Bright and early the next morning found Sirius and Harry in the ritual room behind the library. Harry's hair was still sticking up from bed, but Sirius was nicely groomed. They stood on opposite sides of the pedestal. Both were decked out in robes, Sirius' a bit more pressed than Harry's. The boy looked like he slept in his.
The man made a mental note to get Harry kitted out. No relative of his was going to wear rags. He had seen the stuff the Dursleys had giving him and they were only fit to be burned.
He had tried getting Harry clothed better in the past, but with him being housebound, and Harry at the Dursleys it just never happened. For now, Regulus' stuff would do, even if they were a tad too big. A small bit of elf magic, and they fit well enough. Say what you will about his late brother, the man could dress.
That thought sent a pang of regret through him, but he shook it off and focused on his soon to be new relative.
Just then Harry let out a huge yawn. He covered his mouth with his forearm and forced his eyes open.
"Tired, Harry?" Sirius asked, grinning like a loon. "I thought you'd be excited."
"Oh," yawn, "I am. I just had a lot on my mind last night. I don't think I got to sleep until two this morning. Sorry," the teen said, stifling another yawn.
"Well, we can hold it off again, if you're that tired," Sirius offered, knowing that Harry hadn't wanted to do this last night because he was sleepy.
"No, I'm awake, mostly," Harry protested, stifling another yawn. "My mind is clear, it's my body that's all lazy," he added with a smirk.
"Don't worry about it. You don't need to be awake, just standing," his godfather teased. "Though, I have to warn you the ritual itself might get you going," he added, winking at the half-awake boy.
"Prat," Harry said, giving a tired smile.
"Alright, I'm going to put my hand on this spike. It'll make me bleed a bit. Not much," Padfoot added at the boy's shocked look, "just enough to get done what we need. It doesn't even hurt. It's spelled to be painless. So don't freak out or anything. You're not one of those that pass out at the sight of blood are you. Your dad did when you were born, it was funny as hell."
"No, blood doesn't bother me," the boy said, perking up at that bit of info on his dad. "Did he really pass out?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow, thinking Sirius was pulling his leg.
"Twice," the older man laughed. "Right when Lily broke his hand, and just after you crowned. I had to pick him off the floor both times."
"Right, well I should be okay, as long as there isn't' too much blood," Harry said, more awake now that they had that little chat.
"Most of it will stay in the bowl. It'll look like a lot, but it really isn't. besides, I have a blood replenisher in waiting for me when we're done," his godfather assured him.
"Okay, that does make me feel a bit better," the teen said, still eyeing the sharp spike with distaste. There was dried blood from past use matting the barb. "Do I have to put my hand on it?" he asked, knowing that it was unhygienic to share something like that.
"No. You are going to slice your palm and add your blood to mine. It will mix with the potion I poured in," the other man explained, pointing to the acid green potion in the basin around the spike.
"Eww, I don't have to drink any, do I?" the tired boy asked, his nose and face scrunched up. Again, wavering over sharing blood.
"No, gross. Why would you even think that?" Sirius asked, his face just as screwed up at Harry's.
"Don't know. Just a thought that popped in my head. I mean, how else would your blood adopt me?" Harry inquired, staring in horror at the pedestal. He had no idea where that thought came from, but the last thing he wanted to do was drink blood. He would, but only if it were entirely necessary.
"Um, magic," the dogman stated as if it were obvious.
"Right, remember I'm still relatively new to all this. And they don't teach ritual stuff at Hogwarts," Harry said, almost snapping at his godfather.
"They don't?" his godfather asked, a bit perplexed. "It's a part of how magicals work. Rituals are supposed to be the foundation of all magic," he explained at his godson's confused look.
"No, and I don't know why. How would I?" Harry answered with a shrug.
"Right, I'm going to ask Dumbledore about that. That's just not right. No wonder the purebloods are up in arms," Sirius said, his face a mask of determination. He'd have to talk to Remus, since the man had taught there. Surely, the werewolf had asked the same question.
"You do that," Harry said, again shrugging. He didn't think it would do any good, but now that Sirius was free, he could do whatever the hell he wanted. If the man wanted to bang his head against a wall, who was Harry to stop him.
"Right, okay, enough of that for now. Let's get to getting us related. Anyway, I will put my hand here and you will slice your palm. When the blood mixes with the potion, I will do an incantation. Hopefully, magic will hear my call and we can finally be family," Sirius reiterated, moving it along.
"What do I use to cut myself? I didn't know I'd need a knife," Harry inquired, with a raised eyebrow.
Sirius reached into his robe and handed the teen a pocketknife. "You don't have to cut much. Just enough for a bit of blood."
"Okay," Harry said, holding his left hand over the basin, knife in his right hand. The blade ready to slice.
He wasn't looking forward to the pain, but he really wanted family, and Sirius was the one he wanted to be related to the most. The man was great. He was funny, smart and strong. All the things that Harry thought a dad should be. Even though he wasn't going to be the man's son, anything closer than godson was wonderful.
That and Harry loved the man, even in the short time he knew him, Sirius was better than even his friends. At least he had kept him informed of almost anything related to him. No one, not even Hermione had done that. That and he told the best stories about his parents. Not even Remus did that. It was like the werewolf wanted to leave the past in the past. It was his prerogative, but sometimes it made talking to the man hard.
Sirius slammed his hand on the spike, breaking the boy out of his thoughts, and nodded to Harry who quickly sliced his hand and let the blood flow. Dark red mixed with acid green, making a weird gold color. A few seconds later, the potions started smoking.
"Magic hear my call. I, Sirius Orion Black, as the Head of House of Black do hereby claim this person, Harry James Potter, to be part of the Black Family," Sirius intoned as the vapors rose. "I ask that you judge this fairly and give us the family we both desire."
At the last word, magic swirled up from the basin, a dark golden mist. It wrapped itself around the two men. A tingling came over both of them as it hugged them tight. It was searching out any relation and weighing what was needed.
They could feel it humming on their skin and seeping into their bodies. Not literally, more like an invisible wave of electricity. It was like standing in ozone. All their hair was standing on end, and a prickling sensation caused goosebumps to cover their skin.
Then out of nowhere, Harry's scar burst open, black sludge poured down his face, and he was letting out a quick pained yell. His face was screwed up and his body was rigid. Sweat started pouring from his forehead. Keeping his eyes closed, he silently yelled.
"Harry!" Sirius shouted, trying to remove his hand from the spike. It was held fast by. Yanking it with all his might, he groaned when it stayed. His free hand wrapped around the wrist of the impaled hand. "Harry, what is happening? Don't worry, I'll get free and stop this," he said, then thought quickly. "Magic hear…" was as far as he got when his godson's voice stopped him.
"Stop," Harry said, holding up his good hand, eyes still closed against the pain. "It said I can't be adopted as long as Riddle is in my head," he rasped out, holding on to the basin with both hands. Grabbing it to help steady him as whatever was happening worked its magic. It felt like a tug a war was going on, on his forehead. Something was yanking something from his head.
"Wait, what? Magic is talking to you?" Padfoot said, stopping his struggle. That doesn't happen. Magic just does. Magic just is. It doesn't have a voice, does it? Now that he thought about it, yeah, magic was an entity. He would not have to call it to do spells or ask it to make things happen. Like the ritual they were preforming now. But to hear that it was actually talking, that was too weird, even for him.
"Yeah, kind of like a whisper in my mind," the teen said, still gripping the pedestal. He could hear magic trying to calm him, and it was like wooly cotton was rubbing against his brain. He really hoped it stopped soon.
Then he giggled.
"What?" Sirius asked, holding himself taunt, thinking he was going to hear something bad.
"It likes my mind's landscape," Harry said, chuckling at the voice. "It says the aliens are cute," he added with a small laugh.
"Only you, Harry." Sirius made a mental note to find out what 'aliens' were, but not right now.
"Give me a minute," Harry said, trying to hear more.
"Fight," came the whispered words from all around him. "Use your mind, and fight," it said again.
Hearing that, he went into his mindscape and ordered his aliens to him. They all came at his call, snarling and hissing. They moved like spiders, crawling, leaping and just sidling to where they needed to be. Their grey skeletal bodies, were clambering on the ground, looking for their enemy. The elongated heads, with no eyes, were moving back and forth, searching for something to destroy. Rows of teeth were gnashing at the air, showing their willingness to fight.
They flanked Harry like an army of demented beings. Which they were. Hundreds of them all creeping around and waiting.
There was a man there; he looked like and older version of Tom Riddle. "I'm going to kill you, boy," Tom said, warily watching the army of aliens. He wasn't worried, they couldn't be worse than Inferi. "Your pets won't stop me," he sneered, raising his wand.
"Okay, guys, sic 'im," Harry said, wondering if he should bring out more defenses, but then brushed that thought aside. He really wanted to get this done and over with. As funny as it would be to have Tom meet Chucky, he didn't want to make any mistakes.
The aliens all converged on the entity, jumping and crawling towards the invader.
Tom shot an Incendio spell, like he would with Inferi, but the creatures just leaped out of the way. He ran towards them, firing off Killing Curses, and other such deadly spells, but he never hit one.
Then the Dark Idiot retreated, moving as far away from the demons as possible. Tom would move back, throwing the aliens off him, only to be swarmed by twenty more. He screamed and fired off spells that were ineffective. His clothes and skin were ripped and torn. Blood was dripping from every part of his body, even his face was a mess.
The Xenomorphs leaped and grabbed, biting and tearing, and tore it to shreds. Their mouths opened, and smaller heads darted out, each taking a piece of the man. Blood and chunks of flesh flew everywhere.
"NO! This can't be happening. I am immortal! I will be back, Potter! I have done more than anyone to obtain immortality! You won't stop me with this!" the dying entity declared as he was buried under those grey bodies.
"I will stop you. We will stop you. You are nothing," Harry declared monotoned, watching it all in fascinated horror.
The aliens didn't stop until the man was completely eaten.
Harry wanted to be sick, but instead thanked each alien, petting them like they were pets, before returning to reality.
As Tom disappeared, the tugging stopped. The teen's hands relaxed a bit, but he didn't fall like he really wanted to. That took a lot out of him.
He didn't know if dying in someone else's mind killed you for real, but as long as Tom wasn't in his head, he didn't care. He knew the adults were doing their best to get rid of the man, and if this helped, he was all for it. At least he wouldn't' have to go to the goblins now. He was sure that what ever that was, was what Sirius had warned him about.
The teen was breathing hard, and there was still gunk on his face. It seemed to be sticking to his like hardening glue. He was holding his eyes closed, so that that stuff wouldn't get in there. It was nasty feeling. Like some slime Dudley had dropped on him once when he was napping. Only this stuff was solidifying, and all he wanted to do was wipe it off. However, his hands were being used to keep him standing.
After taking a few deep breaths, Harry said, "Did it work? The adoption I mean." He didn't even want to think about what had gone on in his head.
"Wait a second, Harry. I need to stop the magic," the worried man said, his hand still impaled. "Magic, thank you for your gifts. I release you," he said quickly. A down and dirty closing, but effective. He then removed his hand from the spike when the mist vanished.
"Wow, that was rough," Harry said, cracking open one eye, the one free of gunk. "Can I sit now?" he asked, still trying to keep himself erect.
"Yeah, here, I'll conjure a chair," the dogman said, doing just that, then leading the teen to sit. "Don't open your eyes yet," he cautioned.
"Right, so, okay, it's done, right? It worked?" Harry asked again, leaning his head back onto the chair.
"First, let me check your head," Sirius insisted, getting out his wand and waving it over the teen's scar. He expelled a great sigh when he found it clean. Waving his wand again, he put the sludge in a vial he conjured. Once more the wand was in motion as he healed the wound. "You'll still have a scar. Sorry, but it's still a curse scar. You did get hit with the Killing Curse, so it's going to stay around," he said, taking a closer look.
"Is he gone?" the boy asked, raising his head and wiping his face with his shirt. Even if most of the sludge was gone, his face felt like it would never be clean.
"Yeah, he's gone," Sirius said, conjuring a wet cloth.
"Thanks," Harry said, cleaning his face. "What was that?" he asked. "I mean, was it what we talked about the other day?" He didn't want to relay what had happened in his head, not yet at least. When he wasn't so traumatized from watching it, maybe.
"Yes, it was the dark magic I told you about," Padfoot said, peering at the vial in his hand. He shuddered and put it in his robes. "With this out of your head, we're one step closer to stopping him." He made a mental note to add the vial to his safe. He had no idea if it still was a horcrux, and he didn't want to take the chance. It was still emanating evil, so yeah, hiding it was imperative.
"That was gross," complained the now wide-awake teen, handing the cloth back.
"Yeah, I didn't know that would happen," Sirius confessed, as he banished the rag. As he thought about it, it did make sense. He wasn't adopting Tom Riddle, after all. "You need to tell me about what 'magic' said. But that's for another time. I'm just glad that you don't have any part of Tom inside you anymore."
"Yeah, me too. I'm glad this happened, one less thing to worry about. So…?" He let the question fade away. He knew that Sirius knew what he wanted to know.
Sirius smiled and waved his wand again. Words formed in the air, showing a small family tree. Harry's name was right next to Regulus'. He grinned and said, "Welcome to the family, little brother."
Harry whooped and threw himself at his god… brother. "I always wanted a brother." His smile was so large that it almost split his face in half.
"Well, now that Regulus is gone, I can claim you as my heir," Sirius said sadly and joyfully at the same time. He looked at the basin and seeing a ring in there he pulled it out. "Wear this, just will it invisible for right now."
Harry took the ring and slipped it on his finger. It was too big, but it shrunk quickly enough. The ring itself was gold with a black and white onyx stone that had words written on it. Toujours Pur. He knew that meant Always Pure, but he wondered if it meant the same thing to Sirius as it had to the rest of the Black family. He'd ask later.
"I'm sorry I never got to know Regulus. Will you tell me about him sometime?" the teen asked softly. Even if the man was dead, he was now family. Heck, he would even listen to stories about Walburga. He shuddered, maybe not. Not Bellatrix either. No, most of the Black family women were off limits for nighttime tales.
"Yeah," Sirius answered just as softly. Talking would be hard, now that he knew the story of his little brother's death. But maybe it might make things easier.
"Are there any special powers on this ring? Like shielding and stuff?" Harry asked, peering at the ring again.
"No, it's just a ring. I mean, it will got invisible, and it will get you special treatment at stores and such, and open the Black vaults, but, no, there are no other spells on it," Sirius said, wondering where Harry came up with this stuff. "Of course, if you really want, I can make into a portkey. That might actually be a good idea," he mused softly to himself. With all the trouble Harry got himself into that would make him, Sirius, feel loads better.
"Okay, that sound good. Anyway, breakfast?" the teen said, smiling again.
"Come on, little brother, let's get Andi to check out your scar. I'm pretty sure that I'm correct, but I'd like to have a second opinion," the older man said, putting his arm over the shorter teen's shoulder and led him out of the room.
"But I'm starving," the teen whinged, yet not resisting.
"She's probably in the kitchen anyway," was the reply.
"Should I tell anyone about this? Or did you want to keep it a secret? I mean, you did say to hide the ring," Harry asked as they walked out of the library.
"I'd like to keep it to just family right now. I don't want to paint a bigger target on your back," Sirius said, thinking about all the people who would use this to their advantage. "I know you trust your friends, but they can't protect their minds, yet. Dumbledore is still trying to get you away from me. I'd like to keep this an ace in the hole, at least until Riddle is gone for good," he explained, seeing Harry's hurt look.
"Okay, but only until the war is over. After that, I'm shouting it to the world," Harry said stubbornly. Then he glanced at the ring and willed it invisible. He could still fell it on his hand, but…
"I'll be right there with you," agreed his new brother.
"Won't magic change all the paperwork?"
"No, well, only the stuff that will be filed hereafter. You will be known as Potter-Black on any new documentation, but all the old stuff will stay the same," was the answer. "Good thing you're not going back to Hogwarts."
"Umm, yeah, about that," Harry said, stopping in the middle of the hall.
"What? Did you change your mind?" Sirius asked, stopping with him. He dropped his arm and moved to stand in front of Harry.
"Well, not really, but Hermione and the Weasleys want me to go. They have this whole elaborate scheme planned out. With bodyguards, portkeys, and a whole mess of other ideas. But I just can't drop the feeling that it could go terribly wrong," Harry confessed, having had all night to think about it.
"Really, now? I'm not sure that it is a good idea for you to return. Especially, if your gut is telling you not to," Sirius said as he started walking again. His mind going over arguments to keep Harry here.
"I'm going to have to really think on this some more," the teen sighed. He did want to be with his friends, but he wanted to get to know his new big brother as well. He just couldn't shake the feeling that nothing good would come from him returning to school.
"You have a few weeks," Padfoot said, leading the way to the kitchen.
"Yeah," Harry sighed, following along.
"Look, Andi knows what we did this morning," the dogman said softly as they came to the kitchen door. "She's family. What she knows, her family knows. So, don't be surprised if they mention it when no one is around," he said, opening the door. "However, they know that I don't want anyone else to know for now."
"That's a lot of knows," Harry joked, playfully pushing Sirius aside and entering the kitchen.
Everyone was up and sitting at the table. The Weasleys, the Tonkses, Remus, Bill, Alastor, and Kingsley. Most were eating, some were just sipping hot drinks and reading either the newspaper or reports.
The head of the table chair was vacant, and the seat next to it as well.
The two men moved to sit, as Andi spoke up.
"Did it go well?" she asked, getting up and moving towards Harry. He still had some stuff on his face, and she conjured a flannel to wipe the rest off. "Your scar is smaller," she said when she finished cleaning his face. "What did you boys get up too, with this gunk on your face?" she asked, scrubbing harder.
Harry pouted at being treated like a kid, but he did want all that slime off his face. Obviously, he hadn't done a good job.
"Yeah, about that, we had a bit of a surprise," Sirius confessed, looking at all the treasure hunters. "Don't have to worry about the other one here anymore," he said smugly.
It was after all a great relief. Now they didn't have to rely on the goblins, who would have charged an arm and a leg. Not that he couldn't afford it, but why spend money when he didn't have too.
"Really?" Bill asked, setting down his cup. "You're going to have to tell me how you did that," he added, confused. He was certain that only the goblins could rid a horcrux from a living being.
"Not really sure how it happened. It just… did," Sirius said with a shrug. "But, if you wait until later this afternoon, Harry and I will tell you what we know," he offered, cutting looks to the eager looking teens, who were all leaning forward, as if to catch any tidbit of information. "Right, Harry?"
"If I must," was the reluctant reply.
"I can wait," Bill said, picking his coffee cup back up.
The teens, bar Harry, groaned and complained, but the adults just ignored them. Harry smiled at them reassuringly, he would just tell them that he was free of dark magic, and that he felt better than he had in a long time. It was like pressure had been removed from his brain.
"Right, Harry, when you're done eating, go get dressed in something nicer," Sirius said, picking up his fork and scooping up some eggs. "Get Kreacher to help you. He knows were all Regulus' clothes are. He also knows what is appropriate."
"Why?" the teen asked, smiling at Andi, who was done examining him.
"We have to go to the Ministry," the man said when he finished swallowing.
"Again, I say, why?"
"You'll find out when we get there," Sirius said, pointing his fork in Harry's direction.
"Fine," Harry huffed and started eating.
"He's fine, Sirius," Andi said, sitting back down and resuming her meal.
"Good to know," the man said.
"Is anyone going to tell us what's going on?" Hermione asked, folding her arms over her chest and leaning back in her chair.
"No," came the response from at least five adults.
Harry just shrugged at her and winked.
She harrumphed and started eating again. The Weasley children all sighed exasperated and they too went back to breakfast.