Chapter 049

"And that concludes our business." Liam said brightly. "Please see Kipbold for your vault keys."

Augusta retrieved her key and swept out before anyone could say anything to her. Remus exchanged a polite nod of acknowledgement with Brian and Amelia before he got his key and waited for Minerva.

Andromeda paused beside him as she left. "It's been a long time, Remus."

"Too long," Remus agreed, "how are you and Ted?"

"Good." Andromeda said. "Pleased to hear the news about Sirius and feeling entirely guilty for thinking that he would ever…"

"Me too." Remus said hurriedly.

Andromeda looked at him intently. "Have you heard from him?"

"He's getting medical treatment in line with the conditions set by the Ministry for him to take custody." Remus offered.

She nodded. "Tell him he's welcome to come over whenever he gets back. Well, I'd best be off. Take care of yourself, Remus."

She left just as Minerva appeared and Remus fell into step beside her as they exited Gringotts and made their way to the Leaky. He noticed his companion was silent – too silent.

Remus cleared his throat and discreetly raised a privacy bubble. "Are you alright, Minerva?"

"No, I don't think I am." Minerva said quietly. She looked every single one of her years. "I was with Albus the night he – we – left Harry in the muggle world and to think…I knew they were the worst kind, but I accepted Albus's decision and I haven't questioned it since despite… it's obvious the muggles haven't taken the best care of Harry. I failed James, Remus. We weren't close after Dorea died, and he and Lily left Hogwarts, but that's no excuse."

He placed a hand on her arm. "There was no way for you to know if they hadn't informed you, Minerva, and it's clear from your reaction that they didn't. But if you feel you need to make some kind of amends here, I would suggest that you don't tell Albus that Sirius has guardianship until it goes public like Amelia requested."

Minerva regarded him sternly for a long moment before her shoulders straightened. "You have my word, Remus." She turned and left before he could say anything more.

o-O-o

Time Bubble: July 9th 1994

Harry was having the best summer of his life.

They'd been at the Valley for two weeks, and although Harry had time travelled with the time turner he still had a difficult time getting his head around the idea that however long they stayed at the clinic, only a week would pass in the outside world. He'd decided to forget that oddity and simply enjoy his stay as much as he could.

The first day had been scary. The whole thing about the residue in his scar had been beyond frightening but it had all been dealt with very quickly. He couldn't remember the procedures to cleanse his scar as he had thankfully been knocked out for the whole thing. He had been restricted to bed for a few days after mainly because they'd needed his magical core to settle. What had been enormously comforting was that Sirius hadn't moved from his side the whole time except for a few bathroom breaks.

It had soothed some lingering worry inside Harry that Sirius didn't really mean it when he'd said he'd be there for him; that despite everything Sirius had done to make it possible for Harry to live with him, Sirius wouldn't really want him once he got to know Harry. But it was hard to argue about how much Sirius cared about him when his godfather spent all of his time looking after him and keeping his spirits up while he recuperated.

They'd mainly shared stories about Hogwarts during Harry's bed stay. It was the most common ground they had. Sirius admitted that Remus had already told him some of Harry's experiences but he wanted to hear about them from Harry. Harry had been a little reticent but once he'd started to talk he'd found himself happily reminiscing about his first year adventures.

He began with Hagrid taking him to Diagon Alley and Sirius had quizzed him over what Hagrid had and hadn't told him about the wizarding world. He got the impression that Sirius liked Hagrid but wasn't impressed that Hagrid had explained so little. Which surprised him as Sirius, on the whole, was very non-judgemental – he'd understood Harry's immediate use of the invisibility cloak when he'd received it and he'd mostly looked relieved about Harry surviving the troll.

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