gardian disision

Over the rest of the holidays Sirius and Harry got to know each other better. Harry had the impression it could be possible to live with Sirius. The man somehow made him feel like he could trust him. He didn't know why, there was no logical reason for his feelings. Perhaps there still were a few, subconscious, remaining memories from his time as an infant. And he could see that Sirius really wanted to keep his promise to his parents to take care of Harry in case something happened to them. While he definitely wasn't the most mature kind of adult, he could turn serious if it was needed. He had loved Harry's prank on Christmas. He thoroughly praised Harry for his ingeniousness. But when Harry wanted to talk about how he could imagine Sirius being his guardian he had turned serious and listened to Harry's ideas.

To say Sirius was surprised by the complexity of thoughts Harry had spent on the topic was an understatement. It proved how much Harry had been hurt in the past to think that kind of planning was necessary.

Harry wanted that he had an adult in his life that he could turn to if he needed advice, who didn't think that as a child he didn't know what was best for him. Harry knew what he wanted. He had some ideas of future professions, nothing really specific, but a rough idea. He wanted to get to the top of the wizarding world by his own merit. He wanted to excel and be acknowledged for it. He also wanted to play Quidditch for as long as it was possible. He had come to love the sport. It didn't only mean a way to be popular in his house and earn a buck load of money if he went professional; it was a stress-relief for him. In the air he was happy. Tricking a keeper was exhilarating. Fast paced plays made his blood rush through his veins.

From what Harry had heard about some parents, especially Molly Weasley, they tended to smother their children. Harry didn't want that at all. He wanted to be included in decisions that concerned him. He wanted to know the reasons why certain things weren't possible for him. He thought he was mature enough to understand why he couldn't do something if he got it explained. Not having information was much more dangerous in his eyes than worrying about something. If he knew there was anything dangerous for him, he wanted to know it to avoid it.

Sirius had just listened until Harry was done. He had taken his time to ponder Harry's ideas. He didn't think they were over the top. They seemed reasonable enough to him. While he knew he would want to protect Harry from certain things, he also knew that Harry was too much like Lily to let things be if he was curious. And like Lily and James he wouldn't stop until he found out the things he wanted to know. Harry had always been curious, even as a baby. So not giving him information would only lead to more trouble.

"I agree with you that you can't be kept in the dark. But sometimes it could be that I'm not allowed to give you information, be it if I returned to my job as an auror or something else. In those cases I wouldn't lie to you but tell you why I can't tell you. I won't just forbid you certain things, but explain why I do so. There will be things I won't allow if I think they'll be too dangerous for you. As mature as you may be, you're still only eleven years old. But I also expect the same honesty from your side, Harry. I want you to tell me if you have problems. You have been forced to rely on yourself for ten years, but if I become your guardian, I want to change that. I'm aware that it will take time, but if you really need help, don't hesitate to ask for it." Sirius said.

"I'll have to set up some rules, but if you absolutely are against one of them, we can discuss them. I want you to know that I'll never resort to any kind of physical punishment. I have been a victim of that myself and would never hit you. But if you misbehave you will be punished."

Harry nodded. He could accept that. It was reasonable.

"The next point would be where we would live. We can either use one of your properties or I can have my parents' old house renovated." Sirius said.

"Would you mind if we moved in at Potter Manor? The place has ancient wards and I would like to live where my Dad grew up." Harry asked.

"No problem at all. To be honest, I don't like my parents' old house at all. If I don't have to return there, I'm more than happy. The place just has the most powerful and intricate wards you'll find. My father was a paranoid bastard." Sirius said.

"Do you know more about wards?" Harry asked.

"A bit. Not that much. Is warding also an area you are interested in?" Sirius asked.

Harry nodded.

"It's interesting. I have been theorising some things from the few books I've read about runes, not much, but I intend to take the subject in third year." Harry said.

"I didn't take Runes myself; I had Care of Magical Creatures and Arithmancy. But from what Remus told us, it's a very interesting subject." Sirius mentioned. "If you want to you could ask him more about the subject. I'm sure he would be happy to answer your questions."

"Okay, so we will try this. With the things you told me so far, I think we'll get along okay. But please don't be offended if I don't trust you fully from the start. That just takes time for me. I'll try to be open, but I've kept my thoughts secret for so long that it'll be difficult." Harry admitted.

"Don't worry, I understand, Harry. Take your time." Sirius replied.

The school started again a few days into January after two weeks of holidays. Harry and the other first years were now getting used to having to learn more spells. The first four months had been more or less to get them used to constantly using their magic. Now that they were at that point, the teachers increased their workload. In Charms there was rarely an hour where they didn't practice a new charm. The concepts in Transfiguration were becoming more complex and even Harry needed more than one attempt to get a spell. Potions was like always. Snape expected them to be prepared for the lesson and let them brew the potions. The first fifteen minutes he always tried to find somebody who didn't properly prepare. But by now, the Hufflepuffs had worked on their overall preparation. Susan had told Harry that they all had got the books he had recommended and built study groups in their house to not fall prey to Snape's vitriol.

The Ravenclaws didn't have any problems with preparing; it was in their nature to study hard for their lessons. Astronomy was like always learning constellations and what they meant for witches and wizards. History turned to the time of Merlin, which was really interesting. Professor Tonks just knew how to keep her students involved in the class and impressed on them the importance of the time period for the development of the magical world as it was today. Defence Against the Dark Arts was still a joke. Quirrell was a stuttering idiot and they had problems understanding him. Harry was convinced the guy was fake, but couldn't put his finger on it why he thought that.

Over the next month until the date for the Dursleys' trial, Harry exchanged at least one letter with Sirius a week and he also kept contact with Remus Lupin. Sirius had gone to Potter Manor to see what needed to be done before he and Harry could move in there. To his delight only a few things needed to be done as the house elves had kept everything maintained. With a few orders from Harry through a letter to the elves, the old manor was gleaming again. Sirius had decided to return to his position as an auror. He and Harry had discussed it and come to the conclusion it would be good if they knew what was going on inside the Ministry. Additionally, if Sirius was proving his worth there, he could gain a lot of political influence.

From what they had seen of Cornelius Fudge so far, the man was doomed to fail in the long run. The most probable candidate to become his successor would be either Amelia Bones or Rufus Scrimgeour. While Amelia probably didn't want to position, she would take it if she needed to. Which meant Sirius had good chances to advance in the DMLE either to head auror or head of the department. And the DMLE was the most important department of the Ministry. While they still were order bound by the Minister, he needed to have really good arguments for his orders. And with Rita Skeeter being on the warpath against the Ministry, the Minister was really careful what he did. After all, he could be the next one she wrote an article about.

Early in February the Quidditch training started again. While the field under them was still covered in snow, Barkaim and the other captains were convinced their teams needed to keep in form. Harry suggested just having the team do exercises inside the castle. There had to be a place where they could train without having to fear falling ill with the temperatures outside. That led to Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall changing one of the big, unused classrooms on the fourth floor into a training room for all Quidditch teams. Harry had explained the concepts of basketball and football to his captain and now the team played a modified version of Quidditch in the training room regularly.

They had three smaller hoops than outside on each side of the field, the beaters were trying to hit them with fake bludgers which they threw at them instead of hitting the bludgers with clubs. Each team had a keeper, a beater and three chasers. The reserve chaser and the seekers were made chasers for this training. The chasers were trying to get the ball over the field towards the hoops, where the keeper defended. If a chaser was hit by a bludger he had to return to the middle circle before being allowed to run towards the hoops again. If a beater hit his own chaser accidentally, the same rule applied. If a chaser with the quaffle was hit, the other team got the quaffle. Of course the opposing chasers could also try to steal the quaffle. It turned into such a popular game that soon not only the Quidditch teams played the game, but also other groups that liked Quidditch but didn't make the teams.

In the end the Professors needed to change another room into a playing field. Not that they really minded. It was good for the students to have an outlet for their energy. The incidents with fights in the corridors had lessened as most grudges were solved on the field in a game to prove who was superior. Indoor Quidditch became really popular. Nobody knew if the trend would hold once they could go outside again, but until then the students had fun. Some of the purebloods complained about having to run around and not flying on brooms, but with the limited space flying was simply impossible. And the game was so much like Quidditch otherwise that nobody else really cared.

It was the 10th February and Harry had got a call to be witness for the trial against the Dursleys. It would be held in a muggle court, so he donned one of the suits he had got in London before starting Hogwarts. While he was a bit nervous, he knew that Sirius had got one of the top muggle barristers at law to represent Harry's case. The man was a squib that had been financed in his studies by his family contrary to the behaviour most pureblood families showed. So he knew why Harry had been abused and knew how to circumvent anything the Dursleys could try to pull.

Harry took a portkey to the barrister's office and from there they drove to the court. Sirius would meet them there. Healer Ickings had sent the report and pictures of Harry's back before it was treated for the scars to Mr McDougal, Harry's barrister, to have evidence against the Dursleys. Witnesses for the accusation were Mr Miller, Mrs Jannison and Mrs Fletcher, the deputy headmistress of Harry's primary school. Harry was led inside through a side door to avoid the confrontation with the Dursleys as long as possible.

"Okay, Harry. Remember, let me talk and only answer what you are asked. I'll make sure that everything goes well. If we are lucky, you won't have to go into detail about what they did to you. The medical report from Healer Ickings is condemning. Together with Mr Miller and Mrs Jannison we should be able to get them convicted before you have to give your statement. But normally their barrister at law will try to make you look like a liar. Just keep your calm." Mr McDougal said.

Harry nodded. Then it was time. They met Sirius in a side-room and he encouraged Harry and told him he would be in the audience. If they needed him to give his statement, he would be called inside. Until then he would stay with a social worker in the side-room. Mr McDougal and Sirius left the room and Harry took out a book to distract himself. He had taken a french novel to read. It took forty-five minutes until he was called. Harry put a bookmark where he had stopped and left the book behind. He took a deep breath and followed the court assistant into the courtroom. He was shown the way to the seat for witnesses. The first one to question him was the barrister of the Dursleys. Harry was reminded to tell the truth and then the questioning started.

"Mr Potter, you were given into the care of the Dursleys when you were about fifteen months old; that is correct?" The barrister asked.

"As far as I was informed, yes." Harry said.

"And they took you in and cared for your needs all the ten years you lived with them?" He added.

"No." Harry said, surprising the barrister.

"Why would you say that, Mr Potter? They could have left you at an orphanage and not taken you into their family." The barrister said.

"If you think that the definition of taking care of a child is making said child do all the work around the house from the age of four, letting said child sleep in the cupboard under the stairs while having four bedrooms upstairs, one being their bedroom, one their son's, one a guestroom and one for the broken toys of their son, telling lies about said child in the neighbourhood and forcing the child to pretend being stupid in school just to have their son looking better, then yes, they took care of me. But I don't think that being physically punished regularly counts as taking proper care of a child." Harry stated, being not the least bit intimidated by the barrister.

"Liar." Petunia shouted.

"Prove it." Harry said icily.

The adults were shocked. None would have expected that kind of voice from an eleven year old boy. In that voice they heard pure hatred.

"Prove that you spent the money you got from my parents' estate to take care of me on me. Prove that I wasn't kept in the cupboard under the stairs. Prove that I wasn't malnourished before Mr Miller took it upon himself to help me. Prove that I didn't have to earn the money for my contacts by working in the library. Prove that I got one proper birthday or Christmas present." Harry listed making the adults shiver and glare heatedly at the Dursleys.

The barrister of the Dursleys was at a loss. He had planned to ask the boy if he had been beaten, hoping the boy wouldn't admit it, but it seemed Harry Potter was very different from what he had been told. He turned back and left the witness to McDougal. There was nothing he could get from the boy to win the case. Only the opposite. Now Mr McDougal stood.

"As Mr Potter said, we have the bank statements of the Potter estate that five hundred pounds have been transferred each month to the account of the Dursley family to take care of the needs of Mr Potter. Yet Mr Potter has never been taken to any doctor for the regular examinations and vaccinations every child needs to get. More, he didn't get to eat properly. One look at the Dursley family proves that they didn't suffer a lack of food. So the statement of witness Carlton Miller that Harry Potter was severely underweight when he was eight years old and joined the Stonewall Primary School football team, is proof that they didn't take proper care of Mr Potter. The report and statement of Dr Ickings also prove that Mr Potter was physically abused by the Dursleys.

"Mrs Fletcher told us that Mr Potter had a very sudden increase in the quality of his schoolwork. She said it was like he had been holding back all the time before and had decided to just stop it. From there on Mr Potter remained top of his class and also excelled at the football team where Mr Miller made sure he finally reached a healthy weight and height for a boy his age after one and a half years. Mr Miller sent recommendations to the Dursleys to take Mr Potter to a doctor to help him medically, which hasn't been done. Officers Thornston and Vasparion reported about the lack of possessions of Mr Potter, which they found out when they went to Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey to get Mr Potter's things after he had been removed from the Dursley's care.

"While many of the neighbours reported Mr Potter being a delinquent, their reports were based on stories the Dursleys told them. His school teachers, the place where he spent most of his free time, reported Mr Potter to be a very polite, studious boy who was neglected by his family. We can prove by statements of witnesses that all of the incidents that were said Mr Potter caused, couldn't have been caused by him, because he was either training with his football team, working or reading in the school's library, or reading in the village's library after he had read all the books that interested him in the school library. We also have the statements of the librarian of the village library for that." Mr McDougal presented the facts.

The barrister of the Dursleys was preparing mentally to lose this case. McDougal was known for being one of the best and in this case it was obvious that the boy wasn't at fault. And with the boy knowing how to act and not look guilty, there was little he could do. The Dursleys had got themselves into this. The part they told the neighbours about the boy's parents being drunks that caused a car crash had been proven wrong by McDougal in the beginning by using the police records of all accidents on the 31st October 1981. That the boy was a delinquent was crushed by the statements of the school teachers and the librarian. They couldn't claim to have been generous enough to pay for the boy's needs as the Potter estate had paid them for the care of the boy and they had embezzled the funds and lived in luxury while still mistreating the boy. This case was just not winnable.

Harry was allowed to leave the seat and took a seat next to Sirius, who put his arm around his shoulders.

"That was good work, Harry. They can't get out of this. Calling you was a last ditch effort of the Dursley's barrister. McDougal had torn apart their defence already." Sirius informed Harry whispering.

Harry just nodded. He was doing his best not to lash out at the Dursleys. He needed to give the image of the good boy. No matter how much he wanted to hurt them.

Both barristers gave their final speeches and then the judge asked the jury to decide. The result was clear. The jury voted for the Dursleys being guilty of child abuse and embezzlement of funds. They were convicted to prison time. Ten years for Vernon for his role in the physical abuse and six years for Petunia. The hateful looks and shouts of Vernon bounced off of Harry. They were finally going to pay for what they did to him. The judge ordered that Dudley would be examined by a child psychologist to find out how much his parents' behaviour had influenced him. His placement would be decided afterwards. As Margery Dursley had been found unsuited to raise a child, he would either be placed in a foster family or in an institution that was specialized to undo the mistakes in upbringing of children that were caused by their parents or guardians.

The reports of the investigators on Dudley Dursley had been clear in pointing out that the boy needed to learn proper behaviour as his parents didn't teach him the difference between right and wrong. The property of the Dursleys would be found out and the money they got for caring for Harry would be returned to him with interest. If they didn't have the money their house would have to be sold. Harry and Sirius went back into the side-room where Harry had left his book to meet with Mr McDougal. Sirius thanked him for the good work he had done. Harry was mostly apathetic. While a small smile was on his face, he was just glad that this episode of his life was over.

Harry was in the locker room before the second Quidditch match for the Ravenclaw team. They were up against Slytherin this time. He knew he had to be on guard for any aggressive ideas the snakes could come up with. But the training from the indoor Quidditch had given the whole team better reflexes for dodging bludgers. Daniel was giving the team last minute instructions.

"Okay, Slytherin is good, but we are better. Contrary to past years we got a lot of training in over the months where we normally are limited due to the weather. Indoor Quidditch not only spared us from freezing, but also honed our reflexes. Slytherin didn't train anywhere near as hard as we did. Our chasers know each other's reactions now, our beaters have better aim and our keeper is at the top of his game. And I will make damn sure to get the snitch before Higgs does. The main job though will be yours, Roger, Quentana and Harry. Take their chasers apart. Harry, don't let them build up their moves; get the quaffle from them before that. Steven and Tod, keep them busy. We will win this game, let Pomarel have peace of mind for his NEWTs after this and in the end the cup will be ours." Daniel proclaimed, getting cheers from the other members of the team.

Daniel led the Ravenclaws out of the locker room.

"And the two teams are entering the field. The Ravenclaws in blue, the Slytherins in green. Both teams won their first matches. Who will be victorious this time? The surprisingly strong Ravens under Daniel Barkaim or the brutal assault mix of Marcus Flint?" Lee Jordan commented.

"Jordan!" Professor McGonagall admonished.

"Sorry, Professor, just saying as it is." Lee said.

"And the bludgers and the snitch are let off by Madam Hooch. The teams are getting ready for the kick-off. There is the whistle and they are in the air. Immediately the quaffle is taken by Potter, who passes at Davies, dodging a bludger Davies races to the Slytherin hoops. Two Slytherin chasers are trying to stop him, but he … drops the quaffle. Ah, a calculated move. Quaffle possession by Pollianore. She speeds over to the Slytherin hoops. She aims, but Bletchley is in position, no a feint shot, on the left hoop, she passes to Potter, who scores through the middle hoop. 10:0 for Ravenclaw." Lee commented.

Cheers erupted from the crowd in blue and bronze. But the game was on again.

"Bletchley passes the quaffle to Flint, but Remmons forces him to drop the quaffle immediately with a well-aimed bludger, which grazed Flint's shoulder. Quaffle is taken up by Davies who had waited for that chance. Flint in pursuit of Davies. Davies passes to Pollianore, passes immediately to Potter, who puts the Quaffle through the right hoop with a spinning shot. 20:0 Ravenclaw. The Snakes seem to be miffed about the early goals. Flint aggressively takes the quaffle and shoots towards the Ravenclaw hoops, he passes to Pucey, but no, intercepted by Potter. Potter dodges a bludger shot by Doberson and speeds towards the Slytherin hoops. Flint is hot after Potter, but damn can the boy fly. He outpaces Flint easily. Potter evades Moon, but Flint has caught up while Potter dodged Moon. Potter throws the quaffle high over Flints head, dives under him and retakes the quaffle. Did you see that?" Lee commented.

The spectators definitely saw that and cheered for the manoeuvre.

"Potter passes to Pollianore. And there go the seekers off. Barkaim in the lead, Higgs hot on his tail. And Pollianore used the distraction of Bletchley to score again. 30:0 Ravenclaw. It was a feint. Barkaim led Higgs on a wild goose chase down to the ground. Higgs nearly hit the ground but could straighten his broom just in time. Slytherin in quaffle possession now, Pucey off towards the Ravenclaw goals. Potter again tries to intercept a pass, but this time Moon gets the quaffle. Moon to Flint who shoots at the right hoop. Caught by Oustabler. Pass to Davies, pass to Pollianore, she is off towards Slytherin, dangerous bludger there, Flint gets the quaffle from her, but there, Potter foresaw the intention of the Slytherin captain and while Flint didn't secure the quaffle yet he hit it from his hand, passing it to Davies directly. Davies dodges Moon, passes to Potter when confronted with Pucey, Potter shoots long range and it's in. Just through the right hoop while Bletchley was too far to the left. 40:0 Ravenclaw."

And so the game went on. While Slytherin tried to take out the Ravenclaw players, all the indoor Quidditch training had given them excellent endurance and reflexes. Their game was just faster than the Slytherins could act. And Tod and Steven prevented the interference from the Slytherin beaters.

"No sign of the snitch so far and Ravenclaw is leading 190:20. This looks like a bad loss for Slytherin. None of their normal tactics work. Ravenclaw seems to have prepared well for this match. Rumours say they were the team that used the indoor Quidditch field most. It seems like it paid off for them. Those passes and moves of their chasers are incredible. Pollianore in possession again. Bludger at collision course, but no, redirected at Pucey who tried to intercept her by Remmons. Pucey can't dodge and is hit by the bludger in the chest. That must have hurt. Pucey is down for now. Pollianore uses the chance and puts the quaffle away without problem. 200:20 Ravenclaw." Lee shouted.

It took fifty more minutes during which the Ravenclaw chasers increased their lead to 330:70 until the snitch finally was seen.

"And again Barkaim seems to have seen the snitch. Is it a feint again? Higgs is more reluctant to follow Barkaim now, but there, he follows. This time it isn't a feint, Barkaim is chasing the snitch. Davies gets the quaffle, passes to Potter. Potter in the Slytherin half. Nobody stops him though and he puts the quaffle through the right hoop. 340:70 Ravenclaw. And the seekers are parallel to the ground only five feet over the ground. Barkaim in the lead by three feet. He stretches his arm and grabs the snitch. He has it; Daniel Barkaim caught the snitch for Ravenclaw, ending this incredible match with an end result of 490:70. Slytherin was totally trounced by the strong Ravenclaw team. Can anybody stop them?" Lee asked.

The same thoughts must have gone through the head of Oliver Wood. Next weekend would be the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff match. If they wanted to have any chance at the cup they needed to win high. Otherwise Ravenclaw would get the cup this year. Their chasers were simply superb. How he wished that Harry Potter would have been sorted into Gryffindor like everybody had thought he would be.

The first test for Sirius as Harry's now official guardian came when Harry sent him an urgent letter. It was April just after the Easter holidays. Harry had spent the holidays at Potter Manor with him and it had gone well. They both were a bit awkward about the new situation, but they managed. One of the things Sirius did was taking Harry for a daytrip to a wizarding zoo. Contrary to a muggle zoo the wizarding counterpart was much more natural. The magical creatures lived in an area that had practically been copied from the normal world three centuries ago. Muggles had been too violent towards the creatures they thought excesses of Satan and hunted them down. Nothing with magic was tolerated. The zoo had been founded as a refuge for magical creatures a few decades before the Statute of Secrecy had been passed.

Harry's letter described Hagrid's new stupid idea of raising a dragon at Hogwarts. At the moment it only was an egg, but soon the dragon would hatch as Hagrid was trying to hatch it in his hut. A wooden hut at that. Harry didn't want that Hagrid got into trouble, but he also didn't want to have a dragon around the school. Sirius had to think about the situation. Could he manipulate the thing to not discriminate Hagrid? Then he had an idea. Amelia Bones normally was somebody you could talk to. She listened and not just jumped to conclusions. Sirius sent Harry a letter back with instructions what to write exactly in a help letter to so that he could show the letter to Amelia without getting Hagrid into trouble.

Harry meanwhile got instructions to prepare Hagrid to go with the scam. Two days later, Hedwig had got a lot of exercise and just loved it, Harry's letter had arrived and Sirius took it to the head of the DMLE.

"Madam Bones, do you have a moment?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, what is it, Auror Black?" She asked.

"My godson wrote me about a problem that needs to be handled with care to not blow things up unnecessary. The thing is Hagrid, the gamekeeper at Hogwarts, came upon a strange fellow in the Hogs Head when he went there one evening last week. The guy was suspicious to him and asked a few questions that rang a few alarm bells with Hagrid. But when he offered to play cards for a dragon egg, after buying Hagrid some drinks, Hagrid decided that whatever the man had planned, he couldn't let him keep the dragon egg. So he, well, cheated in the game to get the egg. He knows that dragons are illegal to keep, but he also didn't want to let the egg of a dragon in the hands of somebody who could do damage with a dragon.

"Hagrid being Hagrid and fascinated with all dangerous creatures researched the egg and found out it is a rare Norwegian Ridgeback. With the state of development the egg was in the only way to save the Ridgeback was hatching it. Which he did in his hut. Now he has the problem that soon he'll have a live dragon on his hands, isn't well-liked with the Department for the Control of Magical Creatures so he can't tell the situation without being blamed and punished for trying to do the right thing, and you know Hagrid, he would just bumble it up and look even worse. Hagrid has a heart of gold, but isn't the smartest guy around. He told Harry about it when Harry came for a visit and Harry wrote me. While Hagrid would love to keep the dragon, he knows that it is impossible, but he also doesn't know what else to do." Sirius explained, showing Amelia Bones the letter he had Harry write.

"That indeed is a serious problem. Thank god that he told Harry. A dragon at Hogwarts could have become a real danger. I had enough with that Cerberus and troll mess." She said.

"I can imagine. Dumbledore got a few choice words about it over the Christmas holidays after Harry told me." Sirius grumbled.

"Not only from you. Well, we now need to find a way to safely transport a dragon. We need to get the dragon to a preserve, that's the only place he can live safely. Especially as it's a rare breed. I only hope this isn't blown up the wrong way by the press." She said sighing.

"Uhm, I think we could dodge that bludger easily. Just invite Rita Skeeter to write the true story. Over the past months her stories seem to have changed to the hard facts. The press gets the story, Hagrid and our department get positive publicity and the dragon gets a good home. All are happy." Sirius said.

"Perhaps you are right, Auror Black. I'll contact the DCMC to find out where the next suitable dragon preserve is located. They should send us some experts on dragons to get the Ridgeback away from Hogwarts." Madam Bones stated. "Go back to your work; I'll take care of this."

"Thank you, Madam Bones." Sirius said and left the office.

Three days later, the dragon was now two days old, Madam Bones, a group of four dragon handlers from a Romanian Dragon preserve, including Charlie Weasley who was translating, Rita Skeeter and her photographer Bozo, and four aurors including Sirius Black arrived at the gates of Hogwarts to get the problem with the dragon out of the way. The students of Hogwarts had been informed by Professor Dumbledore that Hagrid had prevented the illegal use of a rare dragon and that the DMLE would come to take the dragon to a preserve. Hagrid had told Dumbledore about the incident at the Hogs Head and how he got the egg over a game of cards and just wanted to get it away from the man. And how he couldn't just let the poor little dragon in the egg die. Dumbledore, knowing Hagrid, accepted the explanation and was glad that this wouldn't blow up into his face like the troll and the Cerberus had.

He had had to explain to Madam Bones what security measures he had taken to prevent Voldemort from returning and what information he got from the splint the healers pulled out of Harry's scar. The DMLE head had to agree that it had to be prevented at all cost that Voldemort ever got his hands on the Philosopher's Stone. Additionally Dumbledore had warded off the complete third corridor against students and given a warning. The danger of a student accidentally stumbling in there was not there. She didn't like it, but she had tested the precautions to guard the stone and had to admit, they were impressive. But Dumbledore got a strict warning against putting the students at risk. Following that the corridor had also got wards that prevented Fluffy from escaping.

Now Hagrid was presenting the two days old Ridgeback that didn't seem to like the attention. Hagrid had prepared a bucket of a mix of chicken blood, brandy and a sleeping draught Professor Snape had prepared. He put the bucket in front of the dragon, he had named him Norbert, and despite the tenseness in the dragon he drank it. Fifteen minutes later the Ridgeback was sleeping peacefully. The dragon handlers took the baby dragon and put him into a transport crate.

"Can I visit him sometime?" Hagrid asked tearfully.

"Sure. We're glad you got the egg before somebody could do something really bad with it. You're welcome to visit the preserve anytime you want, Hagrid." Charlie assured him.

That did seem to cheer Hagrid up.

"Bye, Norbert." Hagrid said, blowing his nose in his giant handkerchief.

Meanwhile Rita was interviewing Madam Bones, Dumbledore, Harry and in the end Hagrid. Bozo was taking photos from the dragon, the eggshells Hagrid had kept, Hagrid and the dragon, the dragon handlers, the students that were watching and Madam Bones and the aurors. In the end the dragon handlers took a portkey back to the preserve to bring Norbert to his new home. Soon the assembled people left, Madam Bones again thanked Hagrid for his actions and Sirius said goodbye to his godson