The Forgotten Son

Chapter 5: Before Hogwarts

October 1986

Harry Potter was the happiest he had been in a very long time. He had been living with Sirius Black for a year now and was enjoying it immensely. At first it had been difficult. Though every fiber of his being had told him to trust Sirius, Harry had still felt wary in the early weeks of his stay. He didn't want to let his guard down and be complacent simply because an adult was being kind to him. The last time he had done that he was rewarded with a brand upon his breast. As the time progressed however, Harry had begun to grow acclimated tip Sirius and life at Black Cottage. Sirius spent most of the weekdays away at the Ministry to continue his work as Head Auror leaving Harry with Tonks or his recently acquired personal House elf.

At first Harry had been startled by the appearance of the little creature. He was thin, with pale skin and large bulbous green eyes, just a few shades lighter than Harry's. Sirius explained that he had purchased the Elf named Dobby from his cousin Narcissa Malfoy née Black. Narcissa explained that the Elf had undergone his training with the Malfoy's staff, but they had no need of him as there were only three of them in the manor. Harry bonded with the excitable Elf immediately and instead of seeing Dobby as a servant, he considered him a friend. Tonks was also taken with Dobby as she had the majority of the summer at Black Cottage under Dobby's supervision while her parents were at work.

Over the past year, Harry had mostly recovered from his time spent in Surrey. The potion regiment he had been prescribed worked wonders on his body as he had filled out considerably and grew a couple inches. Though he was still below the average height, he had been promised that by the time he went to Hogwarts, he would not be the runt of the school. Of course, the physical and mental scars still remained. Andi had told him that there was nothing she could do to permanently remove his scars as they were too old, but she had taught him a special glamour charm he could utilize to hide them. He still hadn't showed them to Sirius which filled him with guilt. He told himself that he would but to his everlasting shame, he could not bring up the courage.

Sirius and Harry both proved to be Godsends for each other. Sirius for one felt years younger after Harry had agreed to live with him. Harry had opened up to Sirius about one of the experiences he had gone through at the Dursley's but always left out the more gruesome moments. To say Sirius Black was livid would be an understatement. He had wanted to go to Privet Drive and deal with them himself but Harry had begged him not to. He didn't want Sirius to be arrested and taken away from him. After seeing the pleading look in Harry's eyes, Sirius had immediately felt a strong sense of guilt flood through him accompanied by shame. After that conversation, Sirius reluctantly agreed to do nothing in regard to those damned Dursley's.

Sirius' change could be seen throughout the Auror Department. Gone was the cold detached Lord Black and in his place was a man who couldn't keep the smile off his face. The Aurors who worked under Sirius thought that may be he had found himself a lady friend to warm his bed as they had never seen their boss in such a mood. When asked, Sirius would merely smile, shrug and be on his way.

Just after the New Year, Sirius and Harry had had an extremely uncomfortable conversation regarding Harry's parents.

*FLASHBACK*

January 2nd 1986

Harry was so happy. He had a wonderful New Year and an even better Christmas. The best Christmas that he could remember. He had spent it with Sirius and all three Tonks and had received numerous gifts that meant the world to him. He had received a Nimbus 1700 broomstick and guardianship papers that he had pushed through inconspicuously through a trustworthy individual in the Department of Child Welfare. Nymphadora had gifted Harry with a framed picture of the two of them. That picture along with one of Harry and Sirius were situated on his bedside table. The elder Tonks had given him a large assortment of Wizarding candies. It had been the first time meeting Ted Tonks and found the man to be quite jovial.