A Better Ending, A New Beginning

Sirius felt as if he were floating. He couldn't feel any pain at all and all of his normal worries seemed to have vanished. He felt very much as peace which is a very uncommon feeling for Sirius to have.

He could have been floating for days or months. Sirius didn't really have any concept of time. Questions started popping up in Sirius' mind. 'How did I get here?' 'What was I doing before I came here?' 'Where is "here"?' 'Is Harry okay?' 'HARRY!' The questions and worries over exactly what he was doing in this place and his worry over his Godson's welfare disrupted the peaceful feeling that he had been enjoying.

Sirius stared hearing voices from outside his unconsious mind. The voices sounded familar. He felt something touching his hand. 'What is that touching me?' thought Sirius. He tried to grasp onto the object, but his hand didn't seem to want to move. Sirius concentrated all his strength and will power to get his fingers around the hand that was lightly touching his right hand. He was now holding Harry's hand.

"Sirius!!" called a voice.

Sirius immediately recognized Harry's voice.

"Keep your voice down! I will not have you disturbing my patient."

Sirius recognized the second voice as Madam Pomfrey.

Sirius tried to say something but for some reason, he couldn't speak. He gave Harry's hand another squeeze.

"You can hear me, Sirius?" asked Harry in a quiet voice.

Sirius' only way to respond was another hand squeeze.

"Remus, he can hear me," said Harry.

Sirius felt another hand grasp his left hand.

"You can really hear us, Sirius?" asked Remus.

Remus felt Sirius give his hand a light squeeze.

'I want to wake up!' Sirius said in his mind.

He finally managed to pry open his eyes. He really didn't feel that bad considering how badly he had been hurt. He had a mild headache and he felt really constricted by the tight wrappings around his middle. The three broken ribs were healing faster with the help of magical intervention.

The sight that greeted him was his Godson, Harry sitting at a nearby table eating his lunch. Sirius opened his mouth to call him, but his throat was too parched to say anything meaningful. The sound that he made caught Harry's attention. Harry smiled and jumped out of his chair and sprinted over to the bed.

"How are you feeling?" asked Harry feeling concerned.

"I feel thirsty," replied Sirius in a scratchy voice.

"Oh. I'll get you a drink," said Harry.

He walked over to the table, took his glass of pumpkin juice and brought it over to Sirius. Harry reached his arm behind Sirius' back to help him sit up. Sirius gulped down the pumpkin juice.

"Thanks, Harry. I feel much better now," said Sirius.

"I was a little worried about you," said Harry.

"Just a little?" asked Sirius with a smile.

"Okay, I was worried about you a lot, said Harry truthfully.

"Well, you don't need to worry anymore. I feel great," said Sirius trying to sound confident.

"Madam Pomfrey says that you'll need to say here for another week and a half," said Harry.

"I can't stay here much longer. The Ministry is still looking for me," said Sirius with a tired sigh.

"Are you going back to 12 Grimmauld Place? asked Harry.

"Probably. I just hope no one has found out that I was hiding there," said Sirius.

"I'm sorry. This whole mess is all my fault. If it wasn't for me..."

"Harry!" Sirus interupted him. "Stop beating yourself up! If I had been in your shoes, I would have done the same thing. If I had a vision of you in Voldemort's clutches, I would have believed it, and I would have done whatever I had to do to save you," said Sirius sternly.

Harry opened his mouth to protect, but Sirius pointed his finger at him and gave him a stern look. "I mean it, Harry. Stop it. Dumbledore should have told you about the prophesy years ago."

At the mention of Dumbledore's name, Harry felt the anger rise within him.

"So, you now know about the prophesy," said Sirius.

"Yeah, he told me," said Harry with anger in his voice.

"You're angry with him," Sirius stated.

"Of course I'm angry with him!" Harry shouted.

"Harry, Dumbledore did what he thought was right. He thought that you weren't ready to hear about the prophesy," said Sirius.

"You're taking his side!?" said Harry. He was feeling angry with Sirius for not totally agreeing with him.

"Harry, there are no sides. I am trying to be objective. I personally think that it was wrong of Dumbledore not to tell you about the prophesy years ago," said Sirius.

Harry felt relieved that Sirius was taking his "side".

"Did he admit that he was wrong?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah, he did," admitted Harry. "I'm still angry with him though, and I don't want to talk about him."

Sirius looked around the Hospital Wing. They were alone.

"Where's Remus?" he asked.

"He went to see Professor Snape about getting his potion for tomorrow night's full moon," answered Harry.

The idea of escaping from the Hospital Wing to keep Remus company tomorrow night entered Sirius' mind.

"How did you do on your O.W.L.S.?" asked Sirius.

"I won't be getting my test result back until July. I think I did really good in Defense Against Dark Arts, Tranfiguration and Potions. I didn't do so good in Divination though," said Harry.

"Don't worry about Divination," said Sirius. "If you're going to be a good Auror, Defense, Tranfiguration and Potions are going to be a lot more useful."

At that moment, Headmaster Dumbledore entered the Hospital Wing.

"Good afternoon," said Dumbledore.

Sirius smiled at the Headmaster, but Harry refused to acknowledge him. Dumbledore sat in the chair next to Harry. Dumbledore tried not to let his hurt feelings show due to the fact that Harry was subjecting him to the quiet treatment. He knew Harry hadn't forgiven him for not telling him about the prophesy a long time ago.

Dumbledore knew he had made a mistake and he regretted it more than any mistake he had ever made. 'I can't really blame him for being angry with me,' thought Dumbledore. 'If I were in his place, I would be just as upset.'

Dumbledore snapped out of his musings when he remembered that he had come to discuss something very important with Sirius.

"Sirius, I have made arrangements for you to be questioned by Ministry officials while under the influence of Vertiserum," said Dumbledore.

Sirius was speechless for a moment. He felt elated and a huge sense of relief at the idea of clearing his name once and for all. He also felt a bit apprehensive at the thought of being questioned by Ministry officials. 'What if something goes wrong?' Sirius thought worriedly.

Dumbledore seemed to know what Sirius was thinking.

"Don't worry about anything unforseen happening, Sirius. The Aurors who will be questioning you are former students of mine and they are aware of your innocence. I trust them."

"When will the questioning take place?" ask Sirius.

"Tomorrow night at 5 pm, right here in the Hospital Wing," answered Dumbledore.

"Sirius, does this mean that I can live with you?" asked Harry with excitement in his eyes and a huge smile.

"If you want to, Harry," said Sirius. "I would understand if you would prefer to stay with the Dursleys."

"Are you kidding?! I've been wanting to live with you for two years!" said Harry. For the the first time in his memory, Harry felt good about going home for the summer holidays. He would finally have a real home and a guardian that really cared about him!

"Harry, I'm afraid that you will not have the same magical protection living with Sirius that you had at the Dursleys," Dumbledore reminded him.

Harry felt his anger coming back. He gave Dumbledore a glare that could easily rival Snape's glare.

"However," Dumbledore continue. "I do know of a way that we can work around this little problem."

"What can we do?" asked Harry. He had momentarily forgotten that he was supposed to be angry with the Headmaster.

"Magical Godparent Adoption," said Dumbledore with smile.

"That's a great idea!" said Sirius feeling very happy with the idea.

"What's Magical Godparent Adoption?" asked Harry. "How is it different from any other type of adoption?"

Dumbledore had forgotten that because Harry had spent his early childhood in the Muggle world, he didn't know about the special powers of Godparents. He proceeded to explain the process to Harry.

"You see, Harry, when witches and wizards choose Godparents for their children, they place a special bonding charm on the child and the adult witch or wizard whom they have chosen to be the child's Godparent. The bonding charm will usually stay dormant unless something happens to the parents. If something does happen to the parents, the Godparent can decide to initiate the Magical Adoption process. When the adoption is established, the bonding charm is activated. Upon activation of the bonding charm, the child and Godparent become as closely related as any biological parent and child."

"That sounds great!" exclaimed Harry.

He still had some questions about the adoption.

"Does this mean that I will look more like Sirius? Will my last name be changed to Black?" asked Harry.

"Your last name will still be Potter, but you will have Black as a second last name."

Dumbledore thought for a moment before answering Harry's second question.

"As far as your appearance is concerned, I can't really say for sure if you will like more like a Black than a Potter. Even after the adoption, you will still be a member of the Potter family. It will be like having three parents."

Harry turned to Sirius. Sirius looked happy at the prospect of having Harry for a son, but Harry wanted to ask him just to make sure.

"You do want to adopt me, don't you Sirius?"

"Of course I do, Harry! I have wanted to adopt you for almost fifteen years," replied Sirius looking happier than Harry could ever remember him looking.

"This is what you want too, right Harry?" asked Sirius looking anxious.

"Yeah! I told you before, Sirius that I would much rather live with you than the Dursleys. It will be so cool living with you!" said Harry excitedly.

"Well, I'm glad that we managed to come up with a better solution for Harry's living arrangement," said Dumbledore with a satisfied smile and the ever present twinkling in his eyes. "You will have to excuse me. I have a meeting with the school faculty."

As Dumbledore was walking away, Harry suddenly remembered how angry and cruel he had been towards the Headmaster. He thought of the embarrassing tantrum he had in Dumbledore's office. Harry felt a mixture of embarrassment and guilt over his childish behavior.

"Excuse me for a minute, Sirius. There's something important that I have to say to the Headmaster," said Harry.

Before Sirius had a chance to reply, Harry stood up and went after Dumbledore. He walked through the Hospital Wing door and saw the Dumbledore walking down the corridor. He walked a little faster to catch up with him.

"Is there something you wanted, Harry?" asked Dumbledore after noticing Harry walking next to him.

"I-I'm sorry about how I behaved in your office. I was very angry at the time, but that doesn't excuse how I acted. I'll pay for the items I broke, and you can give me detention or any other punishment..."

"Harry," Dumbledore interrupted him. He placed his hand gently on Harry's shoulder.

"What happened in my office is water under the bridge, as Muggles would say. I understand your being angry with me and I don't blame you."

"How can you be so forgiving?" asked Harry feeling surprised at being forgiven without being given a scolding or some sort of well-deserved punishment.

"I supposed it's in my nature," replied Dumbledore. "I have forgiven others for crimes that are much more serious than a few broken objects. I also understand that puberty can be a very difficult and temperamental time for a young wizard. It's been well over 120 years since I was an adolescent, but I remember it being a rather frustrating time."

"Thanks, Professor," said Harry. He felt much better.

Dumbledore took his leave. Harry wondered if Dumbledore was referring to Professor Snape when he spoke of being able to forgive people who have commited crimes much more serious than what Harry had done in the Headmaster's office.

Harry realized that he was no longer angry with Dumbledore over the issue of the prophesy, and that he had forgiven Dumbledore.

End of Chapter 2