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Chapter 4: Goodbye, Petunia. Hello, Sirius

Thanks for all the reviews. Sorry if this is shorter. I slept on my neck wrong, and I feel like I have whiplash. I can type, but I have to move very, very carefully.

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"What about Dumbledore?" Lily asked, sitting down across from him, but next to Harry.

"We can get him for kidnapping Mr. Potter as a baby. Abandonment, for leaving him here. Especially if it is as your sister says and it was in the middle of the night in a basket. Tampering with the wills, by sealing them when he was not the executor. And I found out that he was behind the storybooks on the Boy-Who-Lived," the attorney said, taking some papers out of his briefcase.

"Can we have him charged with any of this?" Lily asked, wanting to throw the book at the man.

"We can try, and we will, but I want to start a civil suit as well," Preston said, shoving some papers her way, ready to turn each when she was done reading.

She picked them up without thinking and started going through them. They basically outlined all that he said, and that they were suing for monetary grievances. "This looks good. You don't think they'll arrest him, do you?" she asked, knowing the answer.

"Probably not," Alex said still shocked that she lifted them, taking the papers back and putting them back in his case. "He is just too well connected," he added.

"Well, phooey," she said, shaking her head at how different the wizarding world was to the muggle. If an official in the muggle world had done what Dumbledore had done, it would be the end of his career. Here, they would praise him for doing the right thing.

"Indeed," Alex said, then he got a funny look on his face. "We also need to talk about how you are now being talked about in the wizarding world. There is quite a lot of gossip going on about you showing up. They are saying that you are here to wreak vengeance on those that have done your son wrong," he said, looking at Harry.

"I am," Lily said, smiling at her son. She was glad that they were saying that about her. She knew that they were blowing it out of proportion, but that would just be helpful down the road.

"How do you propose to do that?" the lawyer asked, tilting his head a bit. "You are a mere ghost, right?" he asked, wondering if she was. She shouldn't have been able to shake his hand earlier, or pick up the papers, but she had. Now she was talking about vengeance like it would be in the bodily form.

"No, I am the protection I cast on my son the night that Voldemort attacked us," she said, tapping her finger on the table, making a tat-tat-tat noise. "This gossip, is it just that, or did we warrant a paragraph in the paper?" she asked, knowing that the Daily Prophet would print gossip as news.

"You didn't get in the paper, it's just hearsay for now," Preston said, looking at Harry try to suss out his math. "The reporters did try to get something from Gringotts, but the goblins weren't inclined to tell them anything," he added, turning his attention back to her.

"That's good to know. I don't want the whole world to know just yet. I want Dumbledore to be kept in the dark until I have all my allies here. Which reminds me, I need you to find me one Remus Lupin," she said, waiting for him to write it down. "He is a werewolf, and he might be living in the muggle world." She didn't know what excuse the man had for abandoning her baby, but it had better be a good one. She wasn't up to handing out forgiveness right and left. It pained her that her husband's friends hadn't stepped up and done their duty by Harry.

"I'll look for him. Sirius Black also asked me to look for him," Alex said, still writing the information down. "Do you know what kind of job he might hold?" he asked, any information that she could give him would help. They had a private detective on the payroll.

"Usually something to do with teaching. I don't know how well versed he is with muggle studies though. You might want to look into bookstores," she said, thoughtfully, tapping her chin.

"That is a good place to start," he said, then looked at her to see if there was anything else.

"I also want you to investigate my sister. She abused my son before I came. I want Harry to be taken to St. Mungo's for an in-depth report. I want the book thrown at her for every injury he was given," she said, leaning forward so that only he heard her. She didn't want anyone in the house to hear her, not even Harry. She cut a glance at her son and saw he was still doing his homework.

"When Mr. Black comes tomorrow, you can take him then. Call me and I will meet you there," Alex said, whispering his answer. He once more looked at the small child that was biting his lip at the math problem he was trying to solve.

She felt slightly guilty about reporting her sister, but she didn't at the same time. Petunia was still abusing her nephew with her spoiling. The boy was getting cake for breakfast, for Merlin's sake. Lily tried to tell the woman that it was wrong but was rebuffed as not being a mother long enough to understand.

"Thank you," Lily said, putting her hand on her son's head. He looked up when he felt the now familiar coolness.

"You can interact with the real world?" Alex asked, surprised once again at the fact that she could touch her son. Until she had shook his hand earlier, he had thought someone held the phone whenever she called. Now he had to rethink that. If he had known this, he might have called her to be witness at Sirius Black's trial. As it was, he thought she was a ghost and ghosts can't testify. Which is plain stupid, they were in their right minds after all.

"Yes, I found out shortly after I came to myself," Lily said, petting Harry's untamable hair down. She lamented that he had his father's hair. At least he had her eyes. Hopefully, her eyesight as well. So far, so good. Even if he did need glasses later, she was there to make sure he got the right ones.

"Oh," was all the man could say. "What do you want to do about the books about your son?" he asked, turning to a new page in his notebook.

"What books?" she asked, whipping her head around so fast that if she had been alive, it would have cracked. "You mentioned them earlier, but you didn't expound on them."

"There are storybooks that depict Harry as a hero. You know, growing up in a castle, slaying dragons, and riding nundus," he said, though he could see she was getting angrier with each word. Her hair was lifting with an unfelt wind.

"I want them off the shelves and the authors sued. I don't care if Dumbledore did approve them," she said, her voice dripped with venom. How dare they make her son into some hero. What were they going to expect of him when he got to school if they thought he rid a nundu when he was a child?

"I will do so," Mr. Preston said, flipping the notebook shut and standing with his closed briefcase. "I will see you tomorrow," he reminded her.

"As soon as Sirius gets here," Lily said, hoping the man got here in the morning. She didn't want to wait all day for him. Not that she was impatient, more like she didn't want to put up with her sister any longer than she had to. "Say goodbye to Mr. Preston, Harry," she said to her son.

"Goodbye, Mr. Preston," Harry said, getting up and putting out his hand.

"Goodbye, Mr. Potter," Alex said, shaking the boy's hand. "Mrs. Potter," he said, holding his hand out to her.

"Alex," she said, shaking his hand. "Call me Lily."

"Lily then," he said, taking his hand back, fighting not to shake the coolness off. He then left the room and then the house.

"Are we going somewhere tomorrow, Mummy?" Harry said, having only heard some of the conversation. His math homework had been more important. He would have his mum check it over and she would tell him if he got it right. She was good to him like that.

"If your godfather gets here early enough. We're going to take you to the doctors," she said, running a hand down his face.

"Oh, okay. Am I sick?" he asked, going back to his homework. He only had a few problems left.

"No, baby. But you probably need a few shots," she said, thinking he needed some immunizations. She didn't know if they gave shots in the magical world. He had gotten some potions spelled in him as a baby, but she had died before his next exam.

"I don't want shots, Mummy," Harry said, getting scared. "Dudley says shots hurt." Dudley had complained for three days after his shots.

"Dudley might be exaggerating," she said, giggling a bit. She knew the boy tended to do that to get more sweets. And it worked to, one of the reasons she was mad at her sister. Didn't she see that she was hurting the boy? He was headed for a life of teasing and ridicule. Not to mention health issues.

"What does exaggerating mean?" Harry asked, tilting his head. He liked it when his mummy used big words, because she would explain them to him and then he had a new word to try and say.

"Telling someone that something is bigger than it is," his mum explained, moving her hands to show something big to something tiny.

"Oh, so shots don't hurt that much?" the boy asked, hope was in his voice. He really didn't want to get them if they hurt.

"No, baby, they hardly hurt at all. Besides, they keep you from getting sick," she said, rubbing the top of his unruly hair.

"Oh, okay," he said, trusting her more than he trusted Dudley.

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The next morning the whole house was woken up by a pounding on the door. Since Lily didn't sleep, she went to see who it was. "Sirius," she said as she floated through the door. "Come in before the neighbors see us," she said, unlocking the door and letting him in. "I am so happy to see you," she said, giving the poor frightfully skinny man a hug.

"Lily. Oh, Merlin, Lily. What are you doing here? You're supposed to have moved on," Sirius said, happy to see her, but upset that she was a ghost. He hadn't wanted to believe Mr. Preston when he told him that Lily was around.

"I'll explain it all later. You are getting us out of this house," Lily said, dragging him up the stairs. They passed Petunia on the stairs and Vernon was on the landing.

Vernon, upon seeing Lily, rushed back to his bedroom, as did Dudley. They steered clear of Mrs. Potter.

"Lily Potter, who are you bringing into my house?" Petunia screeched as she followed them up the stairs.

"The man who is going to take Harry away from here," Lily said, shuffling a still sleepy Harry back into his room. "Get dressed, baby. We are leaving," she told her son.

"Really and truly?" the boy asked as he looked at the new big person. "Who's that, Mummy?" he asked as he went to grab a shirt to wear.

"Not that one, Harry. You wore it yesterday. Get one out of your drawer," Lily said, taking the dirty shirt from her son. She had been going to make him clean his room this morning, but now that Sirius was here, they were gone. "This man is your godfather, Sirius Black."

"It is nice to meet you, Mr. Black," Harry said, pulling the shirt over his head and holding out his hand.

"You too, Harry. I've wanted to meet you for a long time. Unfortunately, I could not," Sirius said, not sure what to tell a six-year-old. He looked to Lily to help explain.

"Sirius had someone tell a fib about him, and he got locked in prison for years and years," she said, in words a small child would understand.

"Wow, wicked," Harry said, his eyes wide with awe. "Are you escaped?" he asked, his grammar not the best.

"No, I was acquitted," Sirius said, though that wasn't the correct term.

"What does acquitted mean?" Harry asked his mummy.

"It means they had a trial and found that he didn't do what they thought he did," she said, then she turned to Sirius. "I want everything in this room shrunk and taken with us," she said, her tone firm. There was no way she was leaving a single sock here for Petunia to sell.

"Now see here," Petunia said from her place by the door. She had been planning on selling it all and getting some of the money back. She deserved it, dammit.

"All of it," Lily said, staring at her sister like she was something on her shoe.

"Not a problem," Sirius said, waving his wand that Preston had retrieved for him. He shrunk everything with a few waves. He then transfigured a box from one of Harry's toys and placed it all in there. He then picked up the miniature box and put it in his pocket.

"Wicked," Harry said as he turned around and around, seeing there was nothing left anywhere.

"Isn't it," Lily said, lamenting that she didn't have magic. She had tried a few wandless spells and they hadn't worked for her. "Come, Harry, we are leaving. Say goodbye to your Aunt Petunia," she said, sniffing her way past her sister. She held her head high and started down the stairs.

"Goodbye, Aunt Petunia," Harry called cheerfully, not quite understanding that this might be the last time he saw her.

"Good riddance," Petunia sneered as she went to her room and slammed the door shut.

"Nice to see you again, Tunie," Sirius called as he followed the mother and son down the stairs.

They heard the wordless scream of frustration as they left the house out the back door.

"Sirius, I need you to take us to St. Mungo's," Lily said, her hand on Harry's head.

"Lily, I just left there," the man whinged, like he was afraid they would keep him there if he went back.

"Harry needs a physical and his immunizations," she insisted, then she leaned forward and said, "I need to build a case again Petunia and her bullying husband."

"Oh, oh, okay," Sirius said, as he looked closely at Harry. He could see the boy looked small for his age.

"Harry, I'm going in your head again," Lily said, smiling at her son knowing that he didn't care, but she told him each time anyway.

"Okay, Mummy," Harry said through a yawn.

"Sirius is going to take you to the doctors," she explained, then seeing his fear rise she added, "I'll come out when we get there."

"Okay, Mummy," he said again, this time with some wariness.

"I'll be there too, kiddo," Sirius said as he prepared to apparate them there.

"Wait, I have to call Alex," Lily said as she rushed back into the house, straight through the wall.

"So, Harry, what do you do for fun?" the skinny man asked to kill the time.

Harry went into a description of all the toys that he liked to play with and how he and his mummy like to talk about his schoolwork and that he liked to learn.

"Wow, you do keep busy," Sirius said with a laugh when the boy wound down. He was a bit disappointed that his godson seemed to be headed for Ravenclaw, but he loved him anyway. Heck, he'd love him even if he was in Slytherin. He'd just have to get in touch with his inner Slytherin and teach him to be the best one in his class.

Lily came out just then and Harry looked at her funny. "I was talking to Alex, and he'll meet us at the hospital. Then Petunia came down and we got into a small tiff. We need to swing by Gringotts to cancel the stipend for here," she finished. "Okay, let's get this done," she said, and disappeared into Harry's head.

Sirius, never having seen the like, looked around to see where she disappeared to.

"She's in my head," Harry said, giggling at the man.

"Oh, right," Sirius said, picking up the small child. "Hold on, this is going to feel weird," he warned, then he turned, and they too disappeared.

They appeared again in an alley not far from St. Mungo's. You could only directly apparate into the building if you were injured or bringing someone injured. If you were unharmed, then you took the front entrance. They walked to the store front and Sirius talked to the mannequin and they were given entrance.

Sirius walked up to the Welcome Desk and Lily appeared at his side. "We need to see a pediatrician," Lily said, with authority. She was still Harry's mother.

"Is it a potion related incident?" the welcome nurse asked, not looking up from her notes.

"No, a physical," Lily said, snapping her fingers under the nurse's nose, making the woman look at her.

The nurse glared at Lily until she took in what she was glaring at, then she turned her glare to Sirius. "Go down the hall to the left. Third door on the right. Someone there can help you," she said, pointing her hand behind her.

"Thank you," all three said as Sirius and Lily moved to do just that.

"I don't think she likes you, Mummy," Harry said with a worrying tone.

"She didn't like that mummy called her on her rudeness," Lily explained, but then said, "I shouldn't have snapped my fingers at her. That was rude of mummy. Remember that, Harry. Just because someone is rude to you, doesn't mean you have to be rude back," she said, running her hand down his hair.

"Okay, Mummy," the little boy said, thinking hard on that lesson.

"Here we go," Sirius said when they came to the door. It read Child Healer, Madam Pentherst. He opened the door and went to the reception desk. "We need a physical done on Harry here," he said, still carrying the boy on his hip. He was getting tired though. He wasn't in the best of shape.

"Sit over there, and Healer Pentherst will be with you in a moment," the receptionist said, pointing to the chairs lining the wall.

There were toys for Harry to play with, so Sirius let him down. He was breathing hard, and he needed to sit.

"Harry can walk on his own," Lily said with some concern. She wondered if she was asking too much from him.

"I know, but I like being near him," Sirius said, looking at Harry playing with a color changing ball. It was for toddlers, but Harry seemed to be having fun with it.

It was about that time that Alex Preston caught up with them. He came into the room and sat next to Sirius. "I've started the charges of abuse on the Dursleys. They will be looking into Harry's treatment and Dudley's," he said, taking a few sheets of paper out of his briefcase and using said case as a desk, he started doing some work.

"Thank you, we took everything with us when we left," Lily said with a sly voice. They would have a hard time explaining that.

"Good," Preston said, looking up from his work and nodding at her. "The police should be there as we speak. I informed them of the cupboard under the stairs. If they haven't cleaned it out, that will be the most incriminating evidence," he said, then went back to his work.

"The Healer will see you now," the nurse said from the doorway.

"Come on, Harry, let's see the doctor," Lily said, holding out her hand to her son.