Sirius had brought Harry to his room and placed him on the bed under the covers. After they had left the Leaky cauldron by side-along apparition, Sirius wanted to prevent public attention to Harry's breakdown for the time being, he immediately had called Kreacher to get a calming draught for Harry from the house apothecary and prepare some hot chocolate for later. Kreacher had disapparated and gotten back with the draught after some minutes.
Harry had just lain under the covers, mumbling over and over again 'why me'. Sirius wanted to go to the Minister and demolish his face for this. Pompous fool that the man was. Normal wizards had trouble to face dementors and Harry just got some major blows to his beliefs in the supposed leader of the light, Dumbledore. The breakdown was only the logical conclusion after all he had been trough.
Sirius carefully let Harry drink the calming draught. He coughed after the last gulp but Sirius could soon see the effects of the potion setting in. Harry's body relaxed and he was just shivering under his blankets.
"Master Sirius, may Kreacher lit a fire in the fireplace to help Master Harry warm up?" The house elf asked.
"Yes please do it Kreacher." Sirius answered thankfully for the elf's thoughtfulness.
Kreacher went to the fireplace and snapped his fingers. Immediately a fire lit up and warmth flooded the room.
"Thank you Kreacher." Sirius said.
"Would you please prepare some chicken soup for dinner after you brought us the hot chocolate?"
"Of course Master Sirius." He said, bowed and left the room.
Rita Skeeter was in high spirits. She had a great story from Harry Potter's visit today in Diagon Alley. She absolutely loved her animagus form. Being a beetle opened so many opportunities to spy on people to get juicy stories. This one she just had to spice up in some little points, it already was good in itself.
She let her quill write the article how Harry Potter, the famous Boy-Who-Lived had been emotionally abused by his aunt and uncle, terrible examples of muggles, and physically abused by his cousin. What a story. And to top it, the untouchable Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot Albus Dumbledore was the one to blame for all of this. Oh yes, the few bits of information Harry had given the audience at the Leaky Cauldron were great but the talk he had had with his two friends was even better. Being driven to lose control over your magic after you have been training to use it properly at Hogwarts for two years needed some serious emotional distress.
Of course she had also interviewed some of the old witches and wizards who had been at the Cauldron at the time, just perfect to get more dirt to throw at Dumbledore. She really loved her job. And now there could be a really big story at the horizon. Amelia Bones was on the warpath against the Minister for his plans to let Hogwarts be protected by dementors. She shuddered. Every self-preserving witch or wizard was worried about dementors. Thankfully she never had the displeasure to visit Azkaban, but the rumors alone we giving her goose bumps. No, the Minister had gone insane to order these things to guard a school.
Harry needed half an hour to get back to his senses. When he realized what had happened he was ashamed of himself. How could he have been such a baby? A breakdown and then in front of Sirius and Madam Bones. They must think he was a weakling. He looked to his side and saw Sirius sitting on a chair next to his bed.
"Hey Harry, are you feeling better?" He asked kindly.
Harry nodded but looked away ashamed.
"There is no reason to be ashamed Harry." Sirius assured him.
"But I broke down in front of you and Madam Bones. Just because she told us of the dementors."
"No, Harry. You didn't break down because of hearing about the dementors. You broke down because it was just the last blow you could take in a very short time. First you had to deal with the Dursleys in a more torturing way than the other years as you couldn't just avoid them for most of the time, then my reappearance."
"But that was the best thing that ever happened to me Sirius." Harry interrupted.
"I'm glad you think so..." Sirius said "...but nonetheless it was emotionally straining for you, even if it was positive stress. After this you found out, that your life had been manipulated for over ten years, that the last will of your parents had been ignored by Dumbledore and your abilities were mostly blocked. All because of one control freak that feared he couldn't make you see his way of believing without having you completely under his thump.
"Then last but not least the dementors who will guard Hogwarts for a while. Things that you know suck the happiness out of humans. How could you not be overwhelmed by all of this? You are thirteen Harry. Grown up wizards would have problems to take this in. And they wouldn't have been able to go through your life without getting insane."
"You don't think I'm weak?" Harry whispered but Sirius heard him.
He embraced Harry, who was surprised by this. He still had to get used to this kind of showing affection as he never got it as a child. But he wanted to keep this feeling. The feeling of being protected and not to be the one who protected. Just being able to rely on somebody who would help him with his problems.
"No Harry. You are strong and don't believe anybody who wants to tell you otherwise. Being afraid of the dementors is not a weakness, it is common sense. I am afraid of them too. The potions regime Charles ordered you to follow was not the only thing he took care of while he was here. He also checked my health, after all, you don't get out of Azkaban and are okay. Like you, I have to take potions to get over the malnutrition from my time there. I only sleep at night because I take dreamless sleep potion. Otherwise nightmares haunt me. I fully understand your fears."
Harry looked shocked. He hadn't realized that Sirius had those problems.
"Don't worry that you didn't notice my problems. I am really good at hiding them. And I wanted you to become comfortable around me before being confronted with my haunted past. And you are a major factor in me getting better every day. Being around you helps me remember for what I live. Not many could have shouldered your life. They can't even imagine what it means to have to grow up hatred because you are how you are. Not to be loved because you are different than the others. Ridiculed for the other, perfect child that lives in the same house." Sirius had a bitter tone in his voice.
"You also experienced it Sirius?" Harry asked surprised, still clinging to Sirius.
"Yes Harry. Especially after I was sorted into Gryffindor. It was the greatest shame for my parents, that their son, their heir, was a Gryffindor and not a Slytherin. I was always wary of the way my parents treated witches and wizards that were below their social standing. I never could believe what they thought was right. So the logical conclusion was my running away. I was always the one not fitting in unlike Regulus. At least my brother saw the error of his ways in the end, but I wish he didn't have to die for it."
"Yes, I think he would have been a great uncle." Harry said.
The full moon was approaching and it was the date when they would do the blood adoption ritual. The next day was the day Harry had been waiting for. He would finally have a real father, one who would care for him like his parents who had died to protect him, had done.
"Yes he would have been." Sirius said touched by Harry's willingness to become his son.
He was wondering how Moony would fare during the night of the full moon. He really hoped his old friend would be alright.
"But you have another kind of uncle, who will be delighted to see you again." He said.
"You mean Moony right?" Harry asked, using the nickname Sirius always used while speaking about his past adventures with the marauders.
"Yes. I'm wondering how he is doing. I wish I could keep him company during the full moon, it always helped calming him down."
"I also want to help. When I have mastered the animagus transformation fully I want to help too. You know my form is big enough to do so."
"Yes it is. I'm still surprised that you have a magical animal as your animagus form. That is really rare."
Sirius had given Harry the animagus revealing potion to find out which animal he was. To be an animagus would be a great advantage in his fight against Voldemort. Harry had found out that he was a storm-panther. He could bend the air to his will and unleash storms if he wanted to. Well, he would, when he had mastered the transformation and then got used to his new powers.
"It will take some time for you to master it but I think Moony will appreciate that you are willing to help him. I will have to find out where he is. I think he could be convinced of my innocence if I left him my memories in a pensieve without telling him what they show in the first place. He would be an invaluable ally. He was always the smart one of our group."
"I really want to meet him. You and he are the closest I have left of my family."
Sirius gently rubbed Harry's back, cursing the Dursleys again. Outside Harry was a teenager and very mature for his age, but inside there was a small boy who just wanted to be loved. He intended to give this boy all the love he needed to grow up to match his outer appearance. Tomorrow was full moon, the day of the blood adoption ritual. Harry would become his son. He just hoped Lily and James would have agreed to this. But as they named Sirius Harry's godfather, they wanted him to take care of Harry. If only he could ask them if they agreed with it. Well, that was impossible. Tomorrow they would go back to Gringotts with a portkey, inspect some of the artifacts left in the vaults Harry had inherited, he was really curious what they were, spend some time renovating the rest of Grimmauld place, they had already begun after stripping the house of all remembrances of dark artifacts, eat some of Kreacher's delicious cooking and wait till the moon rose to its highest point.
Harry woke up from a peaceful sleep. The calming draught he had gotten yesterday also helped him sleeping deeply. He was excited. Today was full moon. Today he would become Sirius' son. He couldn't wait until the moon rose. He was also curious what items his family vaults held. They knew there were several in the different vaults, but the statement only listed the general terms not the specifics. He got up and went to the bathroom to take a shower, brush his teeth and get clothed. Kreacher had already placed some robes for him when he left the bathroom. He was really thankful for the elf's thoughtfulness while looking after his Masters.
He left his room and went down to the kitchen. There he coincidentally found Kreacher who seemed a bit out of breath.
"Good morning Kreacher." Harry said.
"Good morning Master Harry. Please take a seat, breakfast will be served immediately."
Kreacher whirled through the kitchen and soon Harry had a plate of bacon and eggs, some toast, a cup of milk and some fruit in front of him. Kreacher looked exhausted but content.
"Thank you Kreacher, it looks delicious. Please rest a bit, you look exhausted."
"I can't Master Harry, there is so much work to do in the house. Kreacher will make sure Master Harry and Master Sirius have the best home ever." The elf announced.
Now Harry knew why the elf looked this exhausted. He did so much work in the house and did it all alone. And he was old, he could really use some help. Then Harry was hit by an idea just the moment Sirius came into the kitchen.
"Morning Harry, morning Kreacher." He greeted and took a seat next to Harry.
"Morning Sirius." Harry greeted grinning.
"Spill it!" Sirius said, knowing this grin. It was a marauder's grin.
"Well I recognized that the poor Kreacher has too much work for him alone to finish. And he has served the Blacks so long that it would be unfair to just place all the work on his shoulders alone. So I thought we could get a second elf, that Kreacher could teach all about the service of our family." Harry carefully chose his words to not hurt Kreacher's feelings as the elf was proud to serve the noble and most ancient house of Black.
"That's not a bad idea. The Black family had always more than one elf, Kreacher is the last of those who have been serving the house faithfully for centuries. It was always one family. But as the family dwindled in numbers the magic that strengthens the house elves ceased in power. Especially after my imprisonment and my mother's death there was nobody who could have built up the magic resting in the house. Kreacher what do you think? Could you take another house elf under your wing and teach him the way the new house of Black is like?" Sirius asked the elf.
"Of course Master Sirius, it would be an honor to ensure the future generations of Blacks are having the best house elves to serve them." The elf looked proud to be chosen to have an apprentice.
"Well Harry, do you have an elf in mind?" Sirius asked.
"I have, perhaps he will answer my call. Dobby." Harry called. They waited for a few seconds and then a crack was heard in the kitchen.
Dobby stood in the kitchen, nervously looking around. Then he saw Harry and his face lit up.
"Harry Potter sir!" Dobby squeaked delighted.
"Hello Dobby. How are you?" Harry asked kindly.
"Dobby is fine sir. Thanks to Harry Potter sir, Dobby is now a free elf and doesn't have to serve dark masters any longer. Dobby is currently looking for a new family to work for. Dobby likes his freedom, but Dobby wants to serve and work for a new nice wizarding family."
"That's great news Dobby. Have you already found a new family?" Harry asked.
Dobby sadly shook his head.
"It's difficult Harry Potter sir. Not many would take an elf that has been given clothes and Dobby wants to be paid for his services."
"Well I think I know something for you." Sirius now said.
Dobby looked at Sirius.
"You is Sirius Black." He said.
"Yes I am. You don't seem to be afraid of me, Dobby." Sirius said kindly.
"No, Dobby knows you is innocent. Dobby heard his old Masters speak about it. Dobby's old Masters found it funny."
Then Dobby realized what he had said.
"Bad Dobby." he began calling himself and Harry reacted fast and stopped the elf from hurting himself.
"Don't punish yourself, they aren't your Masters anymore, Dobby." he pointed out.
"Dobby finds it difficult to say those things about his old Masters, especially as Dobby hasn't found a new Master yet. Dobby's magic is not as strong as it has been."
"I see, I have heard that an elf gets his strength from the Master he has himself bound to." Sirius said. "Well Dobby, Harry and I are looking for a second house elf who would learn from Kreacher, an elf who has served the Black family for decades now, the ways that the new Black family is following. Harry has suggested you. Would you be interested to make a bond with the house of Black and become Harry's and my elf?" Sirius asked.
"You is wanting to take Dobby as your house elf?" Dobby asked surprised.
"Yes I am. And I would like to tell you a few rules we have for our house elves." Sirius pointed at Kreacher.
"Kreacher here is the head elf as he has the most experience in the service of the house of Black. The new house of Black is a gray family. I don't like the hard borders between light and dark houses. There sometimes are things that have to be done that are not exactly light but also not dark. There are things that I would never do, killing innocents, mistreating other magical races out of principle, badmouthing others who don't deserve it.
"The house of Black will be at the front in the fight against Voldemort because he is the worst the wizarding society can face. A maniac who bastardized the old pureblood ways. You know about the Chamber of Secrets that has been opened last year at Hogwarts. I intend to explore it a bit with Harry this year. I suppose there could be invaluable things to find now that the basilisk is no more. And also Harry has a right to get the valuable items of the basilisk like his hide, the venom and other things. If he sold them, he could get a lot of money from it and get some favors with important people.
"Our elves will wear a customized uniform with the crest of the Black family on it. We don't want our family servants to go around in rags. You are to proudly show which family you serve. It is not like we give you clothes to get rid of you, it is a part of our new overall outlook. I know about the special powers of the house elves. You can apparate to locations others can't and are able to use your own strong magic to help your masters. We want to use your help to better prepare Harry for his unavoidable fight with Voldemort. As Dumbledore isn't to be trusted as he tried to control Harry, we have to build our own group that will fight against Voldemort when he returns.
"As much as I wanted that he didn't I am realistic enough to know he will return sooner or later. And he will be after Harry again because of a prophecy that was made before Harry was born. It says that Harry will be the one to defeat Voldemort for good. So he has to be trained to be able to survive this encounter. Further goals are the change of the wizarding society to be more liberal and to make the step into the present time. British wizards are far behind those of other countries and we intend to change that and get a better tolerance for other magical beings, halfbloods and muggleborns. What do you say Dobby?"
"Dobby would be honored to serve the house of Black Sirius Black sir, but why is you calling Harry Potter sir a Black?"
"Oh of course I forgot. I will blood adopt Harry tonight, when the full moon is at its highest point. At the moment I am Harry's godfather and we both want to become a real family so nobody has the power to force Harry to live with the horrible muggles again."
Dobby nodded.
"Dobby wants to serve Harry Potter and Sirius Black." He said.
"Then let us perform the ritual. I Lord Sirius Orion Black, take Dobby as my house elf for the noble and most ancient house of Black. So mote it be." Sirius spoke the ritual words and a bead of light engulfed Dobby.
Dobby smiled delighted.
"Dobby accepts the bond with the house of Black and promises to serve the house faithfully."
The light grew brighter and then it vanished. Dobby seemed to have gotten a power boost. He also wore the new uniform of the house of Black. Black pants, a dark red uniform jacket with the Black family crest at the back and dark red shoes.
"Thank you, Master Sirius, and thank you, Master Harry." Dobby said.
Kreacher approached Dobby.
"Kreacher thinks he will start your training as a Black elf right now, Dobby, with showing you around the house. Master Sirius and Master Harry have business to attend at Diagon Alley."
"Of course, Kreacher. Dobby wants to learn everything to serve his new Masters."
The two elves disapparated.
"Well, he is a nice elf, a bit different from your normal house elf but I like him. Good choice, Harry." Sirius said.
"Thanks, Sirius. I think we should take the portkey to Gringotts now, I want to see what items are in the vaults."
"Well then let's go. How was your breakfast?"
"Really good. I think I like oranges more than grapefruits. But fruits in general are nice to have with breakfast."
"I'm glad you like your new diet. Sometimes it's hard to change old eating habits. And I know what Hogwarts serves during the year."
Harry just smiled. It was still a new concept for him to have someone who took care that you ate properly.
They both touched the portkey and Sirius activated it by touching it with his wand. Soon they landed at the apparition point at Gringotts. Harry walked to the counter.
"I would like to visit my vault please." He asked in Gobbledygook earning a lot of surprised faces from goblins and other customers.
"Of course Mr. Potter. Griphook will take you there." The goblin answered.
Griphook who had listened to the conversation came over and mentioned Harry and Sirius to follow him.
"It's a pleasant surprise to see a wizard speaking goblin language." He said.
"I'm sorry, Griphook, I am not very advanced in Gobbledygook right now. I just understood 'pleasant surprise' and 'goblin language'." Harry admitted. "I have only learned for a bit over a week after the rituals that were done to rid me of the blocks and the horcrux."
"I see. I look forward to have a whole conversation with you, when you have learned more, Mr. Potter. But I have to say you are quite good with pronunciation for someone with only a week of practice."
"Thank you, Griphook and please call me Harry."
Griphook nodded.
"Which vault do you want to visit, Harry?" he asked.
"The Potter family vault please. Then the Ravenclaw vault and if we still have time after that the Gryffindor vault. It will take some time to visit them all. I think I will have to leave the school on weekends to get everything done." He mused.
Sirius smiled. It was clear that Harry was excited to learn more about his family and those he was related to. They entered the cart and traveled down to the deeper parts of Gringotts. Way deeper than Harry's trust vault. The only reason why Harry could go down there was that Sirius was his guardian. As he agreed to let Harry manage his accounts on his own with a bit of good advice, the goblins followed Harry's wishes for invests. Until he would get of age at seventeen this would be the way things would be done.
They finally reached the vault. Griphook opened the vault by placing his hand on the door and then it slowly opened.
"I will wait here for you. The old family vaults are special and goblins can only enter them with the permission of the Lord." Harry nodded.
Harry and Sirius went into the vault and were looking around.
"Wow." Was the only thing Harry could say.
The vault was huge filled with mountains of gold, silver and bronze. Several chests with jewels in them were lined at the walls. On shelves there were artifacts Harry couldn't really identify. They went deeper inside the vault. Suddenly Harry heard voices.
"Here." He heard someone calling.
"Did you hear that Sirius?" he asked.
Sirius was pale.
"Sirius?" Harry asked waving his hand in front of his face.
"Sorry Harry, yes I heard it. And I think I know the voices. Let's see if I am right."
They followed the voices until they were standing in front of three wizarding portraits. Harry was stopping where he stood. This was impossible. He had only seen some photos of them. But here they were in portraits that could speak.
"Mum, Dad?" He asked overwhelmed.
"Harry is that you?" James Potter asked.
Harry nodded. Sirius was as overwhelmed as Harry was.
"Prongs." He said.
"Hey, Padfoot old friend. Why in the nine circles of hell did it take you so long to bring our son here?" James wanted to know.
"I..." Sirius began but was interrupted by Lily.
"Harry, come here, I want to see you better" she said.
Harry did as she asked.
"Look at you. You have grown so much since we last saw you. How old are you now?" She asked.
"Thirteen, Mum." Harry answered tears shimmering in his eyes.
"So long. I'm so sorry that we couldn't be there for you. I wish we had chosen Sirius as the secret keeper but we were so sure Peter was trustworthy."
"I know Mum. It's just, I wish…" He couldn't continue. Tears streamed down his cheeks.
Sirius just put a hand on his shoulder.
"So, Padfoot, why did it take so long for you to come here? I would have thought, even if you were in hiding with Harry that you would have brought him here when he turned eleven." James asked.
"I couldn't, Prongs. I was in Azkaban at that time. Wormtail managed to blame his crimes on me and I wasn't given a trial. I still haven't had one and am hiding under a newly inherited title. Harry was sent to Petunia." He answered sneering while saying Wormtail's name.
"WHAT?" Thundered Lily.
"How could they? PETUNIA? I insisted on putting this part in the will that Harry was never to be sent there to grow up. How could they ignore our last will?" She yelled.
"Why were you sent to Azkaban? Dumbledore knew Peter was our secret keeper." James wanted to know.
"He wants to control me for some reason." Harry said trembling. "He blocked seven of my abilities partly or completely and placed a muggle enraging curse on me. Then there were potions that weakened my abilities. And to top all of that the scar I got when Voldemort's killing curse repelled of me, I became a horcrux. A part of his soul was put into me."
"Oh my god, Harry, my poor baby." Lily said.
"How could Dumbledore do this? I trusted him. I even let him borrow my invisibility cloak to help some weaker order members and for him to study it when we were in hiding. How could he do this to our son?" James was furious.
Harry felt sudden warmth spread through his body. His parents really cared for him. They really loved him.
"Padfoot, what are you going to do to prevent that Dumbledore will manipulate Harry's life again?" James asked.
"Yes, if he placed Harry with Petunia he will do everything to prevent you from raising him." Lily agreed.
"Well, Harry and I want to perform the blood adoption ritual tonight. It's full moon. If you would give us your blessings I would feel way better about it. I mean you are his parents and…" Again Lily interrupted him.
"Sirius, we named you Harry's godfather because we thought you were the best choice to raise him if something happened to us. I am pleased to see he means enough to you to adopt him and under the current circumstances I fully understand you have to use the ritual. Harry will always be our son, but I gladly give you my blessings to also become his parent."
"Lily is right. You are my best friend, Padfoot, more like a brother even. I am glad you want to adopt him. I also give you my blessings, but I have one request. Could you please get the portrait out of the vault and place it at your house? It's extremely boring inside. I mean the company couldn't be better but the scenery has palled."
Harry and Sirius looked relieved that Lily and James wanted them to do the ritual.
"I can understand that, Prongs. We will certainly take your portrait out of here. What about the other two?" He asked pointing at two portraits that had been covered.
"Let them stay here. They wanted to be moved here to rest. I personally brought the portraits here. They show some of my great-grandparents who had a really nasty argument with the other portraits at Potter Manor. They preferred to sleep here between the treasures than being at the manor."
"I see. Anything we should know about the artifacts?" Sirius asked.
"No, all of them are light artifacts. I will tell you more about them later." James said.