Disclaimer: Not mine

Chapter 5

Sirius grinned at Remus as they led the two children into Diagon Alley and up to Gringotts, finding the Granger family already within, exchanging Pounds for Galleons. They'd received their supply lists and were now going to do their shopping for the coming year. Amelia had wanted to come but had to work, trying to use some of the things Sirius had overheard from other prisoners to push for new trials for some 'reformed' Death Eaters. She also hadn't forgotten the visit Harry had received from the house elf. Sirius wasn't looking forward to September 1st when he'd have to say goodbye to Harry until Christmas, but it was necessary. They'd all noticed Harry coming more and more out of his shell since his Birthday party, finally appearing to accept that this new life wasn't a dream. The time had flown since the party with lots of excursions around Britain to let the kids experience the culture of their home, magical and non-magical.

Hermione greeted Harry with her normal enthusiastic hug before greeting Susan as well. Sirius was happy to see that whatever her parents had said to her appeared to have sunk in well and she had said nothing to Harry about his relatives. The entire Granger family would be returning to Bones Manor with them for the last few days of holidays, letting them see what a magical home was like and allowing them to take them onto the Platform via the Floo so that they could see the Express for themselves.

Once done at the bank they headed for Madam Malkin's for new robes. Harry had finally hit a growth spurt thanks to all the healing and good meals. He needed a whole new wizarding wardrobe and while he was being fitted, Sirius helped Susan convince Hermione to buy more robes for wearing outside of class. Once done they headed to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary to restock potions kits, then on to the pet store for owl treats. They left the bookstore for last, knowing there would be issues dragging Hermione out.

When they approached Flourish & Blotts they found a line out the door and signs up announcing Gilderoy Lockhart was doing a book signing. The girls were instantly excited while Harry cringed back slightly at the sight of the press.

"We can come back tomorrow," Sirius offered quietly, not wanting to make him uncomfortable, but Harry shook his head and straightened up, making Sirius proud. They moved past the line and entered the store only to run into a confrontation between the Malfoy's and Weasley's. The divorce was in the works but obviously they were keeping it quiet until it was done, and Sirius was glad the man was at least seeing to his sons schooling one last time. Though he did wonder if the boy knew what was coming. He'd told Harry who hadn't been very happy to find out Draco would soon be a Black, but Sirius had promised they would not live in the same house and that his old behaviour would not be tolerated. "Finding trouble Lucius?" Sirius asked even as he shifted the kids behind him, feeling Remus move to cover the Granger's, just in case.

Lucius stiffened and turned, to see Sirius Black, looking every bit the Pureblood Lord, staring him down. "Lord Black," he forced himself to greet stiffly.

"Maybe you should move on," he suggested, and Lucius nodded.

"Come Draco, we have more to do."

Hands remained close to wands until they were gone and then Sirius turned to face the Weasley's, smiling in greeting and offering his hand to Arthur. They'd been in the Order together although not close due to the age gap. "Good to see you again Arthur, hope he didn't cause you too much trouble."

"No trouble Lord Black," Arthur answered, and Sirius shook his head.

"Sirius, please. And I hear you know my Godson," he gently tugged Harry forward and Arthur smiled.

"Hello Harry,"

"Hi Mr. Weasley," Harry answered, gaze drifting to where Ron stood, face red as he took in Hermione with them. Harry flinched slightly when Ron turned and walked away, deeper into the bookstore.

Arthur looked between the two boys in concern. He'd been buys with Ministry raids, but he'd heard the twins arguing with Ron one evening early in the holidays about Harry. Ron had inherited the redhead temper and seeing Harry's reaction he was becoming concerned about what may have happened. He glanced down and saw Ginny staring at Harry with wide eyes. "This must be Hermione? And hello Miss Bones," he recognised the other redhead who said hello in return. "I don't believe you've met my youngest, Ginny. She's starting Hogwarts this year."

"H...hello," she stammered, blushing and Harry managed a smile.

"Hello Ginny."

"Go find your books kids," Sirius nudged them into the stacks and motioned Arthur aside. The Grangers and Remus followed the kids. Sirius pulled out the letter Ron had sent Harry and offered it to Arthur. "Harry's mail was being intercepted when he was with his Aunt, everything he sent or received was stopped. He sent a letter explaining that to both your son and Hermione, this was Ron's response. I sent him an invitation to Harry's Birthday and never received an answer, I was hoping the party would give them a chance to reconcile before school."

Arthur read the curt, angry note and sighed, this had to be what the twins had been taking Ron to task over. He knew Ron wasn't the brightest of his children and hearing he had made friends with Harry and Hermione had been a relief. With only two friends his son couldn't afford to alienate them and yet that was what he had done. "I will speak with about it. Of all my children Ron is the quickest to anger and slowest to let it go," he admitted. "some of this may be upset, Ron's pet, Scabber's, went missing around the same time."

Sirius nodded in understanding, he'd never had a pet at school, but he'd seen the reactions of several students whose pets had died or disappeared, and it hit them hard. That gave Ron some leeway in his behaviour and he would let Harry know. The boy still owed Harry an apology for that letter and ignoring the invite. He would wait and see, hoping his opinion of the boy would be proven wrong, for Harry' sake. The two men began saying their goodbye's when sound of an altercation reached them and they pushed further into the store to see Harry struggling to get loose from Lockhart even as Susan kicked the man's ankle, making him yelp and let go of Harry. "What in Merlin's name is going on?" Sirius demanded even as Harry rushed to his side and Sirius quickly checked him over.

"He just grabbed me!" Harry answered.

"He said the two of them were front page news," Susan added, glaring at the author she had admired till he had treated Harry like that.

"I suggest you stay away from my Godson, Lockhart. And I better not see any pictures of Harry in the Prophet," he glared at the photographer. "Come on kids, lets finish up and get out of here."

Lockhart opened his mouth to argue only to spot Lord Black's wand and nod. The last thing he wanted was to duel the man, he knew where his strengths lay.

They quickly purchased their books, plus a few extras for Hermione's 'light' reading and then left to get. Treat of ice cream before heading back to Bones Manor where Susan led Hermione up to the room next to hers. Sirius showed her parents to the room that had been prepared for them, enjoying their wide eyes. It was always fun to introduce people to more of their world.

The last few days of holiday were spent swimming and relaxing since all of their homework was done. The night before the Express all three kids packed their new trunks, gifts from Sirius. They were of far better quality than the basic Hogwarts trunk, with each kids family crest emblazoned on the top, Sirius had to ask Dan to find the Granger crest, but he had eventually. They also had better locks than the standard, using magical signature rather than a key or spell. Each trunk had four compartments, one for clothes, potions and ingredients, books and then any other equipment in the fourth. It made it a lot easier to find things and meant they could live out of their trunks rather than unpack if they wanted and Harry decided he would be doing that. He liked the idea of his Dad's cloak being safe from the other guys in the dorm.

Sirius nocked on Harry's door that evening and was let in to find Harry looking a little down. "Hey kiddo, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Harry denied quickly as he triple checked his trunk.

Sirius had learnt not to believe that answer, it was an automatic response left over from life with the Dursley's where he had to hid when upset. He sat on the edge of the bed and watched Harry fuss. "Come here, I've got something for you," he patted the bed and Harry moved to sit beside him. Sirius removed a package form his robes and handed it to Harry who glanced up for permission before unwrapping it.

"Umm…" a mirror?

Sirius chuckled. "It was your Dad's, I have it's partner. These mirrors got us through a lot of detentions and helped with pranking." He pulled his own out. "Harry Potter."

Harry nearly dropped his as it vibrated. "What?"

"Say 'accept'."

"Accept," Harry said and watched his reflection fade away to reveal Sirius' face.

"With these we can communicate instantly while you're at Hogwarts."

Harry stared in awe and then hugged his Godfather, he'd been worried about relying on owl post after having his blocked this summer. "Thank you," he whispered, feeling Sirius hug him back.

"No problem kiddo. You call whenever you want or need to. If I don't answer I'll call you back as soon as I can. Anything weird or dangerous happens you call immediately and keep calling till I pick up, understood?" He asked and Harry nodded.

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The morning of the express they were all up in time for a hearty breakfast before they all Flooed to the station, trunks shrunken and in their pockets. Dan and Emma were taken back by the platform and train, it was old and quaint, like something from a century ago, then again, the whole Wizarding World was like that. They still had twenty minutes until the train left so, they all went aboard to help the kids pick a compartment. Harry had let Hedwig fly on ahead, not wanting her to be stuck on the train for hours. He had his mirror in a pocket, just in case. They settled in after showing Dan and Emma around the train and the adults retreated to the platform to wave goodbye. At the last second the Weasleys' ran for the train and quickly boarded. They waited quietly to see if Ron would seek them out but for now at least he seemed to be staying away or he just hadn't found them yet. Susan pulled out a deck of cards and they began to play as the train pulled out from the station.

It wasn't long until the door was yanked open to reveal Draco Black. Harry knew about his name change because he was Heir Black. "This is all your fault scarhead," he snarled, wand drawn.

"I had nothing to do with Lord Black's decision.," Harry answered, head up. He would not cower from Draco who had surprisingly come alone. "If you want to blame someone, blame Lucius Malfoy for joining a terrorist organisation and then divorcing your Mother and disinheriting you. Sirius didn't make him do that, he chose to."

"I don't believe you."

Harry shrugged. "I'll get Sirius to owl you a copy of the letter he sent Mr. Malfoy and you can see for yourself. Now, leave."

Draco puffed up to argue only to notice three wands aimed his way. He turned and slammed the door shut.

"Well…that could have gone worse," Hermione offered after a few minutes silence and Susan nodded. They went back to the game and when the trolley came around they bought a few snacks, nowhere near what Harry had bought first year but this year he was well fed before getting on the train.

When the door opened again they tensed but it was a young girl, obviously a first year, with light blonde hair, silvery eyes and radish earrings. "Sorry to disturb you."

"No problem. Are you looking for someone?" Susan asked.

"My friend, Ginny Weasley. I'm Luna Lovegood."

"Susan Bones, this is Hermione Granger and Harry Potter," Susan did the introductions. "You can sit with us if you like?"

"Oh, thank you," she went to drag her trunk in, but Harry cast a featherlight charm on it before hoisting it into the racks. With Sirius and Remus staying at Bones Manor it had enabled them to practice spells and Harry had made sure to learn useful ones like that. Luna took the empty seat beside Susan, pulling out some sort of magazine.

"What is that?" Hermione asked curiously.

"The Quibbler, Daddy publishes it," Luna answered, letting Hermione look.

Hermione looked through it and wanted to scoff but Harry caught her eye and she refrained. It was like those trashy papers that reported alien abductions, but she guessed it would be rude to say that. She handed it back to the younger girl. "What house do you want to be in?"

"Ravenclaw would be nice, I love reading," she smiled and that drew Hermione into a discussion of various books, leaving Harry and Susan to chat over cards. Eventually it grew dark and Harry stepped out to change in the bathroom while the girls used the compartment. They packed up everything they had used on the train and soon they were pulling into the station and saying goodbye to Luna while she headed for the boats.

Harry froze as they approached the carriages. "What are those?"

"What?" Hermione asked in confusion.

"Pulling the carriages."

"There's nothing there," Hermione argued.

"Auntie said they're pulled by Thestral's which can only be seen by those who have seen death," Susan offered before an argument could start. That silenced Hermione even as Harry nodded slowly. Harry looked away from the skeletal beings and got into a carriage, not wanting to think of the one death he had seen, his Mother, he didn't really remember it though. Their carriage remained quiet as they rode towards the castle.

TBC…