Hydrus slowly stood, balancing a still sleeping Harry. "I'm going to settle him in his cot. You stay here and think on what you want to ask me. You can call Tippy, but you should know there is no alcohol in the house."
Sirius was still deep in thought and just waved the other man away. So Hydrus took Harry to his room. "Tippy?"
"Master Hydrus is calling Tippy?" the excitable elf asked when she popped in.
"Yeah, can you watch over Harry for a bit? We adults need to talk. He should stay asleep for a little while, but see to his needs when he wakes up, please," Hydrus said as he watched the sleeping tot.
"Tippy can do," the free elf said.
"Thank you, Tippy, you're the best," the time traveler said, with a small smile, and then he left the room to go and join his godfather/cousin. He settled back on the sofa and waited the other man out.
"If I had run off after Peter, I would've spent over twelve years in Azkaban?" a dawning horror coming over Sirius's face. As if he was just now realizing what Hydrus's timeline had held. "No trial, just chucked into prison? Dumbledore didn't try and get me out? Why? I was a good soldier to him," his voice started to rise.
"Sirius," Hydrus snapped, looking to the ceiling, "I get that you're angry, but Harry needs to sleep. I think he's suffering from magical exhaustion. I don't want to keep fighting you, so keep your voice down."
"Why don't you just throw up a silencing charm?" the confused man asked.
"Why don't you just control your temper? I don't use magic for everything," the immortal snapped, one thing he had learned in his self-exile was that magic wasn't the cure-all. "Look," he said, running a hand through his hair, "if you are going to be part of Harry's life I need you to learn to control yourself. I don't want him exposed to a lot of anger."
"Okay, okay, I understand," Sirius said taking a few deep breaths. He still needed to process everything he had been told, plus grieve over all the deaths that happened recently.
"Sirius," Hydrus said, bringing the other man's attention back to him, "I wanted to apologize about accusing you of abandoning Harry, it was a bit hypocritical of me. And I said it in anger."
The other man waved it off as unimportant, there were a lot of things said that were in the heat of the moment. "Can you answer my questions? How did I wind up in Azkaban? Why didn't anyone stand up for me?"
"From what I understand, in what little information I could gather about this whole week, everyone thinks you're the Secret Keeper. When you went after Peter you caught up with him and he killed twelve non-magicals and framed you for his death. Crouch Sr. and Bagnold wanted a scapegoat and you were it. Dumbledore either believes you're the Secret Keeper or was content to have you out of Harry's life, for the Greater Good. I don't know which," Hydrus answered as best he could. He had researched everything he could. Even called up spirits of the dead, but all of the stories conflicted, even his parents couldn't answer some of his questions, like they had been Obliviated, and death hadn't cured them of that. The only way that could be explained was if the spell was cast with the Elder Wand, leaving Hydrus to have more doubts about the Headmaster.
"So what do I do now? I don't want to go to Azkaban," the now desperate man asked.
"First answer a few questions. Did the Potters use a lawyer to write a will?"
"Yeah, Lily insisted."
"Do you know which firm?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, that's good," Hydrus said with a nod of his head, plans forming. He called up a watch like gizmo and handed it to the other man. "This is a sorta glamor/Polyjuice device. It will only change you enough to look like a family member, but not yourself. George invented it, it takes a bit of your blood and combined with the glamor spell morphs your face," he explained. "I don't think that Dumbledore has had time to call the Wizengamot to have the wills sealed. Even with his pull, it would take a few days."
....
Can't wait to read ahead by more than 60 exciting premium chapters.
Then Join my p*atreon right now.
Link: p#atreon.com/InfinityWeaver (Remove the #)
Free members can unlock 2 chapters.