Author's Note:

Hey guys! I'm so sorry it's taken so long. It was really hectic last year. I was flat out all year with school work, not to mention I was literally unwell in some way all year. I then tried to update during the summer holidays and then discovered I had a huge writers block. It was ridiculous. Couldn't think of anything. Then I started Uni in March, and am now on my semester break. I'm still majorly blocked, but I'm gonna try and get something out so I'm sorry if it doesn't turn out very well. PS – One of my friends from uni introduced me to Doctor Who (2005) and through that I discovered Torchwood. So majorly obsessed – and have various little ideas floating in my head for both of them – Torchwood being mainly one-shots, and Doctor Who has a couple one-shots with one big Harry Potter crossover one. So expect to see them coming soon as well.

Disclaimer:

I do not own any of the characters, scenes or rights of Harry Potter. They all belong to J.K Rowling!

Warnings:

There may be some mild cursing. This story is a total AU story. So don't complain about the differences in the story to the original, because it is an AU. You have been warned.

Chapter 8: Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

Amelia Bones was sitting in her office, enjoying her afternoon tea, and still slightly smirking at the fact that she had been right about Sirius all along. She knew that the day after their meeting he had gone into Gringotts with those two who had brought Pettigrew in – and wasn't there just something slightly off about those events? – and she knew that Sirius had most definitely got his back at Dumbledore. Not fully though, oh no! Even though it was plainly obvious that Sirius had basically disinherited the old Headmaster – she just knew that he would be getting some more punishments from Sirius very soon and most likely Remus Lupin too. Of course – the entire British Wizarding World knew about Sirius' thoughts of the Headmaster, most likely the International ones as well, considering how important Dumbledore was on the International scene. She would forever mentally thank whoever was in the Diagon Alley with a camera that day. When the Daily Prophet showed up with a full page print of the moving picture with the caption – 'Third time's the charm?' - well let's just say, the entire DMLE heard her amusement. But, back to the two that had brought Pettigrew in, there definitely was something off about them and their story – well how they found Pettigrew anyway, but she wasn't going to check it out. What was the point? In her mind, the two men, even if they had invented covers and a story as to how they found Pettigrew – had most definitely found him, and then allowed an innocent man the trial he should have got all those years ago. If they wanted to stay anonymous then so be it! That's their prerogative. And she was pretty sure that out of those in the room, she was the only one who had enough sense to even see the way their story was just too perfect, and if anyone else came to her questioning it, she would send them on their way, saying that she had already investigated it. Honestly, those two men should have been given medals for doing a job the Aurors should have done a decade ago. Doesn't matter that it was just after a war, it doesn't matter how incriminating the scene is, you always, always, have a trial. It is a basic right! Yes, Sirius had been laughing like a manic, but she was sure anyone would have been after losing two of your best friends, finding out the third was a traitor, that your godson had been taken away from you and then been caught what looked like to be red-handed at the scene of a murder, by one of the most pitiful students Hogwarts had ever seen. Yes, she most definitely would have lost her mind temporarily as well.

Shaking her head at the plain idiocy that was the Ministry, Amelia set down her tea cup. She looked from the cup to the pot and then to the stacks of paperwork on her desk that she had to go over. Did she have time for another half an hour tea break? Looking morosely at the paperwork she sighed and decided that no, the evil paperwork had to be done before it took over her office again. Picking up her quill, she was about to take the first of the pile, when a very official looking notice appeared on her desk. Adjusting her glasses she peered at the letterhead of the parchment, and noticed that it was from Azkaban. Immediately she felt her shoulders tense, she only got official notices from Azkaban when something had either gone horribly wrong or something terribly complicated and dramatic was about to happen. She rather dreaded what this one would say.

ATT: AMELIA BONES
HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF MAGICAL LAW ENFORCEMENT
MEMBER OF THE WIZENGAMOT

HER EYES ONLY

Dear Madam Bones,

We have a rather urgent issue that you must attend to as quickly as possible here in Azkaban. As you know when a wizard or witch is sentenced to serve time in Azkaban, there is only two ways they can then appeal the decision by rights of a retrial. The first being new evidence brought to light, such as what happened with Mr. Black three days ago. The other however is a much larger headache. When someone has been accepted into another family, or back into and old one. Now this is more of a headache because Magic herself demands the retrial, because for someone who has been sentenced to Azkaban to be accepted or reaccepted into a family means that there is new evidence, and it is always the old families who do this. This has not happened to anyone since the Founders time when a muggle born student was accused and sentenced to life in Azkaban for the murder of a pureblood classmate. Helga Hufflepuff accepted the student into their family on a temporary basis as she knew it to be untrue. When retrialed it was revealed that the pureblood child had wandered a little too close to a muggle settlement and was practicing their spells, was caught and then burnt at the stake. As they were only a student, they didn't have the knowledge to get out of it themselves, and thus perished. Lady Hufflepuff later came to care for the child as her own, and officially adopted them into her family, as Lady Hufflepuff was unable to have children and the child was an orphan – but I digress. It was discovered earlier this morning, on one of the rounds of the prison that one Mrs. Bellatrix Lestrange had been screaming more than usual, and when confronted she replied that she was a Black. Magic then changed her appearance to that of a Black, bathed in the household robes and her appearance changing back to what it was before Azkaban. As per the requirements, we have moved her into one of the holding cells away from the Dementors, and ask for one of the Aurors to come and collect her as quickly as possible so she can be held at the Ministry until the trial. We assume that Lord Black will be turning up there at some point as well. We are sorry for the unavoidable headache that you will no doubt be getting shortly.

Thank you for your time,
Alexander Nobel
Head Warden of Azkaban Prison

Amelia set down the letter and her glasses before pinching the bridge of her nose. She could already feel the headache coming on. Calling the Wizengamot for a trial twice with four days. She could already hear the complaints. Sighing once again – she was doing that a lot today, she called for Kingsley. He came into her office five minutes later and from the look on her face, he could already tell that he would soon be getting a headache.

'Kingsley, I am sorry to have to ask you of this ... again.' Kingsley looked to his boss in confusion, what could she be asking of him – again?

'Sorry, but what are you talking about Madame Bones?' Amelia felt a pang of sympathy for the man she trusted most in the Aurors, she really wish she didn't have to send him again.

'I need you to go and collect Bellatrix Black, formerly Lestrange from Azkaban and bring her to a Ministry holding cell, and then to organise with two other Aurors to have a rotating guard on her until her trial – hopefully tomorrow afternoon.' Kingsley was terribly confused – Bellatrix Black? Since when? Oh – of course, Sirius.

'I will do so straight away Madame Bones, and there is no need to be sorry.' She smiled at him thinly as she dismissed him. Looking back at her paperwork and then to the tea pot on her desk, she decided that the paperwork could indeed wait. She was going to have at least another hour for her tea, send the summons for the Wizengamot and go home.

Pouring some tea into her cup, she sighed and wondered why she was so surprised. Sirius Black was out of Azkaban after all, and with the wrong imprisonment and the death of his godson, she was sure this was only the first of many surprises to come. Shaking her head, she sent a locking charm at her door and sat back to enjoy her tea.

-HPatNF-

Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office, absently sucking on some lemon drops. He was still a little put out with Minerva – she was still giving him the silent treatment. Of course, that should have been expected. The memory charm on erased what he had revealed in his office, not the fact the Harry Potter had run away, and oh had he got a very frosty glare the next morning when his death had been revealed. He knew he had several more days; maybe a week or two left before Minerva started speaking to him again. Of course, she wouldn't be friendly. No, he doubts that she would ever be friendly to him again, but she'll stay at the school, and trust his judgement – mostly. Perhaps he should start dosing her with a potion to help with that, make her trust him fully again? Definitely something to think about. But if he did that to her, he would have to with the rest of the staff as well. Madame Pomfrey had even refused to mend his nose for him, after Sirius had broken it – and wasn't that prophet article just absolutely humiliating. But he had to keep up with his kindly grandfather disguise. Everything he was doing was for the greater good after all. But it really was such a pain that he was going to have to start training the young mister Longbottom to be the prophecy child – and it would be a great deal harder with his grandmother. Well – she was old after all...

Oh well, he would think on that later. Glancing over to Fawkes, he couldn't help smiling a little. He knew that he would never have to question any of his decisions. As long as Fawkes was around, he knew what he was doing was what Magic herself wanted him to do. He couldn't let anyone else hold his title as Leader of the Light – he was doing so much good. Even the Elder Wand had accepted him. Yes – he was doing everything for the greater good.

Unsticking two lemon drops, he popped one into his mouth, humming at the taste, when a little ping alerted him to the appearance of a letter. Looking down at his desk, he frowned. The only letters that got sent to him automatically were for the Wizengamot and the International Confederation of Wizards. But the both of them didn't have a meeting planned for another month, and there was talk about the Wizengamot's being pushed back because they were unexpectedly summoned for a trial.

Glancing down, he noticed the Wizengamot seal, and assuming it was just the date of the rescheduled meeting, he picked it up with no trepidation. When he looked at the letter though, he realised that he should have felt some unease at the sudden letter, because what he read almost made him seethe with rage. But no, that wouldn't be becoming of the Leader of the Light. Setting the letter down he pushed down the slight surprise he felt at the fact that Sirius had done such a thing. Bellatrix was a Death Eater after all. But, he supposes, one should always expect a surprise or two with Sirius Black around.

-HPatNF-

Lucius returned to his manor at ten o'clock that morning. Having stayed at the manor in Paris overnight, because he had been far too intoxicated to even think about using the floo or apparating – and there was no way that he would use something as plebeian as the Knight Bus. When he entered his home, he expected to see his wife waiting for him dutifully in the lounge with Draco perhaps studying the Dark Arts by the fire, or failing that, the same type of situation in the Library. Failing to find them, he called Dobby, expecting him to come and tell him where his wife and heir were. When he too failed to show up, he started to quickly lose his temper and barked for an elf. When the elf showed up, quaking in its filthy pillowcase, he demanded to know where his wife, son and Dobby were. He didn't particularly care about the pitiful elf, but he was a damn good for hex practice when it came down to it. Couldn't do too much harm to his wife or heir, now could he?

'Pippy is not knowing sirs. They disappeared last night sirs, not long after master left for his funs.' Pippy quacked in fear as Lucius' eyes lit up in rage. Kicking the elf out of his way, he stormed through the manor until he came to his son's room. Looking around and through the wardrobe and drawers, he quickly realised everything was gone. His rage stepping up a notch, he quickly stormed to his wife's room to find it in exactly the same state. Screaming his rage, so that it echoed through the entire manor, he stalked to the library to check the vault. There was of course no way that his traitorous wife could have got into it – but he to check anyway. Entering the Library, his parent's portrait that was guarding the vault quickly stopped their chattering. They watched as he approached them, with their damn judging eyes. Their damn portrait always looked at him like that, and if it wasn't for the fact that the manor would not allow the portraits to be removed, he would have chucked it into his Gringotts vault a long time ago. Looking at them with rage colouring his expression, they swung open without a word, hiding their smirks all the while. They weren't going to feel guilty for helping poor Narcissa and their grandchild get away.

Opening the vault door, Lucius' eyes bulged at what he saw. It was empty. Nothing in sight. He had a small fortune of valuables in there, along with quite a few thousand galleons. How in the name of Mordred did that wench get into his vault? Slowly shutting the vault door and then the portrait, Lucius scowled at his parents with accusing eyes.

'You told her.' He said simply, no emotion in his voice, just a simple statement of fact.

'Yes.' His father said, his voice mirroring that of his sons. Lucius' face started to scrunch up in rage, viciously stabbing the brief hurt he felt at the betrayal of the pictured version of his parents.

'Why?' He ground out, rage seeping from his very pores.

'Because what you did to her and your son was abominable. You treated them horribly and they deserved to get away from you.' His mother stated it simply, not regret in her voice, but disappointment at her son shining through her eyes.

Lucius raise his eyebrows in disbelief; he was trying to figure out how she could have got away in the first place. The marriage contract made her his unless the Lord of one of the families annulled it – and there was no Lord Black. Scowling at his parents and turning to storm away and find his property and chain them to the manor, it wasn't until he was at the library door that he heard his father's last cutting remark.

'Thank Merlin for Lord Sirius Black. They would have died here otherwise.'

Surprise etched on his features and through his heart, Lucius' jaw dropped before he arranged his face in a furious scowl. Sending one more glare at his parents' portrait like a petulant child he stormed through his manor to his study determined to read the Prophets from the last week. He could believe that Black was out of jail, and he knew with him around there would be even more surprises to come.

When he did arrive in his study, he wasn't prepared for the summons to Bellatrix Black's retrial. Surprise indeed, he thought a short time later after he let out another scream of rage.

-HPatNF-

A short while later, Harry woke up to find himself in his bed at Remus' cottage. Wondering how he had got there, he slowly got out of bed and headed for the door. At least he tried to, before his legs gave out, still a bit week from the unblocking. Groaning, Harry had almost decided to crawl, when both Remus and Sirius turned up in the doorway. He heard his mum and dad giggling in the back of his head, and knew, just knew that his two new parents had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to come in.

Glancing up at them through his eye-lashes, Harry saw the glint of mischief in their eyes. Grumbling slightly, he grabbed onto the bed to lift himself up and mumbled –

'And how long have you been standing there?' Seeing that they had been busted, Remus and Sirius grinned. Sirius went to help his pup into bed again, sitting down next to him, whilst Remus passed him a tray of food and sat on his other side.

'Only a few minutes. We set up a monitoring charm, so we knew when you were waking up.' Remus explained as he checked to make sure Harry didn't get a temperature through the night, which was always a possibility with so much of his system being blocked. Seeing that he was fine, even though the charm would have told him otherwise, he hid his mother henning by brushing Harry's fringe away from his face. By the grin that Sirius gave him, he knew that his actions hadn't been unnoticed. Neither noticed that Harry did his best to withhold a flinch at the movement, but his talk with whoever those people were the other night seemed to have helped, and he only flinched with his eyes and not his whole body like he had in the past. His parents congratulated him in his mind, but he was also worried. They seemed to be getting quieter for some reason, and when he tried to ask them why, they refused to answer. Pushing it to the back of his mind for now, he picked up a slice of toast and started to nibble on it.

'So,' Harry started, 'what's the plan for today?' Sirius and Remus looked down at their new child fondly before Sirius began to explain,

'We thought we could go over our rather extensive list of properties and choose one to move into. We can then decide when we want to explore the rest. We also need to go shopping, since none of us have very good clothes anymore. I also need to get in contact with my cousins; the family ring informed me that all of them accepted my offer. And then we can organise a schedule of some sorts so we can start teaching you things you need to know, but also so that it's not too full on for you.' Harry nodded absently, thinking that it sounded more than a day's worth of work.

'Wait, what offer?' He asked in mild surprise. Sirius looked at Harry, who was just finishing off his second piece of toast, and didn't seem to be able to go for any more food, which was understandable from the malnourishment and the unblocking –

'Well, I have three cousins who I haven't seen in some time. They are all sisters, but their father, along with my mother were bad for the House of Black, and were extremely set in their ways. They hated anything they saw below them, and unfortunately, that was quite a lot of things. The eldest sister; Bellatrix, was married off unwillingly to a man who had similar views to her father and my mother, and they did something to her that made her conform and become a Death Eater with them. She was sentenced to Azkaban just before I was. The second sister; Andromeda, went against her father and was kicked out of the family, and had a curse placed on her, to not be able to see anyone in the family again. The last sister; Narcissa, was again married off to someone that she had a crush on in school, but when the contract was finalised he showed who he truly was and it wasn't someone she wanted to be with, she didn't even want to marry him in the first place. It was just a crush. But any who – I sent them all letters last night, offering them acceptance back into the House of Black, which in the case of Bellatrix and Narcissa would annul their marriages, and for Andromeda let her whole family in. She has a daughter in her late teens now, and for Narcissa it allowed her son – who is your age, to also become a black. And for Bellatrix it allows her another trial so that the misdeeds done to her would come to light and she would be set free.' Sirius finished his rather long explanation and looked down at his godson, worried that it had been too much too fast and perhaps too heavy, he noticed that Remus had the same expression in his eyes; but he wasn't going to regret telling him. Harry deserved to have the truth told to him after so many years in the dark. To his relief Harry just nodded thoughtfully, and finished off his glass of orange juice.

'So?' he looked up to them, a bright grin on his face, 'where should we live?' Sirius and Remus both shook their heads and got up to follow Harry, who had grabbed his tray and dashed down stairs. They found him putting his dishes in the sink, and what looked like about to start washing them, Remus however put a stop to this by shooting off a spell at the dishes, making them wash themselves. Harry glanced over, grinned in embarrassment and followed them into the lounge where all the folders of their properties were.

Sitting down in front of the coffee table, Harry's mouth dropped open at the amount of folders that were on the table. He knew that Remus only had this cottage and his manor, and that Sirius had about ten properties all around the world, but that meant that most of those folders, most of those properties belonged to – him. Chuckling at the look on Harry's face, Remus and Sirius had a quick discussion, deciding to just sort through Harry's properties, and live in one of those, because Lupin Manor had been empty for so many years, and without house elves, that it would need a while to decontaminate. It was also decided to veto the Black properties, because although they had a couple of house elves, it was unknown how many dark artefacts and creature could have been left to breed and stain the houses over the years – and that they would need cleaning and decontaminating too, before they could venture inside.

Looking over to Harry, who had finally managed to pull himself together, they told him of their decision. Harry nodded, not minding at all, because it would allow him to get to know his family better. In total, Harry had 150 properties all over the world. They were able to knock out 125 of them straight away, them being either too small (such as flats, apartments and houses with less than 6 bedrooms) or falling apart, and in need of serious repairs. Of the last 25, they were able to knock out 12, all of them, but one Potter properties the other Rothwood Mansion, because they didn't have the type of facilities that they needed. That left them with 13 properties to choose from – Potter Manor, Evans Manor, Rothwood Manor, Gentry Castle, Ravenclaw Manor, Hufflepuff Gardens, Gryffindor Fortress, Slytherin Manor, Emrys Castle, Fortress LeFey, and Pendragon Manor, and as a last thought, they also eliminated Camelot, thinking it could wait for another time. When looking over the list, they realised there was one missing, quickly realising that it was Hogwarts, and eliminating it for obvious reasons.

Remus, Sirius and Harry were quite overwhelmed by the choice they now had to make. Each of the 11 final properties had everything they needed. It had the room for them, the Black extended family and anyone else they might need to give refuge to, they all had extensive libraries, armouries, potions labs, herbology centres, training rooms and more. In the end, they decided on Evans Manor. They decided this because Potter Manor had too many memories for Sirius to go there so soon after Azkaban, and it might be a little too much for two of the Black sisters, the founders, Pendragon, LeFey and Emrys properties were ruled out as they wanted to keep those secret for the time being, and explore them on their own. What they held they couldn't risk being found out by Dumbledore or Voldemort (who they were sure was still out there), or the Ministry for that matter. Yes, they thought it was best to keep those close to the belt for now. Rothwood and Gentry properties were ruled out simply because of the history they held, and because it was thought that the lines had died out, they thought that although not secret, they wouldn't broadcast that there was a survivor of those two powerful lines. Evans Manor was the best choice as it was easily explained for coming from Harry's mother's family, and it would allow Harry to be close to them, and it wouldn't overwhelm anyone. It was the best choice for everyone involved, and the location was also great. Held in the Welsh countryside, it was far enough away from any immediate threat or Wizarding populations that they wouldn't have to worry – too much.

The process of choosing a property had taken the three, three hours, and they were all exhausted. Unfortunately, the day's work was not done. Sighing, Sirius transfigured his robes into something smarter, so he could go to the Ministry and meet with his cousin. Harry and Remus however changed their appearances, but not their height or agapes, so that they could go to Gringotts and get some money for the muggle world to do their shopping, but also to get some much needed supplies from Diagon Alley.

Promising to meet up with each other on the Muggle side of the Leaky Caldron, Sirius used the flu, whilst Remus popped himself and Harry into the dingy back yard of the Leaky Caldron that led to Diagon Alley.

-HPatNF-

AND DONE! Okay guys, I know that wasn't the best, but it's certainly moved it along, and got rid of a bit of my writer's block. I am still working on this, and it will never be abandoned, and neither will my other fics, except maybe that Sailor Moon one, which I absolutely loathe at the moment. Anyway, another chapter or two of this and I can start on the thick section of the story. YAY! I'm sorry again for the long wait, but they will come out. I promise.

Ciao for now,

LoopyLooney

xx