Harry eyed his surroundings and his company. Lucius Malfoy was looking at him with a twisted sick smile on his face. His usually elegant long hair was dirty and matted giving him an insane look and his robes were torn in places. Two years on the run obviously did him no good. Goyle on the other hand, even though he was dirty and had the signs of someone who had had a rough time lately, was much more composed than Malfoy.

“Did you like my little trick Harry? Did you really believe Draco would just betray me like his mother did?” Malfoy asked him.

Harry said nothing. He wasn’t exactly sure where he was. He could see it was some sort of cave but he could not see the entrance and he needed more information if he wanted to escape. He needed to know if he could just Apparate out- thank God for the Apparition lessons given during the past term-, or if he would be splinched because of the wards put up by Malfoy and Goyle.

“He has always been loyal and in touch with me. He let me know you were in Diagon Alley,” Malfoy said producing a mirror just like the one Harry’s dad had. “I was the one to tell him to pretend he was agreeing with Narcissa’s and Black’s plan in order get near you and your father,” he said approaching. “Your daddy won’t be coming,” he laughed and Harry’s blood ran cold. What had Malfoy Jr. done to his father? “And no one will find you. I worked for months to completely ward this place. I even have the Fidelius Charm on it and Draco is the Secret Keeper. That’s why the Portkey worked for you, because I taught Draco how to do it. Your little rescue team can get their noses an inch from this cave but they won’t hear your screams, and you will scream; Crucio!”

Harry withered with pain as he fell to the floor, and just like the last time he had been under this spell he bit his lips so as not to cry out and give Malfoy the satisfaction. Once Malfoy lifted the curse Harry laid panting on the floor and evaluated if he should draw his wand. There was no way he could take both Malfoy and Goyle on his own. He’d be overpowered and lose his only weapon if they remembered he still had his wand in his wand holster. Malfoy said they were under the Fidelius, that no one could find them, unless…

“This is your entire fault Potter! My life was ruined because of you and you will pay. Oh, I’ll kill you alright, but not before you beg for death, and I have all the time in the world,” Malfoy said in a deranged tone that reminded Harry of Bellatrix Lestrange; maybe his grandparents weren’t the only ones to marry cousins in the family?

“That’s assuming I won’t escape, after all your boss decided to play with me last time too and we all know how that  ended,” Harry spat trying to provoke Malfoy into wanting to kill him.

“Crucio!” Malfoy cried and Harry was once again taken by pure agony. Once he took the spell off, Malfoy hissed dangerously, “That was the traitor’s fault. I did my homework Potter. If you hadn’t taken that curse for that vermin you wouldn’t be here now. Oh, yes. Dumbledore may think no one figured out what happened, no one figured out about the Dark Lord’s protection but I did,” he laughed but Harry had stopped listening at vermin and his blood had been rushing in his ears. He didn’t even hear Goyle ask:

“What protection? Are you keeping things from me Malfoy?”

“Shut up Goyle!”

“My Uncle is not vermin!” Harry cried standing up with shaky limbs.

Malfoy turned to him smirking, “Oh, he isn’t is he? Your precious Uncle?” he sneered. “Do you really think he loves you?”

“Yes he does,” Harry said through gritted teeth, his fists balled up.

“Oh,” Malfoy said innocently tapping his wand against his cheeks. “So here is a little tidbit you and your daddy don’t know: Your precious Uncle Severus Snape was the one who eagerly relayed the prophecy to the Dark Lord.”

Harry had no idea what prophecy Malfoy was talking about but he would not show ignorance in front of him, “So?”

“You don’t care?” Malfoy asked surprised.

“No,” what did Harry care if his Uncle Sev told Voldemort something?  He knew he had to give Voldemort some information to keep up his spy role.

Malfoy smiled dangerously, “You are a mystery Harry Potter. Good thing we will have plenty of time to unveil you.”

Harry was getting frustrated with all the talk. He figured that by now after his initial abduction and all that time Malfoy wasted just smirking at him when he first arrived, his dad and Uncles would have had time to call for help. It was time to let them know where he was. So Harry did the stupidest thing he could think of. He launched himself at Malfoy summoning his wand and crying, “Sectusempra.”

He, of course didn’t manage to catch Malfoy who jumped aside and he was also, of course restrained by Goyle in a second, but he did manage to anger Malfoy who now sported a bleeding arm. Malfoy quickly healed his arm and turned to Harry.

“You know what? You’re right, I won’t dawdle. I’ll kill you now, but don’t worry, I’ll make sure the curse I use not only kills you but does it slowly and painfully,” he raise his wand and cried “Viscus Fervefacio” when about half a dozen witches and wizards appeared out of nowhere.

Hestia quickly threw a stunner at Malfoy making him topple over and forcing his curse to miss Remus who had been right in front of Harry by inches and also Harry when Goyle pulled him back. Hestia quickly bound Malfoy while Severus, Remus, Albus, Kingsley and a young Auror had their wands trained on Goyle who had his wand digging in Harry’s throat.

“Let me go and he won’t get hurt,” Goyle said.

“Don’t be stupid Goyle,” Severus said. “You are outnumbered. If you hurt him, we’ll kill you and you can’t Apparate out of here. I can feel the Anti-Apparition ward.”

“You Apparated,” Goyle said flatly.

“We had special help,” Remus said simply, there was no need to elaborate on the fact that by provoking Malfoy into trying to kill him, Harry activated the strongest link in the Lupin bond enabling them to Apparate through the wards.

“If you surrender yourself without harming Harry that will be taken into account,” Kingsley said.

“You didn’t hurt me,” Harry tried to reason. “Only Malfoy did. And you pulled me out of the curse’s way. You looked like you didn’t want to be here.”

“No I didn’t,” Goyle growled. “I wanted to have left England long ago. But Malfoy is a strong Wizard and is the one  who has money outside of England. I don’t, so I needed him to get to his money. But he wouldn’t leave. He was obsessed with revenge and we had to live like bums for almost two years,” his anger turned into disgust and he said,  “That curse makes you melt from the inside out. No one deserves that. You’re the same age as Greg.”

“Yes, think of Gregory,” Albus pleaded. “Do you really want his father to be dead?”

“No,” Goyle huffed. “But I don’t want him to have an insane father either.”

“The Dementors are no longer in Azkaban. We have human guards now. We have started to look into the way Muggle prisons are run and tried to copy their style. They are more humane with their prisoners. The only difference is our prisoners have a magic binding band now so you won’t be able to escape. There is no need to drive you insane in order to suppress your magic anymore. I worked myself on this project,” Remus explained. “You won’t be free, Goyle, but it won’t be torture either and your son will be able to visit you.”

“He will?” Goyle asked hopefully.

“Yes,” Kingsley nodded.

Slowly Goyle’s wand went down and he dropped it as he released Harry. Remus and Severus quickly pulled him towards them and Kingsley and the young Auror secured Goyle.

“What happened to dad?” Harry asked worriedly into Remus’ chest.

“He’s just sleeping,” Remus assured him wrapping his arms around Harry. “He’ll be in a right mood when he finds out he missed the action.”

Harry smiled and Severus said, “Let’s take you to Poppy.”

“I’m okay.”

“Yeah, right,” Severus snorted at Harry’s slightly shaking limbs.

Xx

Sirius was in a right mood all right, and Draco was lucky that the Aurors had escorted him to a holding cell at the Ministry before Sirius woke up. As Draco was already seventeen he would be tried as an adult and probably sentenced as an accessory to kidnapping and attempted murder. Questioned under Veritaserum, Draco coped to having aided his father but also confessed that his father had ordered him to poison Sirius and kill him, but he didn’t have the guts to do it and decided to just knock him out for a few hours. On one hand Harry was grateful for his father but on the other hand Draco knew he was handing Harry to be killed.  So the bottom line was, Draco didn’t have the courage to kill himself but had no problem if someone else did the job for him.

The trials had been swift and Lucius Malfoy got life in Azkaban in the maximum-security war and Draco got a fifteen-year sentence since he just didn’t pull the trigger but had conspired with murder. But the fact that he hadn’t killed Sirius and this was his first offense counted towards his favor. He’d get out of Azkaban when he was thirty-two and would be able to build his life again. Narcissa Malfoy had to be taken out of the room after the sentencing as she was hysterical. Sirius arranged for her to stay at a clinic that would take care of her. After all, both male Malfoys confessed to her not knowing anything and she was still a Black. But he disowned Draco. He didn’t want to have anything to do with the boy ever again. He had tried his best but in the end Harry was right; Draco didn’t want to change. He was no Regulus no matter how much Sirius may have wanted him to be.

Goyle Sr.  was tried for this crime and for his previous crimes as a Death Eater. Because he gave himself up and because it was discovered that he had shown mercy in some of his Death Eaters raids, he was sentenced to fifty years in Azkaban. He would be an old man of over ninety when he got out but Wizards tended to live to be two hundred  so he  wasn’t terribly upset with his sentence.

Sirius had become a mother hen again after he woke up in the Hospital Wing with a dosed Harry next to him and a haunted Remus and Severus at their bedside. He had also been surprised that both his bed and Harry’s had been attached to each other, and in the middle of them Hestia was sitting and holding his hand and Harry’s. She turned to him and said:

“Scare me like that again Black and I’ll kill you. And by the way this is your fault,” and she kissed him right there.

Remus and Severus did not look as shocked as he expected.

“She had to explain what she had been doing in your quarters when you wouldn’t wake up and how she had the password to get in,” Severus shrugged and then scolded Sirius. “You could have told us. We thought you were going mental!”

Sirius hadn’t left Harry’s side for the rest of the school year unless he had to teach; he had even put an extra bed in the Gryffindor’s sixth year dorm when Harry refused to stay at the Marauder’s Quarters to the dismay and discomfort of the other four boys in the dorm. And he had lectured Harry to never, ever again accept a Quidditch game with a former enemy.

The rest of the term and its finals passed by quick enough, and soon everyone found themselves at the decorated garden of the PWA where Tonks and Remus had decided to hold their wedding since it was where they had started socializing more often and had helped in their relationship so much. Besides, Tonks would never forget the place where Remus first asked her out.

Friends from the Ministry, the Order, the school and the PWA were gathered together. The former five-year-old, now seven-year-old girl named Christie who was on the first group of werewolves to be given the Permanent Wolfsbane, entered carrying the rings.

Her parents watched her proudly from where they were seated next to Mrs. Weasley who they were forever thankful for the attention she gave to their scared little girl at the time.

Sirius was once again standing proudly as best man and Albus had commented, “Always best man, when are you becoming the groom?” and he stared pointedly at Hestia. Sirius scowled.

“She doesn’t want to be tied up by an institutionalized ceremony. She believes a piece of paper won’t keep people together.”

“I’m sure you’ll manage,” Albus said simply patting Sirius shoulder.

Hestia had started spending some nights at Grimmauld Place but she didn’t want to move in. Especially since Harry had been a little uncomfortable with the new addition. When Ginny had asked him why when he was over at the Burrow, since he had no problem with Tonks, he shrugged.

“I dunno. Tonks is family; she was always there. This is just different and strange. I like Professor Jones, don’t get me wrong, so I don’t know why this bothers me but it does.”

Standing next to Sirius in the mounted up altar, Remus’ face lit up completely when Ted Tonks entered escorting his daughter. Her white dress was beautiful and Remus could not help but chuckle at the fact that her long curly hair was the same shade as Andromeda’s. After all the fights Tonks put up she finally conceded in wearing her normal hair color.

The ceremony was beautiful and Andromeda had been a fountain of tears through the whole thing. She had especially bawled at Remus’ vows:

“You were not the only person that accepted me as I was but you were the one who scared me the most by doing that, because then I would have no reason not to open my heart to a woman’s love and that was totally unknown territory for me. You were kind and funny while you guided me in this new land and I hope to walk this land with you forever.”

Tonks had been choked after that and had smiled through her own tears, “You were a tough one to get Remus John Lupin. I’m not as good as words as you but I just have this to say, you were worth all the trouble.”

They had kissed and been pronounced husband and wife- and Sirius, Harry, Albus and Severus had clapped and cheered loudly from the altar. When he realized what he was doing- Severus promptly stopped and glared at the students who were in the crowd pointing at him.

This party had been quite different from the last wedding they had been.  For one Sirius and Hestia were not drinking and fighting. They were in fact dancing with each other, as were Severus and Emmeline, Ron and Hermione, Neville and Hannah and many other couples including Harry and Ginny. Harry had quickly asked Ginny to dance before anyone else could and he did not let her go until the end of the party when the Weasleys started getting ready to leave. Before they stepped through Harry made a bold move:

“May I do something?” he asked.

“What?”

“You’ll see.”

“Okay,” she shrugged and he instantly caught her lips with his for a quick kiss. Once he pulled back he smiled sheepishly, “Well if you enjoyed it you know where to find me.” And he ran out of the room leaving a bewildered Ginny behind who had no time to react as her mother came close and started ushering her towards the Floo.

Xxx

A few days later when Ginny Flooed to Grimmauld Place and demanded answers, Harry said simply, “I’ve been wanting to be your boyfriend for over a year now. What do you think about it?”

“Well,” she said, “We could try.”

And thus started a blossoming relationship that had both of them Flooing back and forwards between the Burrow and Grimmauld Place.  Remus and Tonks had been delighted to hear the news when they got back from their honeymoon in Paris.

Fortunately, this year Harry was spared from spending two weeks at the Dursley’s as the protection was about to expire anyway and the summer seemed to fly by and before he knew it- Sirius was being rudely awakened one morning:

“Dad!”

Nothing. Harry shook Sirius again.

“Dad! Wake up!”

“Hum,” Sirius mumbled burrowing in his pillow. “Where’s the fire?”

“Come on or I’ll go alone.”

“Where?”

“Ministry!”

“Why?”

“Apparition license.”

“What?” Sirius asked confused.

“I’m seventeen!” Harry said gleefully and Sirius bolted upright:

“NOOOOOOOOO!”

“Come on dad, you knew this day would come.”

“Nooooo!” Sirius cried again hugging Harry’s head to his chest tightly.

After his initial denial- Sirius couldn’t ignore the huge banner proclaiming Harry’s birthday, or the nice breakfast the girls, Twinky, Dobby and Kreacher, who had come from Hogwarts especially for the occasion, had made for Harry. Or the fact that the Weasleys, Dumbledore, Neville, Hermione, Andromeda, Albus, Ted, Severus and Emmeline had come to have breakfast at Grimmauld Place. After all, breakfast at Grimmauld Place was not that popular unless there was a good reason, and apparently his son becoming of age was a good reason.

After breakfast he and Harry went to the Ministry where Harry passed the test with flying colors and now was the proud owner of his Apparition license and could disappear from Sirius’ view in the blink of an eye. After that they headed towards Gringotts where the official papers for Harry claiming his inheritance were signed. He also wanted to go to his vaults and to the Potter’s vaults where he knew James had left something for Harry. In his own, he scooped up a box that he hadn’t touched for sixteen years since he recovered the item from within the ruins of Godric’s Hallow. In the Potter’s vault he and Harry took a letter addressed to Harry. Once back in the bank’s atrium Sirius said hoarsely.

“Tradition states you should get a watch on your seventeenth birthday. A long time ago I decided you’d get a used watch,” he opened the box and took out a pocket watch and gave it to Harry, “This is the watch your grandfather gave your father on his coming of age.”

Harry took the watch reverently. It was like his cloak; something that had been touched by his first dad, something they could both share.

“This,” Sirius said producing the envelope he took from the Potter’s vault, “Is a letter to be given to you on your coming of age. The Potter’s had a tradition for a father to write a letter for his son’s coming of age on the day of his first birthday. This is yours. James wrote this on the day you turned one,” Sirius said smiling sadly. “I wasn’t there on that day. I was on a mission. I thought we’d have plenty of your birthdays to celebrate together,” he shook his head as if to clear away the sadness, “but I came later and James told me in case something happened to him,” Sirius voice broke and he and Harry both had tears in their eyes. “He wanted to make sure I knew you had to read this today and to give this to you.”

“You did dad,” Harry said hugging Sirius.

Once they got home Harry closed himself in his room and with trembling hands opened his letter from James. His dad’s last words for him. He never expected what he found out.

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