When Hedwig hadn't turned up that night Harry was getting a little worried about her.
That worry was relieved the next morning when, just as they were sitting for a breakfast cooked by Harry, she came swooping in with his morning's copy of the Daily Prophet. Harry was quick to relieve her of her load and offer her two slices of trimmed bacon; grilled, rather than fried.
"Prek," she softly barked.
Harry just nodded to her as she plucked them from his fingers and flew back out.
"That sounded like she was trying to talk to you, Harry," said Monica.
"Probably," he shrugged. "I don't understand Snowy Owl, so she can be saying anything from 'Thank you' to 'It's about bloody time, you ignorant human!'. How would I know?"
That had all three Grangers bursting into laughter. Somewhere in there Hermione still managed to fit in a, "Language, Harry."
He was also surprised to see a second owl also come swooping in. This one went to Wendell. It, too, was carrying the latest morning copy of the Daily Prophet.
Seeing Harry's surprise, Hermione smiled at him and said, "Daddy subscribed. He likes to know what's going on in the world his daughter is now a part of."
"He knows a lot of what's written within is rubbish, right?" he asked.
"I do," replied Wendell, still chuckling but now unfolding his own copy to read it. "I've had the skill of being able to read between the lines for many years."
Of course, the lead story was on Dumbledore's trial. Harry read through it and was pleased to see his 'letter' was quoted in a few places. But, even better, it was quoted accurately and not even out of context.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
Right on time, Sirius was 'Dobby express' apparated to the path immediately just inside the gates of the property.
Dobby immediately popped away leaving Sirius to walk to the front porch on his own.
The two aurors moving fast to the front door alerted the others to guests.
Seeing one of them almost run to the door, Monica asked, "Guests?"
"That'll be Sirius," replied Hermione, checking the time on her watch.
Harry walked into the parlour, waiting for him to come in, with a grin on his face.
When he saw his godfather about to speak, once he was close enough to speak without raising his voice, Harry got in first. "You forgot you didn't know the co-ordinates, didn't you?"
Sirius gave a pained look and said, "You could have told me."
"Actually, no, I couldn't," he replied. "I'm not skilled in Apparation, so I only know what co-ordinates are supposed to be, not what they are.
"However, I will admit that I could have asked one of the aurors on shift... but, where's the prank in that? Think of it as a lesson to remember to find out, in future."
Sirius pouted for a moment before his face broke out in a grin and he chuckled.
Walking forward the rest of the way he grabbed Harry in a hug. "Alright," he said. "I deserved that." Holding Harry back out at arms length he asked, "How about inviting me in and introducing me to everyone?"
Leading the way back into the dinette with Sirius in tow, he walked into where everyone, bar the aurors, were waiting. Monica and Wendell had rearranged things at their surgery to have the day off. It was a Friday.
Looking to the Grangers, Harry gestured to Sirius and said, "Everyone, this is Lord Sirius Orion Black Number Three, Lord of the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, a.k.a 'Padfoot', a.k.a my godfather, a.k.a. 'Hey You', a.k.a. 'The Mutt', and names it's impolite to use in present company." Looking to Sirius he said, "Sirius, you know Hermione. And these are her parents, Doctors Wendell and Monica Granger."
Sirius gave Harry a light clip to the back of the head, meant more in warning than anything else, and walked forward holding his hand out to Wendell. "A pleasure to meet you, Sir. Call me Sirius. You have a lovely daughter and I cannot fathom what possessed you to allow my smart-alek reprobate of a godson into your home."
Grinning back, Wendell accepted the offered hand and shook it. "My daughter begged me to and he's actually proven to be quite the polite young man. And call me Wendell."
Sirius widened the grin and completed the handshake before offering his hand to Monica. Expecting a handshake, she was surprised when he accepted her hand by the fingers, brought her knuckles to his lips as he bowed forward, and very lightly brushed his lips on them before gently releasing them again. "A great pleasure to meet you, too, Ma'am. Please, call me Sirius, handsome, darling, whatever."
Hermione rolled her eyes where Sirius couldn't see her, but both Wendell and Monica could.
Also grinning, Monica said, "It's nice to meet you, too, Sirius. I'm Monica. And welcome to our home."
Stepping back, Sirius said, "Seriously, though; thank you for allowing Harry to stay here. I'm much more comfortable with him out of Hogwarts, at the moment. I don't trust Dumbledore one whit of a moment of time not to try something I'd definitely disagree with.
"Which reminds me," said Sirius spinning to look at Harry. "You and me need to talk."
"Yeah, you owe me an explanation as to why you were late, yesterday," nodded Harry.
"That forms part of it, yes," his godfather agreed. "But, there's a lot more than that I need to tell you about."
Harry noticed that his godfather was being quite, well, serious. It was not something he knew to be the man's normal default behaviour.
"Well, if you don't have anywhere to hurry off to, it can wait a bit," he replied.
_‗_
―==(oIo)==―
ˇ
After a shared cup of tea with the Grangers and Sirius getting to know one another, Sirius asked for somewhere private to talk to his godson. Wendell directed them to his office on the same floor and left them to it.
Hermione looked like she wanted to join them but Sirius told her, "I'm sorry, Hermione; but, for this bit, I need to speak with Harry alone. When we're done with that we'll come out and rejoin you."
Hermione gave a sad nod to which Harry gently smiled back.
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