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6

Chapter 6: A Few Meetings.

Thanks for all the reviews. They keep my muse aflutter. I think I've pinched a nerve in my neck. It isn't as bad as the first day, but I still have to move carefully. Coupled with my hands, well… I'm a bit loopy with painkillers. I think I did okay though.

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The next morning saw them once again at Gringotts. This time for IDs. Harry needed a health card. Not that they'd use it, but it would be strange if he didn't have one. Sirius needed his identification cards, and a wallet for his debit card. He also got passports made up for the both of them. It was an easy trip that took up a good part of the morning. If nothing else could be said about goblins, it could be said they were proficient.

"Padfoot, can we have some ice cream?" Harry asked seeing the place he and his mummy had ice cream before. He wanted to try one of the many kinds that he had seen that day.

"Not right now, Harry. It's too early," Sirius answered. Knowing that Lily was listening in on the conversation and she'd have his guts for garters if he fed her son ice cream before lunch. "But I'll tell you what, if you are a good boy for the people who are coming later, I'll order some for lunch." There that was a good compromise.

"Mummy says that's fine. Why is Mummy in my head?" he asked both Padfoot and his mummy. She had gone into his head this morning and stayed there. It tickled a bit when she talked to him in his brain.

"Because she doesn't want anyone to see her today," Padfoot said, thinking Lily was telling him the same thing. She said that he had to handle some things on his own.

"Oh," the little boy said, getting the same answer from both adults. "Mummy says she'll come out when we get back to the hotel," he added, whispering it like it was a great secret.

"I know, kiddo," Sirius said, ruffling his hair. "Let's go order some ice cream for lunch. Your Uncle Sirius can put a freezing charm on it and keep it nice and frozen just for you," he said, heading to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. He was going to get something special for the boy. Like Death by Chocolate or some other massive chocolate flavor.

They ordered their pint and made it back to the hotel. Sirius showed his ID to the receptionist, and she took a copy of it and was very thankful that her records were complete. "Thank you," she said, handing it back.

"No problem," Sirius said, adjusting Harry on his hip. "I have some people coming to take our statements today. My lawyer and someone from Child Services. Can you direct them to my room when they come?" he asked, not sure how it worked in the muggle world. If it were the Leaky Cauldron, they'd have to get through Tom.

"If they have your room number, they will more than likely just go on up. However, if they only have your name, then they will ask me. Is there anyone you don't want to know you are here? Your wife, perchance?" she asked, more than willing to chase off the woman who would throw these two out.

"If any woman besides the caseworker, comes looking for me, tell them I'm out," Sirius said, knowing that no women would know he was here. "Oh, and if a man with a long white beard, and hair to match, comes tell him the same. He's my wife's grandfather, and he can't help but stick his long nose in to places it doesn't belong. He would be dressed funny. He never came out of the old ages," he added. He hoped that was enough to get the headmaster off the trail, or that she'd at least call them and warn them if the man did show up.

"I can do that," she said, winking at Harry, who had been watching them with interest.

"The lawyer and caseworker should show anytime now. I have to go and get this little guy cleaned up and ready," Sirius said, tickling Harry's belly. "Say goodbye, Harry."

"Bye," Harry said, waving his hand.

She waved back with a return, "Bye." Then she went back to her job.

"She's nice," Harry said, watching the woman work for a minute.

"It's her job to be nice, but she probably is outside of work too," Sirius said as they got into the lift. He put Harry down now that they weren't in public. He was just too worried about losing the child in a crowd. He had heard horror stories about children getting lost in public. Almost every muggleborn in his dorm had a story about their parents losing them while shopping. He'd have to look up leashing spells.

"Okay," Harry said, not quite understanding how it was someone's job to be nice.

They got to the room and Lily came out of Harry's head. "Harry, baby, we need to talk for a minute," she said, sitting down on a chair and calling him over to her.

"About what, Mummy?" the little boy asked, wanting to play with his toys. However, his mummy was important, so he'd listen to her first.

"I want to remind you that you are to play spy with the lady coming to talk to you, remember?" she said, taking his hands in hers. "You can't talk about mummy," she said, squeezing the hands slightly. It was a cool feeling, but Harry took comfort in it.

"I 'member," Harry said, looking at his mummy in earnest. He didn't want to mess up. They might send him back to live with his aunt and uncle.

"Sirius is going to be there the whole time. He can't tell them about what your aunt did because he wasn't there. But he'll be there to support you. And mummy will be in your head to help you remember," she said, squeezing the hands one more time for reassurance.

"Okay, Mummy," Harry said with all the trust a little boy has for his mother.

"That's my brave boy. You can go play with your toys now," she said, kissing the top of his head.

"Yay," Harry said and scurried off to do just that.

"We'll be here with him," Sirius said to help alleviate her anxiety. She looked like she was going to fly to pieces any minute. Can ghosts have nervous breakdowns? He knew Nearly Headless Nick had anxiety every Halloween. He never bothered to ask why though.

"I know, he's just so young though," she said, wrapping her arms around her chest. "I'm glad that we got him away from there, but he shouldn't have to speak of it again." If she had it her way, he would never see her sister and her slob of a husband again.

"It's for the best," the dogman said, going to her and putting an arm over her shoulder, trying not to let the coolness affect him.

"I know," she said, again, this time with a sigh.

It was then that there was a knock on the door. Lily flew into Harry's head and said, "Be brave, baby."

Sirius looked around to make sure there wasn't anything magical around, there wasn't, and then opened the door. "Alex, come in." He ushered the lawyer and the woman who was with him in.

"Sirius, this is Ms. Abner," Preston said, leading them further into the room. "Ms. Abner, this is Sirius Black and Harry Potter. Sirius is Harry's godfather. He was recently found innocent of crimes he didn't commit. He went to find his godson and found him being abuse. So, he took him from the home," Alex said, waving Harry to come and join them.

Sirius put his arms out for Harry to come and sit on his lap. "He was sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs," he said, anger in his tone. He didn't have to fake it. When Lily had told him about that he'd almost gone back and rendered his own justice. "According to the doctor we saw yesterday, he's too small for his age and he's been emotionally abused."

"Yes," Ms. Abner said primly, "I've read the report. Harry," she said in a gentler tone, "can you tell me about what your day was like living with your Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon?"

So, Harry rambled on, like only a six-year-old could, about how he would wake up and get some toast and water for breakfast, and then help his aunt make breakfast for her family. He wasn't allowed to eat with them. Then he'd have to help clean up and then get ready for primary school. He then went on to tell all about his time in school and how Dudley was a big meanie-head, who wouldn't let other kids play with Harry. He made sure to tell how he wasn't allowed lunch, because freaks weren't meant to have meals in the afternoon. When he got home, Harry was supposed to help his aunt do all the chores in the whole entire house, including cooking dinner. After a dinner of whatever was leftover, he was to go to bed. He had to do his homework in the cupboard when he was tired. And his light had to be off when his aunt went to bed.

Ms. Abner recorded it all on a miniature recorder that she carried with her. It was easier to transpose it later than try to do shorthand on child-speak. She had figured this out within weeks of working with children.

Sirius sat through the whole story with his free hand clinched in a fist. He shared a look with the other adults. They agreed that the Dursleys were abusive and deserved to go to prison.

"Now, Harry, your aunt says that the ghost of your mummy was haunting her. Do you know anything about that?" Ms. Abner asked as she fussed with her recorder, which seemed to have stopped working. It did that from time to time. She didn't see the blind panic that flashed on the boy's face.

"Remember, not a word," Lily whispered in his head. "You're my good spy," she said, sending him soothing emotions, which felt like a caress of silk on his head. It did calm his nerves.

"That's silly. My mummy died in a car accident," Harry said, giggling forcefully. He was trying to sound natural, and he was mostly there.

"I always said Tunie was a crazy b…witch," Sirius said, rubbing Harry's back. That seemed to help the boy calm down further.

"Her husband and son say the same," the caseworker said, finally getting the recorder to work right. She lifted her head and saw them looking at her like Mrs. Dursley had lost her mind.

"I don't know what to tell you. Harry has never mentioned a ghost. If his mother was floating around, he'd talk about it," Sirius said, half truthful. Harry never did talk about his mother's ghost.

"Very well," Abner said, then she asked some clarifying questions. Getting the answers that she needed she turned her attention to Sirius. "I need your ID for the records," she told him.

"Here," he said, handing the new card over.

"Do you have Harry's paperwork? Mrs. Dursley says she didn't have any. How she got him into primary without it, I don't know," Ms. Abner said, taking down all the information off Sirius' ID. Everything on there was fake, but Sirius hit her with a mild confusion charm so that she wouldn't verify it.

"No, I took Harry with only the clothes on his back," Sirius said, lying through his teeth.

"Mrs. Dursley swears that you stole everything she ever bought for the boy," she said, looking around the room and only seeing a few toys on the floor.

"As you can see, we're between residence. I just got out of prison, and need to get new accommodations," Sirius said, setting Harry down and giving him a nudge to the toys. "There is no place for me to hide anything. But you're welcome to look."

"No, I can see you are telling the truth," she said, standing and straightening her skirt. "I have all I need," she added, holding out her hand to Sirius and then Alex.

They both shook it, and Alex showed her to the door. They both relaxed when she was gone.

"Whew, that was intense," Sirius said as Lily came out of Harry's head.

"You both did very well," she said, smiling at Harry and then Sirius. "You were perfect little spies," she added, going over to Harry, and kissing his head.

"See, Padfoot, we were perfect," the little boy said, his face holding a massive grin.

"I do see," Sirius said, sitting back on the chair he had been sitting in.

"My firm will be handling Harry's part of the case. He shouldn't have to testify. I will be handling the magical suits you want filed. We have served the authors of those books and Albus Dumbledore, who is back in the country," Alex said, pulling some papers out of his briefcase.

"More paperwork," Lily asked with a slight chuckle. He seemed to have reams of paper in that case of his.

"Always," the man said with a sigh. He handed a pile of papers to Lily, who read them over while listening to him.

"Albus is back?" Sirius asked, worried they might be found. "Does he know about Harry?"

"Not to my knowledge," Alex said, shuffling through his notes.

"Let's keep it that way," Lily said, with a vindictive grin. She was going to keep her son away from that man as long as possible. She wasn't even sure she was going to send him to Hogwarts. That was a conversation for later. She was still reading the papers.

"I told you yesterday that we found Lupin," Alex said. "He knows where you are, and will be visiting after he gets off work, which will be around teatime."

"Sirius wants to sue the Ministry," she said, turning a page.

"I do?" the flabbergasted man asked as he went to the phone.

"You do," she said, still reading. "For unlawful imprisonment. Dumbledore too," she added.

"What she said," Sirius said, grinning at Alex who was jotting it all down. Sirius then ordered some hamburgers and chips for lunch, with caffeine-free fizzy drinks. It was getting close to naptime. Both he and Harry needed them after they took their afternoon potions. He wanted to be wide awake for when Moony got here.

"I just had a thought; did you tell Remus about me?" Lily asked as she finished reading the papers. She nodded that they were acceptable and handed them back.

"No, I just told him that Sirius was looking for him. I didn't mention Harry either," Alex said, taking the papers and putting them in his briefcase. "I figured you didn't want that mentioned," he added, looking from Sirius to Lily.

"Good call," Lily agreed. They talked about the cases for around ten minutes when there was a knock on the door, and Lily hid where she couldn't be seen. It was room service and they wheeled in the lunch.

"Come on, Harry, let's eat," Sirius said, waving him over to the small table in the kitchenette. Harry rushed over because he knew he'd get ice cream for afters. "Please excuse us for not offering you any, Alex," Sirius said, just thinking of his faux pas. "We're both on potions and need to eat with them. I didn't even ask you if you wanted any," he said, sheepishly.

"Don't worry about it. I have to go anyway. I have a lunch meeting with my partners," the man said, gathering up his things and nodding to everyone in the room. "Have a good rest of your day," he bid to everyone as he moved to the door.

"Bye," Harry said as he grabbed for the child's burger that Sirius had put in front of him.

"Good day to you too," Lily said, going to the door with him.

"Bye," Sirius said, already munching on his chips with salt and vinegar. He was beyond hungry. Those potions made him starved all the time, and he was sure it did the same for Harry.

Lily came over to them and started talking about nothing important, mostly telling Harry what a good job he had done today. "We have to get Harry's records from St. Mungo's. You're going to have to enroll him in a new primary school next year, so you'll need them," she said, tapping her chin. Like Ms. Abner, she had no clue how Petunia got Harry enrolled.

"But," Harry said, not sure if he wanted to go to a new school. Not that he liked the one he was at but going somewhere new was scary. Plus Mrs. Walsh was a good teacher.

"We're going to have to find a new place to live," Lily said, then she got a thoughtful look. Did she really have to find a new place to live? Couldn't she take Petunia's home? It was a family home and Harry was family. She'd have Alex look into that. If there were wards on the house, it might be pertinent to stay there. Something she was going to have to think about. "Let mummy think about it, baby. You eat your lunch, then you can have some ice cream," she said.

"Okay, Mummy," the six-year-old boy said, shoving half his hamburger in his mouth.

"Take smaller bites," Lily said, worried he might choke.

"Yeth, Mummy," Harry said around his food. He really wanted ice cream.

"And don't talk with food in your mouth. You could choke," she said, not sure whether to laugh or scold.

They ate and finally got the afters, which was eaten before they took their potions. Then Sirius and Harry took a nap.

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It was close to four in the afternoon when Remus came to the room. Lily was out of sight until Sirius let the man in. He looked just as ragged as Sirius remembered him, with a few more grey hairs. He must not be using the new potion that Sirius had heard about in the hospital.

"Moony, you old dog, it's good to see you," Sirius said, hugging his friend, ignoring the child clinging to his leg. Harry was still shy around strangers, but he would loosen up in due time.

"Sirius, why do you have Harry?" Remus asked, when he released the hug. He knew it was Harry because he looked just like James with Lily's eyes.

"What? No, 'nice to see you', 'how are you', just jump into why Harry's here?" Sirius said, gently putting Harry on the bed. "Harry, this is your Uncle Remus. He's a fuddy-duddy, but he's a nice guy."

"Hello, Uncle Remus," Harry said, holding out his hand.

"Hello, Harry," Remus said, shaking the hand. "Sirius, you didn't answer my question. Why is Harry here?" the werewolf asked again, this time agitation was in his voice.

"He's here because I want him here," Lily said from behind the man.

Remus whipped around, his wand drawn. He dropped said wand when he saw Lily Potter standing there in living color, albeit see-through. "Lily? How are you here?" he asked, dropping arse first to the floor.

So she explained to him how she manifested and how Harry was treated by her sister. They all explained what had happened these last few days. "Now I need you here with us," she finished, looking at one of her husband's oldest friends. "Sirius can't navigate the muggle world like you can. But before I ask you to do that, where the hell were you?" she asked, glaring at him.

"What do you mean?" the confused man asked, not sure what she meant.

"Why weren't you looking after Harry?" she reiterated.

"You told us not to," Remus said, looking to Sirius as if he could confirm what was said.

"I have no clue what you are talking about," Sirius said, looking just as confused, but for a different reason.

"Albus told me that their wills stated that Harry was to be raised by his muggle relatives and that none of their magical friends were to interfere. I asked Alice, you know before…, and she confirmed it," Remus said, running a hand through his hair.

"I'll be having words with Alice when I see her too," Lily said, upset that both sets of godparents neglected her baby.

"You can't," Remus said, once more looking to Sirius, who was still looking confused. "You guys don't know," he stated. "Alice and Frank were cursed by the Lestranges and Barty Crouch Jr. They are in the Janus Thickey Ward. They are catatonic." He hung his head at that.

"No, not Alice," Lily said, ghostly tears forming in her eyes. "What of Neville?" she asked, looking at Harry, who had gotten bored with the adults and was reading by the window.

"He's being raised by his grandmother," Remus said, lifting his head and looking at the spectral form of his friend.

"That old battleaxe," Lily said, her tears drying up. "His life is probably just as bad as Harry's was. I wish there was something we could do," she said, knowing they really didn't have much prospect of seeing the boy, let alone help him.

"I can check on him," Sirius said, thinking hard on that. "Bellatrix was part of my family. I can go to make amends. I am the Head of the family now," he added with a shrug. "Grandfather came to me the night I was in St. Mungo's and handed the headship over. He said it was better that it was in my hands and not Malfoy's." And hadn't that been a surprise.

"If you could take Harry with you," Lily said, wanting to see her godson for herself. If he was being mistreated, then she was going to give that old hag a piece of her mind. She turned to Remus. "Are you still Dumbledore's lapdog?" she asked, giving him a 'you'd better not be' look.

"No. Once the war was over that man had little use for me and he left me high and dry," Remus said, angry over the way he was discarded. "He told me that Sirius was guilty of his crime, that Peter was dead, about what your wills said, and that Harry was safe. That was the last I heard from him," he snarled.

"I can tell you that Peter is not dead," Sirius said, a growl in his voice, which was matched by one in Remus'.

"We'll find him," Remus promised, then he turned to Lily. "So, no, I'm not anyone's 'lapdog'."

"Good, then you can move in with us and be my eyes and hands. I am thinking of moving back into my sister's house. It was left to her by my parents. If she hasn't taken a mortgage out on it, then it will be a free house," she explained her plan to them. "However, there is a rather large concentration of kneazles there. I think Albus has a spy planted."

"Probably that batty old woman, Figg, or something," Sirius said, remembering her from the Order meetings.

"That sounds about right. She's a squib, so she'd know how to live in the muggle world," Remus agreed, also remembering the cat lady.

"We would have to get to her first, before she reports to Albus, if she already has not," Lily said, then she remembered that Dumbledore had already been served. "Never mind, he already knows something is up." She explained what Alex told her.

"Are they going to arrest him?" Remus asked with an air of someone who already knew the answer.

"They're going to try," she said, giving him a small smile.

"Fucking ministry," Sirius said, slouching in his chair.

"Mummy, what does fucking mean?" came the question no parent likes to hear.