Stormseeker: Unwanted Destiny

Chapter 4: Black Plans

---

I leave the diary on a bookshelf in my room for now, paranoid and not wanting to carry it around too much.

The next morning, I hold a meeting with Remus and the two house-elves. Well, more of a discussion of plans over breakfast. I'm glad that Rispy must have convinced Dobby to eat with us like a friend instead of a slave.

"Alright," I say. "Since I forgot to do this yesterday. Dobby, I hereby cancel any previous orders placed on you by anyone other than me. I also forbid you to punish yourself under any circumstances."

Dobby looks positively gleeful, and nods enthusiastically. "Thank you, Master Harry!"

"Now, business," I say. "I need to meet up with the Weasleys as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I don't remember which day they will be in Diagon Alley. So, we're going to have to keep an eye out for them."

"We can take shifts watching for them," Remus says.

"What do we need to look for?" Rispy asks.

"A large group of conspicuous redheads," I say. "Parents, four boys, and a girl."

"Got it," Rispy says, nodding.

Rispy volunteers for the first shift, while the remaining three of us continue to work on the house. I don't want to carry the diary, so I wind up leaving it sitting on a table in the main hall while we're working. Days pass without any sign of the Weasleys. I'm starting to worry that my recollection was wrong, and they'd actually come in July instead. No, no, it was definitely August.

On the eighth of August, Dobby pops in from his shift and says, "Dobby see Wheezeys in alley!"

"Great!" I say. "Good job, Dobby." I grab the diary and shove it in my bag. I'm sure it would be perfectly safe here, but I'm paranoid and not sure that I want to let it out of my sight, just in case. I don't want to leave Remus and the elves alone with it. "Remus, can you get me over there straight away?"

Remus nods, and we head outside to Apparate over to Diagon Alley. "Drop me a word when you need a pickup. Good luck."

I'm so going to get killed. My luck is never good. I nod to him and head off to find the Weasleys. I spot them just coming out of a used book shop. I head over to intercept them. I don't spot any visible sign of Ron having his rat with him at the moment, so either Wormtail was left at home, or he's sleeping deep inside of one of Ron's pockets.

"Hello!" I say brightly, waving to them. "Are any of you going to Hogwarts, too?"

"Oh, hello there, young man," Molly says, smiling at me. "My boys here are. Do you need help with something?"

I shake my head. "Nah. I just wanted to say hi. It's good to meet new friends!"

"Well, it's nice to meet you, then!" Molly says. "I'm Molly Weasley, and these are my children, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny. What's your name?"

"Blimey, could it be..." Fred begins.

"Harry Potter?" George finishes.

I laugh softly. "That would be me." I give them a suave bow. "Boy-Who-Lived, at your service. Need any Dark Lords defeated today?" I glance around. "I don't think there's any around at the moment, though."

Molly looks at me oddly for a moment before she seems to realize that I'm joking, and chuckles. "Are you here alone? Where's your guardians?"

"Oh, they didn't have time to go shopping today, so they just dropped me off," I say.

"That's terrible," Molly says. "A young boy like you shouldn't be running around by himself. Why don't you join us for a while?

"Sounds good to me," I say, smiling at her.

"Have you much shopping left to do?" asks Molly.

"I still need my books and my potions supplies," I say.

"We need to make a stop for potions ingredients, too." Molly herds the group off.

"Are you starting Hogwarts this year, too?" Ron asks.

"It'll be my first year," I say. "Maybe we'll be roommates?" Assuming the hat puts me in Gryffindor again, we will, anyway.

"Did you just move here from the States?" Percy asks. "You sound like you have an American accent."

"Yeah," I say. "I was raised there by cousins of my mother."

I proceed to lead them into the same sob story that I gave the Malfoys, since that worked well enough. If it was effective on Lucius, it should be good enough for Molly.

Sure enough, Molly soon says, "You poor dear. If you don't have anywhere else to go, you can always come and stay with us for a bit!"

"It's not like I don't have a house or anything," I say. "It's just kind of lonely to be by myself."

"You're more than welcome to come and visit us," Molly says. "Why don't you come for dinner, or stay for a night, at least?"

"Well, alright," I say. "I wouldn't want to be a bother or anything."

I've found that the more I protest about not wanting to impose or be a bother, the more eager people seem to be to drag me along. Should I feel bad for intentionally manipulating the Weasleys like this? It's for a good cause, isn't it? And it's not like my friendly words are exactly insincere, either.

I go back to the Burrow with the lot of the Weasleys. The place might be cramped and worn, but I could only wish that someday, Caer Danas might feel nearly so homey. Well, we're working on it, at least.

"You can stay in Ron's room," Molly tells me.

"I'll show you," Ron says, leading me up the stairs. Ron's room is just as messy as I remember it, and I have to grin a little at seeing it. "It's not much, but..."

"I don't mind," I say lightly. "Wow, is that a rat?"

"Yeah," Ron says, with far less excitement than me. "That's Scabbers. He used to belong to Percy, but now he's mine, for whatever that's worth. He never does anything but sleep all the time."

"Rats are awesome, though," I say, going over to pick up the rat and pet him. Wormtail stirs slightly in my grasp, but doesn't suspect anything wrong. "I always wanted a rat, but my family would never let me have one. Said they spread disease and all that. But he's such a nice, quiet one, isn't he. I love him."

Ron looks at me dubiously. "Well, if you really like him so much, you can have him, as far as I'm concerned."

"Oh, I couldn't just take your pet," I say. "How about I buy him off of you? I can give you a few galleons so you can get yourself a new one or something. Would that be alright?"

"You don't have to that," Ron says. "Worthless rodent isn't even worth a single galleon, anyway."

"No, no, I insist," I say, pulling out a few galleons from my pocket and putting them on the desk. "I'll feel awful if I just come in and steal your pet from you without giving you anything in return."

"But--" Ron protests.

"No buts!" I say, grinning at him. "I think your wonderful rat is worth three galleons, so there you go. Fair trade. Alright?"

"Well... I suppose..." Ron says dubiously.

Ron stares at the galleons for a minute before finally deciding to just take them already when I don't back down. He leaves the room to let me settle in.

"So, Scabbers, you're my rat now," I say. "My precious, pretty rat. I'll take good care of you, and I'll make sure you get everything that you deserve."

If Wormtail notices anything wrong with my tone, he doesn't show it. I leave him asleep on the pillow of the spare bed. Should it bother me more than it does to knowingly share a bed with this man?

No, it really bothers me more to still be carrying around this diary. I pull it out and slip it under a pile of books on the desk, where nobody's going to notice it. It'll be safe enough there until it's time to go home.

After dinner, I head up to the twins' room and knock on the door. So long as I'm here, I'd like to take care of another potential loose end. They never noticed that the name on the map wasn't "Harry Potter" before, but I don't want to take any chances.

"Come in," one of the twins says. I enter the room. "Oh, Harry. What can we do for you?"

"I just want to talk," I say, closing the door behind me and grinning. I pull out my wand and mutter, "Muffliato. Colloportus."

"Mum'll go spare if she notices you doing underage magic out of school," George says.

"Not that we're going to tell her or anything," Fred adds.

"Let's talk business, guys," I say. "Tell me, what would you do with a thousand galleons?"

Their eyes widen. "You aren't seriously considering just giving us a thousand galleons, are you?"

"No," I say. "I'm kind of curious, though."

"Well, we always wanted to start our own joke shop..." George says.

"Products. Testing. Advertising," Fred says.

I grin. "Good answer. Alright, let me explain. I've recently become acquainted with a friend of my father, a fellow by the name of Remus Lupin. Also known as Moony."

"Moony?" they say in unison.

"Apparently, my father was called Prongs in school, too," I say.

"Really?"

"And Remus was telling me about this marvelous creation that he and his friends came up with," I say. "An amazing map that shows Hogwarts. They spent a lot of time exploring the place and plotting out several secret passages. I understand that this map has fallen into other hands now, however." I look at them meaningfully.

"How..." Fred stammers.

"How did you know we had it?" George says.

I smirk. "I have my ways."

"Mysterious," Fred says.

"Secretive," George agrees.

"Indeed," I agree. "I'd like to buy the map off of you."

"For a thousand galleons?" Fred says, raising an eyebrow.

"But if it belonged to your father, it's rightfully yours to begin with," George says. "You don't need to give us anything for it."

"I have a few other requests on top of the map, though," I say.

"Like what?" Fred asks.

I start counting off on my fingers. "You don't ask how I found out you had it. Actually, let's make that you don't ask how I found out anything that I found out about. You don't let on to anyone that you ever had it, that I have it now, or that it even exists. That shouldn't be difficult as you haven't exactly been advertising it to begin with."

"Of course," George says.

"You don't target me for pranks, no matter how much you think I deserve it at the time," I go on, smirking. "Although being caught in a widespread prank is acceptable, so long as I'm not the one being targeted."

"No pranking you, alright..." Fred says.

"And, one more thing... I'm very interested in what sorts of things you might come up with," I say. "I'd like you to be open for supplying me if needed, and taking the occasional request. And I'll be perfectly willing to supply more money if it's necessary for results."

"So in other words, we'll be working for you?" George asks.

"Think of me as a patron," I say with a grin.

"Hmm," Fred says. "I think this might be a good deal, brother of mine."

"Indeed," George says. "I think this could work out in our favor."

"It's a deal," Fred says.

George pulls out the map and passes it over to me. I take it and pull out a bag of galleons. "I have a hundred galleons on me at the moment. I'll bring you the rest on the train. Will that be alright?"

"Quite," Fred says, eyes widening as he takes the bag.

"So, do you have any requests to start off with, oh generous patron?" George says.

"Tell me, how good are you with potions?" I ask.

"It's one of our best subjects," Fred replies.

"Or at least it would be, if Snape weren't a prat," George says.

I pull out one of the essence pods from my bag. "This is called an essence pod." I open it up and show them the liquid inside. "This potion is used to restore someone's magical energy. I only have six of them, and I can't get more. And don't ask where I got them." I grin at them. "Do you think you might be able to analyze this and duplicate it somehow?"

"Well, we can certainly try," Fred says, taking the gourd and sniffing at the fluid inside.

"Consider it a long-term project," I say. "If it takes you five, ten years, or longer yet, to figure it out, I'll still consider it a victory."

"We'll consider it a challenge," George says.

"Although, think of the things we could do with something like this," Fred says. "If we set it up right, we might be able to use it to power other effects."

"Definitely worth looking into," George agrees.

I grin. "Thanks. I wish you well with that. I'll be very interested in your results."

I cancel my spells and head to bed.

---

In the morning, I scoop up Wormtail and let him sleep in my pocket, and go down to eat breakfast with the Weasleys. I'm excited about my success. Not only did I obtain Wormtail in such a way that he's not even trying to escape, not only did I get my hands on the Marauder's Map, but I even successfully employed the services of the Weasley Twins. I think it's going to be a very good year.

"Will you be alright going back home by yourself?" Molly asks.

"I'll be fine," I say. "I've got a friend to meet up with in Diagon Alley today, anyhow."

"Who is it?" Ron asks.

"A new professor, actually," I say. "He was a friend of my father's."

"What does he teach?" Percy asks.

"Battle Magic," I reply.

"Oh, that's what they renamed Defense Against the Dark Arts, isn't it?" Percy asks.

"Maybe this'll mean we won't have anymore useless teachers trying to teach us how to defend ourselves," George says.

"One can certainly hope," Percy says.

I take the Floo back to Diagon Alley and step off somewhere private to send my Patronus to Remus to come and pick me up. He arrives in short order, and Apparates me back to Caer Danas. Remus opens his mouth to stay something, but I silence him with a finger over my lips.

I pull Wormtail out of my pocket, careful to keep my body between him and his view of Remus. "There's a good rat," I murmur, pulling out my wand and pointing it at him. "Now why don't you just keep napping. Stupefy!"

Remus comes over and gets a good look at the rat. "Yeah, that's him. That's Peter, alright."

I hand him over to Remus. "You've got the Quaffle now," I say. "See what you can do with him. Let's find out if we can get Sirius freed."

"I'll take him straight to Albus," Remus says. He heads out with the unconscious rat firmly in hand.

I get back to work on the house with the two elves, feeling much better about things. It's like a burden taken off my shoulders. Soon, Sirius will be free, and he'll be able to join us here.

That evening, Remus returns to the house. "Peter's been taken to the Ministry for questioning."

"Maybe they'll actually do something about this," I say. "I'm not one to make any bets, however."

"You don't trust the Ministry, do you," Remus says.

"Not in the least," I say. "I fully expect that I will wind up having to break Sirius out of Azkaban myself. But I'm at least willing to give them the chance to do the right thing."

"You really broke Sirius out of Azkaban before?" Remus says.

"Multiple times," I say. "I can do it again, if I must."

"Give them some time first," Remus says. "It'll be better if he's not a fugitive when he gets out."

I nod. "I'll be generous, and give them until Christmas to do something. Otherwise, those Dementors are going to get a face full of duck Patronus and Sirius is getting the best Christmas present ever."

---

I want to take the opportunity to look through some bookstores in Diagon Alley and even Knockturn Alley for any information they might have on destroying dark artifacts.

"I think you might attract some unfortunate attention by that line of research," Remus comments to me upon hearing of my plans. "Perhaps it would be best if I did this?"

"Hmm, wait," I say. I focus on my Time Magic and shift my body older. My muscles ache and my skin crawls, and I settle upon the age of sixty or so. "Nobody will suspect this of Harry Potter."

"I didn't realize you could do that," Remus says. "You're a Metamorphmagus?"

"Not exactly, but something similar," I say. "This is the form I was using to watch for the Weasleys. Less conspicuous than an eleven year old boy hanging out all day by himself, even if nobody noticed the scar."

We head over and start looking through bookstores over the next week. At least in Remus's case, he can claim that it's for his job, after all. And I'm just assisting him. Unfortunately, the information is a little hard to find, especially considering that we're not entirely certain just what the diary really is.

While we're there, I also keep an eye out for anyone that might be selling basilisk venom. I doubt I'll find any, but it's worth a look, at least. With my typical luck, however, there's not a drop for sale anywhere.

We also make regular trips to the Ministry, in order to keep up on developments in Sirius's case. While doing that, I take a precious opportunity to speak with Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.

"I would have thought that you would want the one responsible for your parents' deaths to see justice," Fudge says.

"I do," I say. "But something doesn't add up here. Peter Pettigrew was supposed to be dead, wasn't he?"

"Well, yes," Fudge says. "And the man we have in custody now does seem to be Peter Pettigrew."

"I just want to make sure we have the right man," I say. "Peter could have faked his death and let Sirius take the blame for it! I have little enough family left. What if my godfather turns out to be innocent after all?"

"We will certainly look into the matter," Fudge says. "It'll cause quite the stir, though, if it turns out that an innocent man spent ten years in Azkaban."

"I'm not going to blame you for the mistakes of the one who held office before you," I say. "I just want to make sure justice is done now. I'm only concerned about the future, not the past."

The next day at the Ministry, we encounter a stern-faced older woman. "So, are you the one forwarding my grand-nephew's case?"

"Cassiopeia Black?" Remus says, raising an eyebrow.

"Surprised to see me here?" Cassiopeia says. She looks down at me. "And who might you be? Harry Potter, is it?"

"Yes, ma'am," I say. "May I call you Aunt Cassie?"

Cassiopeia snorts softly. "If you must. If most of my remaining kin are blood traitors and half-bloods, then so be it. At least Narcissa married a good pureblood man."

"My mother wasn't really a Muggleborn," I say. "Her mother was actually a Squib from a pureblood family."

"Well, I suppose that's a bit better," Cassiopeia says, and sighs. "Still, whatever I might think of the people Sirius associated with, he's the last living male Black now. My brother Pollux passed on last year, and my cousin Arcturus died just last month."

"I'm sorry for your losses," I say.

"They were growing old," Cassiopeia says, shaking her head. "As am I. It remains that, like it or not, Sirius is now the head of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black. And if he should die without issue, there will be no more Blacks. Therefore, blood traitor or no, it is in my best interest that he should be acquitted. Walburga might have disagreed with my assessment. I'm sure that she would have prefered to see the House of Black die than have it fall into Sirius's hands."

"Forgive me for saying, but aren't you younger than Dumbledore?" I ask.

Cassiopeia nods. "Indeed. He has several decades on me. We Blacks never live so long, though. Our lives take a toll on us."

"Is it because he's a light wizard?" I wonder.

Cassiopeia snorts. "Speculate if you like, but I am not foolish enough to openly proclaim myself to be a dark witch in the midst of the Ministry of Magic."

"It was just a thought," I say. "I'm not going to judge you for it. I've just lost enough family members as it is. I'd hate to lose you, too. I've barely met you."

"Unless you possess the Elixir of Life, I don't think there's any stopping that," Cassiopeia says with a smirk.

Maybe not the Elixir of Life, but it's not like I'm in any danger of dying of old age, unless I accidentally push my Time Magic too far. I wish I could use it on others, too. Have I even tried using it on others before? I can't remember. I'd think I would know if I had. But I'll never find out unless I try.

I call upon my Time Magic and focus upon Cassiopeia. It doesn't seem to quite reach her, though. I grab her arm with my left hand. She looks surprised but doesn't pull away. It's easy for me to change myself, but harder to direct that power. It's like trying to aim with my Lightning Magic. It took a lot of practice to get it to go at a target, rather than explode all around me.

"What are you doing?" Cassiopeia asks.

"Shh," I say. "Let me focus."

There's probably an emotional component to this, too. Love, maybe? Innocence? Is that even an emotion? I bring to mind an image of playing with my cousins on the green hills of Lezaria. A warm summer day, with the bright sun Yallia shining down above. Child-like innocence, untouched by hate, unspoiled by war. Love for my family. The calm before the storm.

A surge of energy rushes through me. It bursts through like water rushing out of a breaking dam. It feels like all the energy poured out of me. I barely manage to stay standing for a couple seconds, to see the astonished face of a young girl in front of me. Then I pass out.

---

I wake with a groan, and blink up at the white ceiling. Where am I? If I died, this was not where I woke up this morning.

"Finally awake, are you?" says a witch I don't recognize.

"Where..." I mutter.

"You're in St. Mungo's, lad," the witch tells me. "You've been out of it for three days. You've been here ever since you collapsed in the Ministry."

"What happened?" I ask.

"Severe magical exhaustion, from the looks of things," the witch says -- she must be a healer or something. "You've probably been under a lot of strain, what with the mess with your godfather, and it finally caught up to you."

"Oh," I say. I think back on what happened before I passed out. Right, I'd just used an ability in a way I've never tried before. That was probably what drained me to the point of collapse. "Can I go home now?"

"We'll just run a few more diagnostic spells on you to make sure you'll be alright," the healer says. "I'll notify Professor Lupin to come pick you up. Oh, and shall I send your cousin in? Poor girl has refused to go far from you for too long ever since you were brought here."

"Ah, yes," I say, a little confused.

The healer leaves the room, and a minute later, a dark-haired girl of about ten or eleven comes in.

"Harry!" the young girl says. "I was so worried about you!" It takes me several long moments to recognize the same stern expression that Cassiopeia Black wore.

"Cassie?" I ask.

"Of course it's me," Cassie says. "Who did you think it was? Did you hit your head when you fell?"

"Heh, give me a break, Cassie, I've been out of it for three days, apparently," I say.

"Then I get to be the one to tell you the good news!" Cassie says. "They're going to let my father go free!"

"Your father?" I say. "Sirius?"

"They're letting him out of Azkaban," Cassie says. "He'll be a free man again in a few days! Oh, he's going to be so surprised to see me."

"Yeah, he probably doesn't even realize you exist," I say dryly.

Another healer comes in and casts a few spells over me. "Looks good," he says. "You're clear to go. Professor Lupin is waiting for you in the lobby."

"Come on," Cassie says, grabbing me by the arm and practically dragging me out of the hospital room. I think she's probably doing a better job than me at pretending to be a kid.

"Ah, there you are, children," Remus says. "Good to see you up and about again, Harry. You gave me quite the scare."

"It's alright," I say. "Can we go home now? Please?"

"I'll have to Side-Along Apparate the both of you," Remus says. "So come on close, hold tight."

After the sensation of being squeezed through a tube, we arrive at the gazebo behind Caer Danas with a pop. I step out into the gardens with a sigh.

"Where are we?" Cassie says, looking around and failing to see the house.

"My home," I say. "It's under the Fidelius Charm." I look at her appraisingly, and smirk. "But I suppose it's a little late to wonder whether we can trust you or not. You've gotten dragged into this one way or another, anyway. Rispy!"

Rispy pops into existence in front of me. "Ah, you bring someone else you want let in?"

"This here is Cassie Black," I say. "Go ahead and tell her the secret."

Rispy does so, and Cassie says, "The Order of the Phoenix?"

"Such as it is," I say. "I kind of commandeered it from Dumbledore. Come on inside, and I'll explain everything." I smile at her. "And then we'll have to decide whether or not to kill you. I mean, Obliviate you."

"Oh, that's reassuring," Cassie says, following along into the house. "For the record, I was never a supporter of the Dark Lord. I prefered to mind my own business and do magical research in peace."

We get inside, and I flop down on the couch in the main hall, and gesture at her to take a seat. "I would really rather have not been taken to St. Mungo's," I say with a sigh.

"I didn't know what else to do," Remus says. "After you... did whatever it was you did, you wouldn't wake up no matter what we tried. But the healers just said it was magical exhaustion and you'd be fine with some rest."

I shake my head. "It's alright," I say. "It's not the first time it's happened, and probably won't be the last. Just in the future, just take me somewhere quiet to rest."

"How did you do that?" Cassie says. "Look at me! I was all ready to die, standing on the threshold of death's door, and now suddenly, I have a whole life ahead of me again?"

"I can change my own age at will," I say. "I didn't realize I could do it to others, too. Well, it looks like I can but it's not easy, or free. It took everything out of me. And I don't even know if it brought you down to a specific age, or if someone much younger than you would have just vanished out of existence from trying to do that. I wasn't trying to make you a little girl again."

"Well, I'm hardly about to complain," Cassie says. "Professor Lupin did some quick thinking and altered some records to make it so the older me is supposed to be dead, and that I'm Sirius's daughter. He even got me signed up for Hogwarts this year. Pretty clever. I'll overlook the fact that he's a half-blood." She smirks at him.

"I did have some help from Dumbledore on getting the records faked," Remus says.

"Who's the mother?" I wonder.

"Um..." Cassie says, shifting uneasily. "Well, it was easier to claim that Sirius had a fling with a Muggleborn witch who was killed toward the end of the war. So I suppose I should really keep quiet about the whole blood thing, shouldn't I." She laughs nervously.

"I got her school supplies for her while you were in the hospital," Remus says.

"So you're going to Hogwarts again?" I say.

"Why not?" Cassie says. "It'll be interesting. I have fond memories of my school years, but things have changed so much since then."

"I suppose I can't really say much," I say. "You won't be the only one with more knowledge of magic there than any first year should have. I'm a time traveler, you see."

Cassie blinks at me. "I suppose that's tied in with your ability to change ages?"

I nod. "I have inborn Time Magic. I'm not sure yet what the scope of it might be. I haven't really experimented with it much."

"You should!" Cassie says. "How else can you ever learn?"

"Perhaps," I say, chuckling. "I guess I've just been afraid to, you know? It keeps me alive, you know." I explain to her the details of how it works.

"Fascinating," Cassie says. "I should dearly love a chance to study you."

"Why does that thought make me so nervous?" I say with a smirk.

---

The next day, I take another visit with Remus to Diagon Alley to look for books that might shed some light on the diary. We wind up purchasing a few promising books from a store in Knockturn Alley before returning home.

"Alright, this looks like an analysis spell we can use on it to better determine its nature," I say.

"Let's try that out," Remus says. "Where did you put it?"

It's not on the bookshelf in the main hall where I was sure I'd left it. I check my bedroom as well, but it's not there either.

"Dobby! Rispy!" I call, and the two elves promptly appear. "Is Tom Riddle's diary anywhere in the house?"

They look around, and come back to say, "We can't find it anywhere."

"Fuck," I mutter. "Where's Cassie?"

"Miss Cassie is in her room," Dobby says. "Should Dobby tell her you want to see her?"

"Please do," I say.

Dobby disappears with a pop, and a few minutes later, the young dark-haired girl comes downstairs. "Is something wrong?" Cassie asks.

"Have you seen a diary?" I wonder. "A small Muggle-style book, with the name Tom Riddle on it."

Cassie frowns for a moment, and shakes her head. "I have not. Is there some significance to this object?"

"It's a dangerous dark artifact, and I need to destroy it," I say, and sigh. "And now it's missing. Fuck."

"If you're afraid that I might have stolen it, don't worry," Cassie says. "I haven't even left the house since I arrived here, and would have no interest in a Muggle diary, regardless."

"I believe you," I say. "I just wish I knew what had happened to it. Did I leave it at Diagon Alley? At the Ministry? At St. Mungo's? At the Burrow?"

"Where was the last place you saw it?" Remus asks.

"I don't remember," I say. "I was sure I'd left it right here." I gesture at the bookshelf. "Merlin, I'm an idiot." I sigh, throwing up my hands helplessly.

---

Sirius is a wreck when he's released from Azkaban. A couple healers look him over carefully and give him some potions to try to relieve some of the physical issues, as well as a hefty amount of chocolate. He doesn't seem to quite recognize any of us, though. I suppose that shouldn't be surprising.

"Come on, Sirius," Remus says. "Let's get you home."

Remus Side-Along Apparates Sirius to Caer Danas. Making sure nobody's looking, Cassie Apparates me back as well. Rispy pops out when we arrive and says, "This is Sirius Black, I assume?"

"Yeah--" Remus begins.

"I'm Sirius Black," Sirius says. "I'm Sirius Black! And I'm innocent! And free!"

Rispy gets him the secret, and we take him inside. Remus sits Sirius down on the couch, and Dobby brings him a mug of hot chocolate.

"Remus?" Sirius says. "I hardly recognized you. How's life been treating you? And who are these kids? Are they yours?"

"No, but one of them is yours," Remus says with a smirk. "Or at least, we're claiming she is. The boy is Harry Potter."

Cassie chuckles, and says, "I'm your great-aunt Cassiopeia Black. Now your daughter, Cassiopeia Black."

"Creative," Sirius says with a smirk. "How did that happen?"

"Let's call it a magical accident," I say.

"And this is little Harry?" Sirius says, looking at me appraisingly. "I didn't realize so much time had passed. Merlin..."

We spend some time filling in Sirius on the details, and telling Sirius exactly who he was supposed to have slept with and when, just to get our stories straight.

"This is all a bit overwhelming," Sirius says.

"Maybe it's best to have a tasty dinner, a nice, hot bath, and a good night's sleep in a soft bed," I say. "Give you some time to adjust."

"Don't get me wrong," Sirius says. "I'm glad to see you all. Yes, even you, Cassie. And I'm certainly glad to be out of Azkaban and away from those Dementors. It's hard to believe that I'm really a free man again."

"No kidding," I say. "I didn't believe that the Ministry would ever own up to it and let you go."

"The heartfelt speech you gave to the Minister probably helped," Remus says wryly.