Chapter 9: A Meeting, and the Summer’s End. Part 3

Hermione noted that Harry was holding something back. She understood that there are inconsistencies with Black, but she felt that he knew the truth behind the inconsistencies.

"What else do you know about Sirius Black?" Hermione asked as she narrowed her eyes a little at Harry.

"That I know where Sirius Black is and that I have talked to him," Harry replied neutrally. The rest of the group widened their eyes at his statement. "I have also confirmed his story and I know that the official story is a sack of horse shite."

"Language Harry," Hermione murmured. Harry just rolled his eyes.

Silence pervaded the tent as the other three took their time to digest what they just heard. Hermione slowly asked, "Can you please tell us the whole story as to how you even got to talk to him?"

And so, Harry told them the events that transpired a few days ago including the names of those who were involved. Neville had no visible reaction but the other two were quite taken back. Neville looked Harry directly in the eye.

"Andromeda Tonks, Bellatrix's sister?"

'This might be unpleasant.'

"Yes, she is. Why?" Harry questioned tentatively. Neville did not comment, but Luna's eye grew wide. Hermione kept looking between Harry and Neville.

"Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband, her brother-in-law, and another Death Eater tortured my parents to insanity just after You-Know-Who supposedly died," Neville revealed with no small amount of anger.

Hermione sucked in a deep breath and Luna shivered slightly. Harry knew that this might be a slight issue for Neville, he did not know how to address the matter other than to directly confront Neville.

"I understand. I would not be happy if any of you were associating with anyone close to Voldemort. But Andromeda is not her sister. In fact, Bellatrix tried to kill her multiple times for marrying a muggle-born, she even killed her mother for helping Andromeda in secret," Harry described. "Please don't judge her by her sister's mistakes."

Neville hesitated slightly. "I will try, that's all I can do. "

Harry gave a sigh of relief, "That's all I can ask of you."

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Harry finished his morning routine and visited Andromeda for a weekly examination. She ran her diagnostic spells on him and took several notes.

"The good news is that you have recovered completely from any physical and magical trauma from your past. Your parent's ritual made it much easier than it should have been for you to recover," Andromeda concluded with a smile.

Harry let out a breath of relief. Andromeda tussled his hair and Harry no longer flinched to her touches. Her signs of affection did not feel too intrusive for Harry and oddly he felt a sense of comfort from them.

Andromeda waved him off. "Now then, off you go. I believe you have much to do today."

Harry got up and gave a wave. With a pop, Dobby appeared and popped him back to his tent. But as soon as he arrived at the tent, confetti covered his vision, and he closed his eyes and brought his arms up to guard his face on instinct.

"SURPRISE!"

Harry slowly opened his eyes and he saw the Grangers, Ted and Tonks, Luna, and Neville all wearing huge grins on their faces.

"Well now I know how stupid I looked when you pulled that stunt on me," Neville grinned.

Harry still couldn't wrap his head around what happened. Just then, Dobby popped in with Andromeda.

"Did anyone get a photo of his face?" Andromeda asked with a smirk. Ted just held up his camera and chuckled. She walked to her husband and kissed him on his cheek.

"Happy Birthday Harry!"

The group clapped and Tonks hollered along with. Hermione clapped her hands together. "Right then, let's bring out the cakes for the two birthday men."

John and Ted brought the two cakes, and they sang:

"Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday dear Harry and Neville~~

Happy Birthday to you~~"

Confetti burst into the air once more, Harry and Neville looked around in wonder. Harry had never really had many positive associations with his birthday other than Hagrid revealing his status as a wizard.

Neville on the other hand had not celebrated his birthday with anyone but his Gran and her brother. He would visit his parents at the hospital every year for his birthday, but beyond that, he had didn't really associate much with the day.

"Now stop looking around and blow out your candles! I need some cake, so get on with it," Nymphadora smugly grinned. Andromeda rolled her eyes and pinched her daughter's waist who grimaced and shot her mother a dirty look.

The duo mutely nodded and blew out their candles. They cut their respective cakes and slowly went around the room and fed each one a bite of the cake.

'Moments like this make me glad that I came back in time.'

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All the guests took their leave except for the Tonks family. The afternoon felt like a blur of fun and Harry noted Neville would pinch himself every now and then as if he believed he was dreaming.

Just before the Tonks family left, Andromeda said, "Harry would you like to come over for dinner?"

"I would love to," Harry affirmed, and Andromeda kissed both his cheeks before she joined the rest of her family and walked away.

Harry turned around to see Dobby wearing a bright smile. "Thank you, Dobby."

Dobby shook his head. "Ms. Hermione was the one who put this together."

"I am sure you did your bit in helping her out," Harry mentioned. He saw the small pile of gifts by the corner of his eyes. Yes, it truly is a good day.

Suddenly Dobby popped away and returned after a couple of minutes. It was an official letter from Gringotts. Harry tore the seal and read the contents.

"Thank you, Dobby."

Dear Mr. Potter

With the help of your law-wizard Mr. Tonks, we have completed the sale of the basilisk parts. I assure you that we have taken every measure to assure your confidentiality and that all the extracted venom is accounted for.

Below is a breakdown of the sale and costs associated with the sale:

Selling Price : G 6,000,000

Salvaging Costs : G (200,000)

Administrative Costs : G (150,000)

Sales Tax : G (500,000)

Final Earnings : G 5,150,000

In addition, we are in the process of drawing the necessary documentation and carrying out the process necessary for a discrete distribution of funds for all affected victims of the said basilisk. The distribution of the reparations will be ready within the next two weeks.

I look forward to working with you in the future.

May your gold be everlasting, and your enemies are vanquished,

Eversharpe

Harry folded the letter, satisfied with the outcome and the processes. He checked for the time and realized there were still a couple of hours till dinner.

'Well, time to get a good workout in.'

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Harry arrived at the Tonks household at about half-past six. He rang the doorbell, and he heard a crash from the other side of the door. Harry shook his head in exasperation. What were they thinking, sending the clumsiest human being alive to get the door?

Tonks opened the door with a sheepish smile. Harry gave a look of bemusement. "One of these days you going to trip and take all of us down with you."

"You must consider yourself to be of great fortune and privilege to fall for me, sir. I only consider the finest to be my amour," Tonks retorted snootily.

'Though I think you are someone who deserves the world, your future husband sure didn't think of you that way of you and your unborn child.'

"What, like being able to walk on two feet without tripping every five seconds? Also isn't an amour supposed to be an illicit lover?" Harry smirked.

Tonks narrowed her eyes at the new teenager. Harry just stared at her blankly. That was how Andromeda found them. She rolled her eyes at the childish duo. "If you two want to bicker, please get inside the house first. I don't want the neighbors to think that my daughter is some loose woman who is having an affair with a boy who is barely a teenager."

Tonks's hair turned a bright scarlet and Harry stammered like a bumbling idiot and they quickly scampered back into the house, much to Andromeda's amusement.

Ted leaned against the stairs the whole time; he observed the whole situation from the start to finish. "She is taking a liking to the boy, like her brother."

Andromeda unconsciously placed a hand on her midriff. Her shoulders slouched a bit. "She would have been a great sister."

Ted walked up to his wife and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Andy, I love you no matter what. The past is the past, we can do nothing to change it."

She nodded solemnly. Ted placed a hand around her waist and led her to the dining room.

As soon as Harry entered, he saw Sirius stood next to the table. Sirius shot him a nervous smile. "Happy birthday Harry."

Harry grinned widely and walked up to the man and hugged him tightly. Sirius froze in shock and looked over Harry to the rest of the Tonks family. Andromeda mouthed, 'Go on.'

Sirius hugged Harry back tentatively. It felt surreal to him. He was destined to never see the light of day; much less be able to ever see Harry or any of his loved ones ever again.

Harry slowly removed himself from Sirius, he still wore a wide grin. "How are you feeling? Andy said that you needed to recover, so we weren't allowed to see you."

Sirius ruffled Harry's hair and he expected Harry to bat his arm away. Much to his surprise, Harry's countenance just got brighter. "As good as I can be. Without Andy, I wouldn't have come this far."

Andromeda quipped, "You did your fair share of hard work, Sirius."

Sirius teased his older cousin mischievously, "Oh? Whatever happened to my older cousin who refused to compliment me? Something like I would have a bigger head than my shoulders can carry."

Andromeda huffed, "If you don't want a compliment, then say so."

Sirius barked a short laugh and sat down. Harry quickly sat down next to Sirius and Nymphadora sat across Sirius. Soon dinner was served, and they all merrily started to dine together.

Conversation flowed, jokes were thrown about at each other's expense, but it was all in good fun. Sirius relentlessly teased Tonks with Harry. Nymphadora was distraught now that there were two rascals that will always annoy her. Andromeda would snipe with her usual sharp barbs and Ted could barely keep himself from doing spit-takes every five minutes.

Once the table was cleared, the Tonks family retreated to the other parts of the house, leaving Sirius and Harry alone. A comfortable silence grew between the two.

"I am sorry Harry that I was not around for you," Sirius started with a wistful visage. "It was my foolishness that led to all of this."

Harry shook his head. "Don't blame yourself. It was not your fault that things happened the way they did."

"I was the one who convinced James to change the secret keeper. I was the who, instead of taking you away, ran after the rat!" Sirius exclaimed with no small degree of pain.

Harry gave him a wry smile. "Ever since you told me that story, I kept thinking 'would I have done things any differently in your shoes?'."

Harry drummed the table with his fingers and Sirius observed him carefully. "I came to realize that it is possible that I would do the same. Anger makes people do things that never would do in a hundred years. Besides, I don't have much in the way of family, I could use a few here and there."

Sirius smiled widely and Harry grinned in response. The two spent the next couple of hours talking about their experiences at Hogwarts. Harry told him some of his adventures, Sirius offered some of his adventures with his father. Soon, Harry left the Tonks residence and headed back to his tent.