8

Chapter 8: Meeting Sirius

Nearly eleven years he'd been here with nothing but the constant screams and cries of terror or insane ramblings and the crashing sound of the waves to keep him company.

The chilly air, while horrid on its own, was only accentuated by the sea spray that somehow made it inside of every cell. You could never quite get used to this cold...

Especially not when it was accompanied with the bone deep chill that seeped its way into your bones with every rattling breath of the dementors or how the quick showers which they were forced to take, a mere illusion of warmth as you stood beneath a steaming spray of water, prevented them from truly acclimating to the temperature.

It was worse during the winter though, when the freezing water became so cold a single drop made it feel as though you were being stabbed.

This truly was hell on earth and a stronger man would have broken long ago. With each patrol of their fiendish guards you were forced to pay penance for your crimes. To mentally berate yourself for every single wrongdoing in your life. Even if you were innocent...

Which he was.

As the sound of his fellow inmates wails of self pity and hatred grew louder Sirius could feel his dread heighten and his cells temperature begin to plummet.

The dementors were drawing nearer. The memories of his past which were an ever present constant began to grow louder and demand his attention away from examining the thin layer of frost which grew over his skin.

Drawing himself further into the ball he had taken to sitting in in a desperate bid for warmth Sirius couldn't help but dread these times. While usually he would simply transform into Padfoot and be done with it it was exhausting. Three days a week he was forced to remain in his human form because of 'shower day'. The transformation took a lot out of him anymore but those four days he was able to retain his other form were a blessing.

The screaming was growing louder now, closer, and if he listened he could vaguely make out the rattling of a dementor. Almost time.

Preparing himself for the onslaught of guilt and pain Sirius drew further into himself and buried his head into the tattered fabric that covered his knees...

Another rattle, different this time, almost as though someone had opened his cage...

The sound of footsteps grabbed his attention and he found himself looking up and towards his cells door, the echo of hope blooming deep within his chest only to find...

Eyes. Another persons eyes. A woman, a familiar looking woman who wore Ministry robes.

No...

Hope bloomed fully fledged now as his heart began to pound in his chest.

This couldn't be happening...

The woman moved quickly across the cell and swung a heating charm laden coat over his malnourished shoulders before kneeling down and placing her warm palms on either side of his hollowed cheeks as she grinned at him.

"Sirius Black," She began, her voice warm and full of joyful passion, "It is my absolute pleasure to inform you that you have been granted a trial in front of the Wizengamot to take place as soon as possible. It is my privilege to inform you that this is a mere technicality and, as of now, you are a free man."

"What?"

Sirius couldn't help but look back.

He and Amelia were on the rickety boat used as transport to and from Azkaban and he was happy to see that it was quickly speeding along towards the shore which was still too far away to see just yet.

He would say that he was dreaming if it weren't for the fact that dreams couldn't survive in this place. Only nightmares. The further away they got from the obsidian tower and its wraith like guards the lighter his heart felt.

"How are Harry and Remus?" Sirius asked suddenly as his mind finally managed to get passed its daze. "What's been happening, what have I missed?"

"Well..." Amelia began as she tried to figure out just how to explain everything to him. "We'll have time for all of your questions later. For now though I can tell you that Harry is safe and happy and, I do believe, anxious to meet you. He's actually the reason we were able to discover your innocence you know, you should be proud."

And he was. Sirius was so proud and happy and anxious as a grin spread across his lips. He didn't even mind when his chapped and dry lips cracked and split with the now unfamiliar expression.

With one last look back towards the frosted and rock strewn shores of Azkaban, Sirius Black could feel a certain level of peace settle over him before he turned back around and left Azkaban behind him.

Yes, Sirius couldn't help but look back, but that didn't mean he wouldn't keep moving forward...

A few days later and Sirius was finally deemed healthy enough to attend his trial.

His diet now consisted mainly of chocolate and a veritable smorgasbord of potions ranging from nourishment to magic boosters and his range of motion was growing steadily as well. That was one good thing with the guards requiring you to walk from your cells to the showers, it prevented muscle atrophy.

His trial was to be small with only those deemed necessary allowed to attend. These people included a small handful of reporters, his cousin Andromeda and her husband and a few others who he didn't recognize though he was interested to find out who the small three person group was in the far corner with their hoods raised and faces cast into shadows...

Well, time for that later, for now he just wanted to get this trial done and meet his godson.

He was quickly led to the front of the room where he was seated before the entire Wizengamot, minus one old goat, and he waited praying that this was not some elaborate rouse.

"Sirius Black, recent evidence has been uncovered proving your innocence in the cases that were held against you. In order to prevent any further misunderstandings we ask now that you consent to the use of Veritaserum. Do you consent?" Minister Fudge asked after a moment of shuffling paperwork.

"Absolutely," Sirius said immediately, this was it! His name was going to be cleared!

"Very well, the Veritaserum will be administered immediately and further questioning will be done by Amelia Bones."

With that a ministry healer came forward flanked by an auror and quickly dropped three drops of the crystalline fluid onto Sirius' waiting tongue before backing away and allowing the questioning to proceed.

"What is your full name?" Amelia asked once she saw Sirius' muscles relax and the dim fog enter into his eyes that showed the potion had taken effect.

"Sirius Orion Black," Sirius said in a monotonous voice without second thought.

"And your age?"

"Thirty one years old."

"The Veritaserum has taken affect. I will begin the questioning now," Amelia said as she drew a piece of parchment containing the questions towards her. "Were you the secret keeper for James and Lily Potter?"

"No."

"Who was?"

"Peter Pettigrew."

"Everyone believed that you were the secret keeper yourself, why was that?"

"We made it look that way, I was the logical choice so I was made the decoy. We figured no one would even consider Peter."

"Are you now, or have you ever been sympathetic to and or a supporter of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

"No."

"Did you kill Peter Pettigrew?"

"No."

Murmurs of shock rang out through the small audience, Amelia herself even looked shocked. She had not asked Sirius what had happened before for she too believed him to have gotten his revenge and the Wizengamot had been fully prepared to let it go.

"What happened on that night?" Amelia asked and the whole court room seemed to lean forward in anticipation of what had truly happened that night.

"I had gone to check on Peter, we hadn't heard from him in a few days and when I got there he was gone. I figured that he had gone to visit Lily and James but when I got there I saw what had happened. I didn't even bother to check, the dark mark was floating over the house and all that I could think about was to find Peter and to kill him. When I finally managed to track him down he was in muggle London. I called out for him and instantly he started screaming about how I had been the one to betray James and Lily. I drew my wand but before I could act he used a severing charm to slice off one of his fingers and then threw a blasting curse at the ground. Right before it hit I saw him transform and go into the sewer drain. After the smoke cleared I couldn't help but laugh. I was in shock, not only did I lose my best friends and godson but Peter had managed to pull one over on me. That's how the aurors found me."

"You said transformed, what do you mean?" Amelia asked, shock still clear in her voice.

"He was an animagus. A rat."

"The ministry has no record of that," Amelia said after shifting through her files and the audience began to murmur.

"No one knew," Sirius answered though it wasn't a question. "He, myself and James Potter all became animagi in school to help Remus Lupin through his transformations."

More murmurs rang out through the courtroom before finally the questioning was finished and the antidote administered.

"Sirius Black, you are hereby cleared of all charges held against you. Reparations shall be payed in the form of 5,000 galleons for each year of your unjust incarceration. Otherwise, you are free to go about your life as a free man as soon as you are deemed fit to by a healer. You are also hereby ordered to register your animagus form within a week of your release. So mote it be!"

"Sirius," Amelia called as she made her way over to where Sirius was catching up with his relatives followed closely by the three cloaked figures he had noticed before. Two of the three were relatively equal in height to him though the third, who was firmly sandwiched between the others, was extremely short reaching only around four foot tall.

"Sirius, we'll see you later," Andromeda said with a smile as she gave him another hug, "I'll come visit you tomorrow now that I know where you are. Oh! I'll also owl Remus for you. Hopefully he'll get it quickly."

"Thanks Andie, I'll see you tomorrow," Sirius said before shaking Teds hand and watching them leave. With that he turned back to Amelia and her companions. "Hello again Amelia, and who might they be?" Sirius had to admit he was interested, extremely so.

"Sirius, may I present to you Bill and Charlie Weasley as well as Charlie's soul mate, whom you've already met, Harry Potter."

Sirius' heart stopped. Pure and simple. His body seemed to shut down before it kicked into overdrive as small pale hands reached up to pull back the hood of his cloak.

The hood fell back to reveal a shock of messy raven black hair and large innocent green eyes that looked at him with open curiosity. This was Harry, his little godson, the only light he had had to keep him company while he was in Azkaban and he was here, standing right in front of him...

"Harry," Sirius breathed as a smile spread across his face and he knelt down so that he was equal to Harry's level. "Harry, I'm... I'm your godfather, and it's... A dream come true to finally meet you."

A small blush spread across Harry's pale cheeks as a small smile of his own spread over his face.

"It's nice to meet you too mister Black," Harry said, his voice like beautiful music to Sirius' ears and caused his smile to widen that much more. "I'm glad that you're not in Azkaban anymore. Charlie told me about it and it doesn't sound pleasant."

"No, it's not. But I'm getting much better now that I'm out. I hope you wouldn't mind getting to know me more? I knew you as a baby and I must say I still do love you Harry, if you don't want to you-" Sirius began to babble before he was cut off by a small body colliding with his own in a hug.

"I would love to get to know you better," Harry said as he finally pulled away and looked Sirius dead in the eyes, his own were so bright and full of such happiness at the prospect that Sirius couldn't help but pull him back into another hug.

"I'm glad," He breathed out as he held Harry close and tried to memorize the happy fuzzy feeling that was overtaking him.

That is, until something clicked into place...

"Wait, soul mate!?"

A few days later and Sirius was happier than he had been in years.

His godson had by now become a permanent feature in his life and he found himself dreading the day he would have to leave for Hogwarts and not just because of how much he would miss him.

Albus Dumbledore really was a piece of work, he had had the gall to come and visit Sirius as though nothing had happened. Well, he had quickly been dispatched of and Sirius had even got a visit from another of his old professors which was much better appreciated.

Minerva McGonagall had been all too happy to learn that Sirius had been innocent and was positively incensed with Albus, Sirius was happy to note her promise to keep an eye on him and to watch out for Harry.

Harry. That was Sirius' new favorite subject. Over the last few days he had gotten to know the boy and his... Shadows, better.

For every time that Harry would visit there were always four constants. One, Harry would always smile at him like this was the happiest time of his day. Two, he would be even more adorable than the day before. Three, Bill and Charlie were always with him. And four, whenever he would hug Harry, Charlie would for some reason far beyond him, blush like a madman while Bill chuckled at some inside joke.

That was a story that Sirius would have to hear at some point...

Sirius was drawn from his musings by a knock at the door and looked up to see Harry standing there with such a bright and excited smile that Sirius could practically feel his heart warm.

"Hello beautiful," Sirius called out and was rewarded with Harry's shy blush. Oh, his darling godson was just too adorable to resist teasing! "Come on over here and give me a great big hug."

As Harry quickly made his way across the room to him Sirius was amused as always to see the crimson blush stain Charlies cheeks and couldn't help but smirk into Harry's silky black locks.

"Now," Sirius said as he pulled back and held Harry at arms length, "Let me get a good look at my beautiful godson! You know, I really should go with you to Hogwarts, someone will have to beat the boys off of you now won't they?"

And that was true. If Sirius didn't know better he would have said that Harry had a good amount more veela in him than he currently did what with how truly breathtaking he was.

Today Harry was dressed in a pair of simple black slacks which he had paired with a dark blue long sleeved shirt which neckline was cut so that it scooped down to show a bit of his collar bone and Sirius had to admit, back in his Hogwarts days he would have been one of the fools to chase after him.

Which was exactly why he was so positive that his little Bambi needed protection.

"Siri I'll be fine!" Harry said with a laugh as he sat down beside him on the bed, "You guys all need to calm down, it's not like some giant dog is going to come and gobble me up or I'm going to get attacked by a big smelly troll. It's just school, I can handle it and if not you guys will be the first to hear different, okay?"

"Harry," Charlie said as he pulled his own chair closer to the bed so that he could better look Harry in the eye, "We're just worried about you. You don't seem to realise that you will be under Dumbledores constant supervision while you are on Hogwarts grounds. There is no way to avoid detection, nor is there a way to know where to avoid. The people who are there that are on our side can only do so much Harry, then theres also the students to worry about. We're just worried about you."

"I know you are," Harry said with a mysteriously serene smile as he leaned back to snuggle into Sirius' side. "Don't worry, I've got some tricks up my sleeve too. The twins and the goblins have remarkably similar thoughts on certain aspects, it's pretty funny really."

With that they descended into silence as Harry remained curled up against Sirius' side and Sirius began, as they were all prone to do for some reason unknown to them, to card his fingers through Harry's hair as they were left to ponder exactly what Harry meant.

Later that day found Sirius sleeping peacefully in his hospital bed.

He was having a wonderful dream. He and Harry were playing in the grass with him as Padfoot. He would hop around and yip while Harry would try to catch him. Whenever he would get too close to his goal Sirius would playfully lick his face before it all began again.

It was a marvelous loop really. The whole scene utterly perfect and never ending. Sirius loved it and quite honestly could not wait until it could become a reality.

But then the dream changed...

Harry ran away calling for Sirius to catch him instead. The bright musical tinkling of his laughter now sounding somewhat ominous instead of light hearted.

A house materialized up ahead, and Harry ran straight into it, the door slamming behind him and Harry's laughter turning into screams of panic.

In a flash Sirius was at the door and pounding.

Pounding... Pounding...

Knock knock knock...

With a gasp Sirius sat bolt upright and looked toward the door only for his breathe to catch.

"Remus."