped.

Sirius stepped inside as Petunia scurried to the cupboard under the stairs and counted backwards from ten as he figured out how small that space must be. He needed Petunia to donate her blood for Harry's wards, and she probably wouldn't if he cursed her.

"Boy! Boy! Get out here. You're leaving," she hammered on the cupboard door.

Harry emerged from the cupboard, looking at Sirius with happiness written in every line of his body.

Sirius stepped closer. "Hey, Harry. I'm sorry I couldn't come earlier. I'm your godfather, would you like to come and live with me?"

Harry nodded enthusiastically, grinning ear to ear. "Shikako said you'd be coming."

"You pack your stuff then, I just need to get your aunt to sign some paperwork so we can be a proper family, okay?"

"Okay." Harry ducked back into his cupboard, smiling widely.

Sirius looked up to see Petunia watching him with a sour expression on her face.

"So, there are a couple of requirements before I take him," he said. He'd be taking Harry even if she refused to sign custody over to him or fix the wards, but she didn't need to know that.

Petunia nodded, walking down the hall into the kitchen.

Sirius followed, pulling out the muggle custody documents Aunt Cassie had arranged.

"This is the first thing, just sign here and here," he said.

Petunia signed without even reading the documents.

"The second thing, I don't know what Dumbledore told you about the wards-"

"Nothing!" Petunia interrupted. "He didn't tell us anything, just left the boy on the doorstep with a note. I don't know how your kind think that's alright to do to decent people."

Sirius gaped. "He left him on a doorstep?" In autumn? With Death Eaters still looking for him?

"Yes. Didn't even ask if we wanted to take the boy," Petunia ranted.

Honestly, what had Dumbledore been thinking? Sirius took a deep breath and tried to bury his fury at Dumbledore's negligence.

"Lily set up blood wards for Harry. It's why he was sent here rather than anywhere else. It's protective magic," Sirius explained, trying not to react to Petunia's look of disgust. "A friend of mine has set up an adjustment that means he doesn't have to live here and the wards will still work."

"We don't want anything to do with that kind of thing," Petunia snapped.

Sirius sighed. "The wards will continue to protect this house and your son. They keep wizards away from your residence." He'd hoped Petunia would want to keep the wards for Harry's sake, but the bitch clearly didn't care what happened to her nephew.

"Fine then. Do the adjustments," she ordered.

He pulled out Shikako's rune array and spread it on the table. "It needs a small amount of blood from you, it's how it gets around Harry not living with a blood relative." Petunia blanched.

"My blood?" she screeched, taking a step back.

"Just a small amount, less than half a pint. It won't hurt at all," he assured her.

"And we'll never see the boy again?" Petunia wavered.

"Yes." Sirius hated this woman. He wanted to curse her entire house, how could she care so little for her nephew?

"If you must." It wasn't gracious, but it was consent, so Sirius pulled out his wand. Petunia flinched, staring at it in terror.

"All I'm going to do is spell a little blood from your arm into the array." He tried to sound gentle, hiding his loathing for her behind a reassuring smile.

Petunia hesitantly stuck out her arm, eyes still fixed on his wand. Sirius cast the blood drawing spell Cassie had taught him quickly, pooling the stream of blood into the centre of the array.

"All done." He gave her a thin smile, noticing Harry peering around the doorframe. He supposed there couldn't be much to pack in that tiny cupboard.

"Heya, Harry. Shikako made this to adjust the wards your Mum made. She said you know how to use it?"

"Yeah," Harry said, walking over and picking up the sheet of parchment. He placed the centre over his forehead and muttered "Activate". Petunia gasped as the symbols on the paper vanished.

"All set then?" Sirius grinned at Harry, who nodded. "Alright, off we go."

*

Harry

When his Godfather had turned up, just like Shikako said he would, Harry had rushed to pack up everything from his cupboard. He had his food books, the training clothes Sasuke gave him for Christmas, the stuffed deer that was his first ever present from Shikako, and the box of robot toys Naruto had given him, all packed into the rucksack Shikako had made for him. It was the coolest rucksack, bigger on the inside like the Tardis.

His Godfather was brilliant. He had an awesome leather jacket. He could also turn into a dog, which was just about the coolest thing Harry had ever heard of. Magic was the best.

Apart from side-along apparition. Harry did not like side-along apparition. Sirius said that was normal though, so it was okay.

Harry was going to live in a castle! An actual castle with crenellations and turrets at the corners and everything. Sirius said they could live somewhere else if Harry wanted to, which didn't make much sense to him, but maybe it was cold?

Inside, the castle was huge and posh in ways Harry had only ever seen in films.

"How many people live here?" he asked, staring at the chandelier in the entry hall in awe.

"Well, until I moved in yesterday it was just Grandfather Arcturus and Halton, but there's us too now," Sirius explained. "Halton's cleared out a room for you next to mine."

Harry's new room was giant. It was bigger than the Dursleys' whole downstairs, and he had a giant bed with curtains.

"Wow." Harry sat down on the huge bed.

"So, the plan is, and tell me if this is too much or you're tired, you get checked out by a healer, then we dig through some of my old clothes for a set of robes for you to wear to dinner. We can go shopping tomorrow, but Grandfather is fussy about being dressed for dinner," Sirius said.

Harry nodded mutely. Naruto had said that he deserved new clothes and a proper bedroom, and any decent adult would make sure he had them,but he still couldn't quite believe it was happening.

"Grandfather's a grouchy old man, but there's no reason to be scared of him, he just likes complaining about things. Aunt Cassie's a nosy old bi-biddy, so she'll probably have a lot of questions. You don't have to tell her anything you don't want to, okay?" Sirius said.

"Okay," Harry replied.

"It'll be fine kiddo, don't worry." Sirius grinned at him. "Let's go and see the healer, okay?"

*

Arcturus

Cassie had decided it would be best to introduce themselves to Harry just before dinner, and Arcturus had agreed in the name of not overwhelming the boy.

Sirius strode into the dining room, with Harry clutching his hand and looking around nervously. They were both dressed in semi-formal robes for dinner, Harry wearing some of the robes Sirius had had Halton bring over from Grimmauld place.

"Grandfather, Aunt Cassie. This is Harry Potter, my Godson." Sirius rested a reassuring hand on Harry's shoulder. "Harry, this is Lord Arcturus Black and Madam Cassiopeia Black.

"Hello Harry, you can call me Aunt Cassie," Cassie said.

The boy nodded shyly.

"You may call me Grandfather," Arcturus added.

Once they were all seated and starters were served, Cassie began gently interrogating Harry.

"So, Harry, what do you know about the magical world?"

"My parents were magical," Harry said, looking to Sirius for approval.

Cassie nodded. "And how much do you know about your parents?" she asked.

Harry scowled. "The Dursley's tried to tell me they were drunks and died in a car crash, but Shikako said that wasn't true. She said they were James and Lily Potter and they were murdered by Voldemort."

"Did she tell you anything else about your parents?" Sirius asked.

"She said she doesn't know much. She told me my Dad could turn into a stag though, and she says my Mum was brilliant with runes and was really brave and loved me a lot to set up the things she did to protect me," Harry said.

"They were both so brave." Sirius smiled sadly, then launched into some ridiculous tale from his schooldays. Harry seemed entranced.

When Sirius had finished Arcturus decided to ask about the boy's education. His tutors would be assessing him, but Arcturus would like to have some idea how far behind the boy was.

"Harry, what did you learn in muggle school?" Arcturus asked.

"Maths and English and stuff?" the boy responded.

That was unhelpfully vague, so Arcturus tried again. "You can read and write, yes?"

Harry nodded. "Yep. And I'm okay at maths. We're learning about the Romans too?"

"Did Shikako and her friends teach you anything Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah!" Harry leaned forward, narrowly avoiding knocking over his glass of juice. "Sasuke taught me about magical society things like not talking about family magic, and Shikako talked to me about school stuff and strategy, and Naruto taught me about being unpredictable to surprise your enemies!" Arcturus had the disturbing realisation that Katherine was preparing Harry to fight a war, and made a mental note to arrange a duelling tutor as soon as possible.

"And Shikako taught me an exercise thing with a song to do in the mornings so I can run faster. And dodging. Sasuke says dodging is really important and better than shield charms." Despite not having a wand yet, Sylvanus clearly understood wizarding combat well.

"That all sounds very useful Harry." Cassie smiled at Harry warmly.

"You'll be starting lessons next week, Harry," Arcturus informed him.

"Lessons?" The boy looked confused.

"You won't be going back to muggle school, Harry," Sirius said gently.

"Cool!" Harry said. Arcturus had no idea what temperature had to do with anything, but it seemed to be a positive response.

*

When Sirius had put Harry to bed, the three adults gathered in the drawing room.

"We can't curse the Dursleys if we want to avoid Dumbledore noticing we have Harry," Sirius said, glaring at the fire.

"We can, however, curse them the moment Dumbledore knows." Cassie smiled viciously.

"Only if you're sure you can avoid it being traced back to us, Cassie," Arcturus admonished.

"Of course." Cassie gave him a cold smile.

Sirius reached for Arcturus's firewhiskey. "I'm taking him shopping tomorrow," he said, pouring himself a glass. "All he has is hand-me-downs from his cousin and stuff the kids gave to him."

Arcturus nodded. "Katherine seems to think he needs to learn to fight."

"I picked up on that." Sirius slumped morosely.

"It's better that he learn than not, you know that," Cassie added.

"I'll arrange a fencing tutor," Arcturus said. "And he's a ward of the the House of Black, he could be taught a limited amount of the family magic."

Sirius's head snapped round, eyes wide. "Really, Grandfather?"

Arcturus sighed. "Our benefactor is invested in his survival. It would be unwise to do otherwise." And Arcturus would be finishing Sirius's education in the family magics and ensuring he practiced his duelling skills, since it seemed it would be needed. Hopefully knowing some of the Black battle magic would give the Harry an edge in whatever fights were ahead.

Sirius grinned at him. "Still, thanks."

"Do you know where the Potters kept their grimoires?" Cassie asked Sirius, frowning thoughtfully.

"No idea." Sirius sighed. "It might be worth taking Harry to the old Potter house? I think they had a sanctum there, and it's probably blood locked."

"He should know his inheritance," Arcturus said. It would be a pity if all the Potter magics were lost simply because no one told the boy they were there for him to learn.

*

Remus

Remus approached the Black Manor gate cautiously. The letter from Sirius had said he'd be able to get through, but he had had bad experiences with 'dark creature' wards before. He only relaxed when he stepped through the gate and nothing happened.

Remus had understood Sirius's innocence when the first wanted poster for Peter had gone up, and he'd spent months frustrated by the strict rules for contact with prisoners. The moment Sirius had been freed Remus had started sending owls, but they'd been turned back by the owl-wards on Black Manor.

It had taken a week for Sirius to write, which Remus supposed was fair, Sirius must still be in a state from Azkaban, no matter how good an act he'd put on at the trial. Remus had immediately written back with apologies for not believing in Sirius's innocence and taking it up with Dumbledore. Dumbledore might have listened. Sirius had said they had plenty to talk over, some things should be discussed in person, and invited Remus to Black Manor.

As he walked up the path, Sirius came barrelling out of the front door, grinning ear to ear.

"Moony!" He was engulfed in a hug.

"Sirius," Remus said, blinking back tears as he was released.

Sirius was wearing a muggle band t-shirt and a leather jacket, in sharp contrast to the wizarding formality of the entrance hall Remus was practically dragged into. Remus felt distinctly out of place in his shabby robes.

"Come on!" Sirius called, hurrying up the stairs. "I've got so much to tell you."

Sirius showed him to what looked like his own private sitting room (Remus couldn't imagine any other Blacks decorating with muggle motorbike posters) and sprawled on a sofa.

"Sirius, I'm so sorry-" Remus began before Sirius cut him off with a dismissive wave.

"Honestly Moony, I know it looked damning. You couldn't have done anything," Sirius said. "Topsy! Tea please."

A house elf appeared with a crack, bearing a tea tray.

"Sirius, are you - how have you been doing?" Remus tried, not quite sure how to ask about the effects of nearly seven years in Azkaban.

"Why am I sane, you mean?" Sirius grinned ruefully. "I'm not, really." Remus's stomach dropped.

"Not like that, Moony, stop worrying. It's just bits of PTSD from the war and other things. I'm immune to dementors." Sirius smirked at Remus's shock.

"Immune to dementors?" Remus asked. That- that really wasn't possible. Was it?

"Ah, well, you see, about a year ago I was visited by Shikabane-hime, a priestess of Gelel." Sirius had settled into storytelling mode, and Remus sat back to listen, watching expressions flicker across Sirius's face.

"-then Dumbledore said he wouldn't give me Harry's address and implied I didn't care about Harry's well being. He was living in a cupboard Moony! A cupboard! I wanted to hex those stupid-."

"A cupboard?" Remus interrupted. "Dumbledore let them keep him in a cupboard?" That didn't sound right. Surely Dumbledore wouldn't...

"I don't think he ever checked, when I went to get him Petunia said he'd been left on the doorstep with a note," Sirius said.

Remus gaped. He couldn't understand why Dumbledore would do that. "You went to get him? He's here?"

Sirius's dark scowl vanished. "Yeah, he's with his tutor for another couple of hours though."

"Is he alright? After?" Remus didn't know much about raising children, but he was pretty damn sure sticking them in cupboards wasn't good for them.

"He's- he's okay. I mean, he's wonderful, he's such a good kid Moony. Shikabane-hime was looking out for him, giving him food and things, and telling him when the muggles lied to him." Sirius's eyes narrowed in anger. "They told him James and Lily were drunks who died in a car crash."

"They did what?" That was - how could they?

Sirius nodded. "Shikabane-hime told him straightaway it wasn't true, but I just- I'm still furious at them Moony. The more I get to know Harry the angrier I am."

"To be honest Sirius, I'm surprised you haven't cursed them already," Remus commented.

"Ah, well. Dumbledore wouldn't give me the address, so he doesn't know we have Harry. He seemed- he seemed really focused on Harry staying with the Dursleys, so we haven't told him that he's here," Sirius explained.

"Aren't you his legal guardian?" Remus asked.

"Yeah, Aunt Cassie sorted all of that, but he might try to argue I'm unfit. I just got out of Azkaban, maybe the thing with Snape, I know I don't exactly look ideal." Sirius snagged a biscuit from the tea tray.

Remus wrapped his hands around his teacup. It didn't seem like Dumbledore, but the man had always had so many plans he didn't tell everyone about. Those didn't always work out well. Remus had distanced himself from his friends during the war in the name of working with the werewolf packs, at Dumbledore's behest. He'd made no progress at all in persuading them away from Voldemort, James and Lily had died, and then Sirius had been imprisoned. Maybe this was for the best.

*

Arcturus

By mid June, Harry and Sirius had both settled into living in the manor. Harry had taken to tutoring well, after some initial problems, and was quickly catching up with where Arcturus thought he should be. The boy had bad days, where his tutors would report that he was deliberately under performing, but with no one to compare himself against, he was improving.

Sirius had been working his way through a stack of muggle 'parenting books' and seemed to have the whole situation in hand. Arcturus wasn't really sure why muggles needed books to tell them how to raise their children, but if Sirius found them reassuring he wasn't going to push.

Pushing Sirius on any issue had turned out to be inadvisable. The boy might be a Gryffindor, might have distanced himself from the politics and power struggles of the noble houses for a decade, but he was sharp as a tack. Arcturus needed Sirius to continue the line of Black, and that really did need his cooperation. Arcturus had therefore relented and permitted Sirius to wear his ridiculous muggle clothes, so long as both Harry and Sirius were properly dressed ("meaning robes Sirius") for dinner every day.

After Cassie had pointed out that he couldn't make Sirius do what Arcturus wanted after his death, he had entirely given up trying to control his heir. There was little point, and he didn't particularly want his heir to be controllable, no matter how personally inconvenient it was.

It was, Arcturus thought, actually rather nice to have the boys running around the house. Not that he approved of their ridiculous antics, but at least something was happening.

Every day there was something new to disapprove of: Sirius debasing the House of Black of by playing fetch- fetch! in the hallways, Sirius landing his ridiculous muggle contraption in the courtyard and taking Harry for rides, and both of the boys flying on broomsticks around the walls, shrieking.

On the other hand, Sirius was taking to learning the family magic very well and seemed to be committing himself to learning his duties as the future Lord Black. He was beginning to questions some of Dumbledore's choices during the war, which Arcturus was delighted to encourage. It wouldn't do to have Lord Black tagging along behind a man with his own inscrutable motivations.

*

Shikako

The whole situation with House Black deciding they owed her, Sasuke and Naruto a debt was awkward as hell. More so since they hadn't actually intended to free Sirius.

It was completely worth it though. They had destroyed a horcrux (without destroying the container) and got the relevant readings for adjusting the separation array for a living being. It would take time to put together the new array, and Shikako wanted to practice on Nagini before risking Harry, so removing the horcrux from Harry was still very much in the distant future.

More importantly, Harry was safe. He wasn't having to rely on Shikako's food books to stay at a healthy weight. He wasn't stuck in a cupboard, which, even slightly expanded, soundproofed and lockable from the inside, wasn't a fit place for a child.

Shikako watched Sirius chase Harry and Naruto across the Black Manor grounds and smiled.

*

Harry is out! Woot!

Thanks to my amazing betas, Charlie, Notanautomaton and LilyBound for their help with this chapter.

Tell me what you think! Tell me what you'd like to see, because your ideas are often better than mine.

I can't believe I wasn't going to write a Moody scene after the eye-seal thing until someone brought it up in the discord, seriously.

Comments

So soon!

[math_is_magic]

Ah! Another chapter so fast! And it's one you know I (and I suspect most of your readers) have been waiting for! Sirius is free! The Blacks have met Shikako!

Also just. This is SUCH a repeat of this thing with Tenten. Here the Blacks are, thanking her and talking about owing her a life debt when like. Really she just wanted them to do some work that helped her plans, like getting Wormtail out of the way.

I also appreciate that you found a good balance for calling Dumbledore out for his shit but also recognizing he's like. Not actively evil. Just very focused on his particular mindset and point of view.

Re: So soon!

[gingerspark]

I spent a few hours hanging out in a coffee shop in oxford while my bf was seeing someone else, got a surprising amount done :D

Yep, exactly like the Tenten thing. It's so much fun to write.

Dumbledore is tricky, I'm glad you think the balance is working. I'm going for well meaning but not always competent, because being a powerful wizard does not qualify you to run a paramilitary organisation/vigilante group. Anyone actually competent would have fed false information to different people and found the spy, seriously.

He's trying to be well meaningly machiavellian, but he's nowhere near as good at it as he thinks he is. He has biases messing stuff up too.

[john_burton_lee]

My favorite part is how Shikako is glad that she got that debt thing taken care of and Sirius is depressed because she managed to increase it. I always like that disconnect of two characters viewing the same action in different ways.

Oh, and Shikako becoming Sirius's personal dementor is funny too. It's like she's feeding on his sanity, but unlike a real dementor she has a catch and release policy.

It seems like Sirius might be giving too much away to Remus, though. It wouldn't take that much interaction with Harry to find out that Katherine was the one to tell him that stuff. And has the fact that Katherine/Sylvanus also have Japanese names been explained to the parents yet?

I'm definitely looking forward to the Moody scene. Also, is Sirius going to do anything about Andromeda and Tonks?

[gingerspark]

Lol yep. She knows the Blacks don't consider the debt like, fully paid off, but she's not where they are at all.

So, Sirius has had a talk with Harry about not letting people connect Katherine with Shikabane-hime. He's not going to talk about it, (like, he'd probably give shit away if he actually tried to lie because he's a kid) and it's not like people will really ask. Shikako has also had various talks with him about secrecy over the years, so he's not going to give that away easily. Remus isn't going to poke, and he probably wouldn't put it together even if he did, because the disconnect between like, tiny cute Katherine and obscenely powerful Shikabane-hime is just too big. He might suspect her of knowing something?

So, Katherine and Sylvanus think about themselves as Sasuke/Shikako some of the time, but they don't actually use those names where the parents can hear. There will be some Makoto perspective next time - I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but Naruto speaks Japanese with a weird accent. His english is a pitch perfect copy of his mother's accent, but his Japanese is Konoha accented.

Sirius will be doing something about Andromeda and Tonks - I'm not sure exactly what that will be yet, but there will be something. Harry is his priority right now though, because Andy and Tonks are doing fine on their own.

Moody is so much fun!

[john_burton_lee]

That's a little weird about the name thing, because Harry referred to Sylvanus as Sasuke and Arcturus immediately knew who he was talking about, but Katherine only referred to him as Sylvanus during their meeting.

I kind of want Tonks to meet Team Seven just so she can be confused about their disguise ability. I think it's DoS canon that Naruto's henge is actual physical transformation and it'd be interesting if she confuses him for a metamorphmagus. Or if they see her with her default pink hair and get disappointed when she isn't Sakura.

[gingerspark]

ooh, fuck, really? that, huh, wasn't intentional? I think it's plausible that he put it together from context? Possibly? Oops.

Tonks and team 7 will meet at some point! Hufflepuff solidarity!

[untrust_us]

I love Arcturus struggle of dealing with Sirius' everything while also kinda being all for his heir not bending for anything.
And the Black family interacting with Katherine and her efficient way of handling things is just so fun to watch. And Sirius rolling with it all while also treating it with this grave seriousnes (heh).

Harry is free!

The 'star' connection. Hahah! I also just find them trying to interpret her Will through what she has taught Harry.

I really enjoy just how strange her arrays continue to be for onlookers. How scarily to the point. Well we're down one horocrux now. I like how focused she is with the whole living horocrux separation while everyone else is like flailing around at the mention of horocruxes.

I forsee the muggle parenting books getting a special place in the Black library. Mabye Sirius is also beginning to process his own childhood and like making good parenting a Thing going forward.

Thanks for sharing!

[chys]

I kinda want Shikako to have a random showdown with Trelawney, out of some misplaced seer competitiveness or something. lol! Maybe she runs into her in Diagon Alley at some point?