Chapter 64: Harry Potter - part 2

When the meeting came to an end, Sirius Black asked Harry if he wanted to try and live with him. Harry had eagerly jumped at the opportunity of leaving the Dursleys' household, and when Harry told them where he was living at the moment, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin got furious. They had met Petunia and Vernon Dursley during his parents' marriage. And they had not liked them even a little. Petunia had shown an extreme hate to everything magical and Vernon was the same to anything that he didn't consider normal. They both had made a scene in the marriage's reception and were escorted out of the party. The last time that they had heard about them was when Harry's mother, Lilly, had gone to try and talk with her sister. Her mood after the meeting was legendary if the words of Sirius Black and Remus Lupin could be taken into consideration. Sirius even said that Harry's parents had a list prepared of people that could, if they agreed with, take care of Harry in case of their deaths, and that the Dursleys had a special section on it as the list of 'who could never care for Harry'. Professor McGonagall then said that the Potter's will was never read and Sirius Black promised Harry to look into it with his new 'powers' as Lord Black.

The next week saw the arrival of the new Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Correction: Professors. Two Aurors had volunteered to teach the students, they were Aurors Moody and Tonks. Auror Tonks ended up being their main teacher while Auror Moody added extra bits to the lesson while casting red and green sparks at the students at random times to keep them on their toes. The students had two options: duck or die. At least that was what Auror Moody told them.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!"

The roughed Auror always yelled. The idea was that the best defense possible is to always keep your vigilance up. The bubbly Auror was a good teacher. She had adopted Professor Ravenclaw's methodology of teaching, saying that it was very practical. Even more with the 'neat illusion spell' that he had taught to her. Yeah, in Harry's opinion, Defense Against the Dark Arts was his favorite class now.

But one change that really creeped him out came from Snape. The giant dungeon's bat had been very… tolerable during his classes and out of them. The man had stopped breathing on everyone's necks and deducing points for any minor and irrelevant stuff. Harry learned with that that he could, indeed, brew a decent potion when he had no one nagging at his every move. The older students said that it was because Dumbledore was not the Headmaster anymore. Albus Dumbledore protected Snape's actions for some obscure reason that only them knew about. Some of the more wild rumors said that it was because Snape was the bastard son of the past Headmaster.

Near the winter holidays, during a meeting that was scheduled between Sirius and Harry, Sirius Blac brought another person. Harry had already seen people dressed like that in the school. Body entirely covered by a gray cloak with face obscured too. Ron had said that they were the Unspeakables, and worked at the Ministry with very secretive stuff. Sirius introduced the man as Unspeakable Croaker and said that he had a situation to talk about with Harry and his, Sirius Black, presence there was just because he was Harry's guardian. The Unspeakable talked to them about the existence of a prophecy, why it was important and why it was because of it that the Dark Lord had gone after the Potters that Halloween's night. The Unspeakable then went on how the Dark Lord was still alive and what they were doing to finish the monster for good, but that the last step could be done by them or the prophecy's power would guarantee the Dark Lord's survival again.

Harry was ready to start yelling about his rotten luck when the Unspeakable continued to talk. Croaker then went on what they could be doing about it that would not need Harry's direct intervention. Harry was shocked about that. Just signing a paper could see him not needing to directly handle the Dark Tosser. Sirius snickered at the face that Harry was making at the moment. Harry was ready to give his godfather a piece of his mind but held himself after better analyzing the prophecy's words. He was eager to sign a contract with the Unspeakable after that. It was then that Croaker and Sirius Black started to talk about the terms of the contract with Harry just listening to them and offering his words when asked or needed. Soon, they had the contract ready and it was signed by the three of them. Sirius had handed Harry the thirty sickles asked by the contract and Harry had given it to the Unspeakable. The thirty silver coins' reference was not lost to Harry and he thought that it was poetic. With the contract signed, Croaker said his goodbyes to the duo and left the castle. Harry and Sirius talked about some random stuff and Sirius asked if he wanted to spend his winter holidays in his home. Harry agreed promptly, even after Sirius saying that it would be a temporary home while his other homes were being cleaned and cleansed.

Sirius Black said too that he had looked around about his parents' wills and found that its reading was blocked by the Wizengamot. Who had blocked it was uncertain, but he told Harry that he suspected that there had been people with not good intentions to Harry's well being and saw the will as a stone in their path. Harry would have to visit Gringotts about it being reopened and Sirius would be with him for it.

Harry's winter holidays started in a very good mood. His travel in the Hogwarts Express was a peaceful one. For a first, Draco Malfoy had not seen to grace Harry with his presence, something that he was very grateful for. But then, again, this was his first time using the train to go back to London for the winter holidays, so Harry didn't have too much ground to compare with. Sirius was… exuberant in his welcoming in London. The man was holding a huge banner that read 'Harry Potter's welcoming party'. It would have been 'ok' if the 'party' word in the banner didn't flicker to 'madness' every five seconds or so. Together with Sirius Black was Remus Lupin and a woman that looked to be in her thirties. She had very dark brown hair that was almost black, gray eyes and a very elegant look. Sirius introduced her as Andromeda Tonks. She was his cousin and was there to keep Sirius… exuberance in an acceptable level. After Harry asked her, she confirmed that she was, indeed, the mother of his current Professor for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Auror Tonks.

Harry had decided one thing: he hated side along apparition. The nausea caused by it was awful. The home that Sirius had rented for them was a good one. It was small, according to his words, but for Harry it was perfect. It was a two story house that had four bedrooms on the second floor. It had, too, a big lounge room where an undecorated christmas tree was waiting for them. Sirius said that he wanted to put the decorations up with him. After taking his stuff to his room, Harry had helped Sirius and Remus to decorate the tree but the glare that Andromeda was giving him was bothering him. After they were done, and while they were having dinner, which was cooked by Andromeda, she announced that he would be taking Harry shopping for new clothes on the next day's afternoon while Sirius was in his meeting in the Ministry with Director Bones. Andromeda said that no heir of house Black and Potter would be seen dressed like a 'muggle hobo'. It was then that Harry understood the woman's glare at him. Harry made mention to say something about not wanting to be a bother, but he was cut by Andromeda saying that would be no bother. He then mentioned about not having much money, and everyone started to laugh at that. Harry was confused and it was then that Remus Lupin explained to him that the Potters were one of the most well off Magical families in the British Isles, losing only, maybe, to the Blacks. Harry told them about only knowing about his one vault in Gringotts and Sirius explained to him how it was probably only a thrust vault and that the money inside would be replenished to a fixed amount by the vault of the family on his every birthday. At least that was how it had worked for him and James during their times at Hogwarts. It was something that they would have

"And of course Sirius is the one that will be paying for it. After all, he has ten years of christmas and birthdays to compensate."

Andromeda added sweetly. Remus Lupin started laughing at it and Sirius ended agreeing with his cousin while mumbling something about never wanting to discuss with a woman with Black blood. Harry took that as a warning and thanked the woman. The next day, Harry and Andy, which was how she had asked him to call her, went on, literally a shopping spree. They bought a little of everything and Andy just didn't buy even more because she knew that Harry was under treatment and was expected to grow a lot more in the next six months. Back at home, they were dead tired and found Sirius Black downing a glass of whiskey together with Remus Lupin.

"It's done. The Dark Lord is no more."

It was the only thing that Sirius said to the duo. He then offered a butterbeer to Harry and served another glass of whiskey to Andromeda, who accepted and downed it. Harry had liked the flavor of the butterbear. The next day, a well dressed Harry Potter and Sirius Black entered the Gringotts Bank. Sirius had scheduled a time with the manager of the Potter account. Three hours later, a still shocked Harry Potter exited the bank accompanied by his godfather. Harry was a really rich boy. He even had a ring in his little finger to boast about. Not a thing that he would do, of course. Unfortunately, or fortunately, everything was 'frozen' until his seventeenth birthday or, if he wanted, fifteenth birthday because he was the last Potter alive. Exiting the bank, he decided to buy gifts for his friends. Harry got presents for all his friends. He even had bought his teammates from Quidditch and Professor McGonagall a little something.

The next day, news was received that a lot of condemned Death Eaters had died in their cells, victims of the Dementos that guarded the prison. Andromeda, who was visiting, and Sirius mourned together for their sister and cousin respectively, but not for the mad crazy Bellatrix Lestrange, and more for the sweet sister and cousin that she had once been when young.

Harry's Christmass was, in one word, brilliant. He had gotten a lot of gifts, but what he liked the best was the company. Christmas lunch even counted with the presence of his 'Professor Tonks'. For the first time in his life, that he could remember, of course, he felt as if he was part of a family.

Back at Hogwarts, Harry's life went back to normal. Or as normal as a magical school could get, of course. The new History teacher was amazing, and as Lord Ravenclaw had said, the classes taught the effects that the important events had in both communities. The most prude purebloods whined at the beginning about having to learn about non-magical history, but then, using history examples, they saw the importance of knowing how things could reflect in the other community.

The year ended peacefully. Harry had gotten good marks in all his tests. Even an 'Exceeds Expectations' in potions. Hufflepuff had won the House Cup and he was ok with that, after all, Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup. No students to be saved, no artifacts to be protected, and the most important of all, no more attempts on his life. Yes, this year was a good one for Harry Potter.

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