After Sirius had filled out all the parchmentwork for adopting Harry, he, Harry, and Hermione walked to the main atrium of the ministry, where Sirius said quietly, "I'd suggest you floo to my house rather than use your portkeys. You don't want to be caught with them by the ministry."

"Good idea," said Hermione, and so Sirius apparated while the two teenagers flooed.

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Sirius arrived at Number Twelve Grimmauld Place for the first time in years to find that the lights were out, as he expected. He knew that everybody had lives of their own and couldn't wait around for him while he filled out form after bloody form. He was a bit surprised that Remus hadn't had time to speak with him after the trial, but he figured Moony probably had something important to do. Sirius vowed to make sure to visit his oldest and dearest friend tomorrow. He pulled out his first wand, which had been returned to him when he left the courtroom after all those years, and turned on the magical lights and watched as Hermione and then Harry came through the fireplace.

Hermione said, "I think I'll leave you two alone to talk. I need to tell my parents the good news. Congratulations again, Sirius!" She then muttered something and disappeared as Harry and Sirius bid her goodbye.

Sirius turned to Harry awkwardly. "Well, er, I guess we're part of the way to my becoming your guardian."

"Er, yes we are. I'm really thankful that you want to adopt me."

Padfoot looked into Harry's eyes. "I know it might seem a bit awkward living together when we haven't known each other for two months yet, but I know it'll work out."

Harry smiled. "I know it'll be better than the Dursleys!"

Sirius frowned for a moment, but then smiled again as he looked around. "The living room looks great! I hardly recognize the place! Why don't you show me everything your decorator has done?"

Sirius started walking toward the stairs before he was stopped by a soft pop and a few crashes behind him. He spun around, wand at the ready, to find, "Remus!" along with Hermione, Adam Granger, Marissa Granger, Ginny, Ron, Fred, George, Molly, Arthur, Hagrid, McGonagall, and Dumbledore. Many of them were holding a portkey. By the smile on Harry's face, Sirius could tell that this was planned.

The werewolf walked up to Sirius and embraced him like a brother. "You didn't think I'd just leave without saying anything, did you? I had to help get everything ready once we knew the verdict."

"Get what ready?" asked Sirius.

"This," said Albus, as he tapped his wand onto what seemed like mid-air, only to reveal that a table filled with gifts had been disillusioned.

In the meantime, Hermione had walked over to the kitchen and opened the door, which caused their senses to be bombarded by the aromas of a great feast. The brunette said, while pointing at Molly, "Mrs. Weasley made all this and charmed it to stay hot, and then I charmed the door to stop the smell of food from leaving the kitchen."

Sirius turned to Mrs. Weasley, and said charmingly, "Thank you very much for putting forth all that effort for someone you didn't even know. This looks like an excellent feast."

Molly blushed. "Well, after Ron, Ginny, Remus, and Albus all vouched for your innocence, I figured you probably haven't had a decent meal for the last thirteen years."

Sirius chuckled. "Well, I had a few good meals where I've been hiding for the past month, but nothing like this. It's good to meet you."

"I'm Arthur Weasley," said Molly's husband as he stretched out his arm to shake Sirius' hand. "It's good to meet you. Congratulations!"

Sirius smiled and shook Arthur's hand. "I got my life back!"

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They ate the feast, which included a cake that had a moving picture of a bird flying out of a cage made of frosting.

Sirius' presents consisted mainly of new clothes, although Harry got him a fancy gold watch and Hermione gave him a leather jacket. Hagrid gave him a black helmet. He said, "I got yer motorcycle in da dueling room here. By the way, thanks fer havin' Buckbeak, I mean, Witherwings, brought back to the forest. I 'ad Professor Dumbledore charm 'is wings to be black so he won't be recognized."

Sirius said, "Thanks for keeping the bike for me," and walked into the appropriate room and looked with the expression of a kid who'd been told Christmas was coming twice this year. The bike had obviously been polished and looked almost brand new. "When this party's over, I'm gonna take a drive!" he declared. He looked around the room and noticed the Quidditch hoops, but decided not to say anything while Dumbledore was there.

Albus asked him, "Now that you're a free man once again, what do you intend to do?"

"Besides adopt Harry? I don't know yet."

"You could always try returning to your old job."

"Be an auror again?" Sirius shook his head. "No, I don't think so. I couldn't believe how fast my 'friends' turned against me! I'm still mad at them! Not to mention that I don't think I could willingly send anybody to the Dementors anymore! It'd be more merciful to kill them!" Sirius took a deep breath. "Anyway, I don't need the money, so I can take all the time I need to figure out what to do with my time."

"Would you consider teaching at Hogwarts?"

Sirius looked really surprised. "Er, teach? Well. I never considered that. I was more like the Anti-Teacher during my years as a student."

Dumbledore chuckled. "That means you probably know every trick in the book that the students will try on you."

Sirius chuckled. "Probably. What position did you have in mind?"

"The Defense Against the Dark Arts position, as well as that of Potions Master, are available."

Sirius smiled. "Pick up where Moony left off? Hm. That might be fun. Plus, it would keep me keep an eye on Harry."

"So will you take the Defense position?" asked Dumbledore eagerly.

"Just a minute. I want to ask Harry how he feels about it." He then turned around and saw Harry talking to Hermione. "Harry, Hermione," he called, "Could you come here for a minute?"

"Sure," said Harry, as they made their way over to him, "What's up?"

"Well, Professor Dumbledore has just offered me the Defense teacher position. I wanted to know what you thought about that."

Harry and Hermione's faces lit up. "That's great!" said Hermione enthusiastically. "When you were supposed to be after Harry, I read about your history. You were an auror before everything happened. I'll bet you know loads of information about defense that we don't find in our textbooks."

Sirius' ears turned pink. "I guess I know a thing or two. What do you think, Harry?"

"I think it'd be awesome to have you there!"

"Then I'll take the job, but remember I can't show you favoritism," said Sirius, "only Snape's allowed to do that."

"Now Sirius," said Dumbledore, "That's not a fair assessment."

"Do you have a record of how many points each teacher gives and takes per year?" asked Sirius.

Dumbledore's ears went pink. "Er, yes."

"And how many points did Snape give and take from each house last year?"

Dumbledore pulled out his wand and pointed it at his watch. A green 953 appeared in the air with a green 0 below it. Next to it, a red 0 appeared with a red 848 below was next to the green. Next to that, a blue 32 appeared with a blue 364 below it. Finally, next to that a yellow 45 appeared with a yellow 531 below it. (Slytherin was green, Gryffindor was red, Ravenclaw was blue, and Hufflepuff was yellow). Dumbledore's eyes widened as he looked at how Snape had not taken any points from Slytherin, and how he had not given any points to Gryffindor. Not to mention the enormous amount of points he'd given to Slytherin and taken from Gryffindor.

"You see," said Sirius, "Snape makes the house cup a joke. That's why Slytherin won every year Snape taught before Harry came to Hogwarts. Not because they were better students."

Harry added icily, "I've seen that murderer take points from Hermione for answering a question correctly in class."

"Harry, you will refer to him as Professor Snape," said Dumbledore.

"How would you refer to someone responsible for your parents' deaths, sir?" said Harry coldly.

"Using language I don't allow at Hogwarts," said Dumbledore with a sigh. "But I do expect you to avoid Professor Snape as much as possible, but if you happen to meet him in the hall, be civil."

"While he takes 100 points from me for breathing," said Harry with a smirk. "Fine, but if he starts trouble with me, I won't promise not to call him what he is."

Albus sighed. "I hope that will be sufficient. I shall make a record of the points Professor Snape has given and taken since he became a professor and speak to him about it, but it shouldn't affect his current potions project anyway."

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The party went on for a while, and Ginny took Sirius aside and asked permission to use the dueling room with Neville at night. He said, "I don't mind. I might even give you guys some pointers."

After everybody but Harry and Hermione left (her parents said she could stay a few more hours), they talked for a little while about where Sirius had been hiding, the one thing he never told them over the mirror or in a letter for fear of being caught. He also told a few 'Marauder stories' that he hadn't talked about yet and asked about the adventures Harry and Hermione had at Hogwarts so far. They also gave Sirius the grand tour of the house while they were talking, and Sirius liked it a lot. He also had them explain why Quidditch hoops were in the dueling room. He thought the idea of indoor Quidditch was interesting, and couldn't wait to try it. After a few hours, Sirius said, "You two should get back to the Grangers' house. Harry, you can move your stuff in here tomorrow if you'd like, or you can stay where you're at until I have custody. It's up to you.

Harry looked thoughtful for a few moments while both Hermione and Sirius faced him. "I think I'd like to stay with the Grangers until the end of the month. That's about a week away. It'll give you a chance to get settled in before I have to. Then we'll have a month together before Hogwarts."

"That's fine. I think it's time to try out my bike!" said Sirius as he started rolling it toward the front door.

"Can I come?" asked Harry eagerly.

"Not this time, cub. I want to make sure that it's still working right. Hagrid said he hasn't used it since the night he dropped you on the Dursleys' doorstep. He didn't want to be seen with a 'murderer's' motorcycle after I was arrested, so he hid it somewhere no one would find it."

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The next morning, after Harry and Hermione arrived at Grimmauld Place for their training, they found Sirius sitting in the kitchen staring at the morning's paper. Ginny walked in behind them as Hermione said, "What's happened?"

Sirius looked up. "Read it for yourself," and turned the paper on the table toward them.

"High Ranking Ministry Official Bartemius Crouch Caught Harboring a Fugitive - Auror Killed as Fugitive Escapes

By Rita Skeeter

Bartemius Crouch Sr., head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, was caught last evening with his son, Bartemius Crouch Jr., a convicted Death Eater believed to have died in Azkaban, resting in a bed, covered by an invisibility cloak and under the unforgivable Imperius Curse which his father had cast upon him. Aurors visited that home when an investigation based off of evidence presented at the trial which proved Sirius Black was innocent of the crimes that Crouch Sr. had thrown him into Azkaban without a trial for began (see page 2). Unfortunately, Crouch Jr. managed to break the bewitchment and escape, killing one of the aurors, Matthew Hill, by breaking his neck and then taking his wand. Crouch Jr. of course, had participated in the torture of the aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom, which has left them insane and at St. Mungo's to this very day, so he is to be considered highly dangerous. When asked for comments, neither the Longbottom's son Neville nor Frank Longbottom's mother had anything to say, although their eyes were glistening with the ghost of their past..."

The article went on to say that Crouch Sr. was taken to Azkaban and a trial date was set for August 2nd, and that he is expected to be sentenced to either life in Azkaban or the Dementor's Kiss. It also mentioned how ruthless he'd been toward the end of the war.

Ginny looked at the others sadly. "Did you know about Neville's parents?"

"No," said Harry and Hermione together.

"I did," said Sirius. "I remember when Crouch Jr. was taken to Azkaban. I wonder how he escaped."

"I can't believe I never thought to ask Neville about his parents," said Ginny.

"Neither did we," said Harry sadly.

"I guess I'll have to talk to him about it." All of the sudden, Ginny started giggling uncontrollably. "Mr. Crouch! That's the man that Percy idolizes so much! I wonder what that prat thinks about the man he's been quoting nonstop since he started working now!"

"He'll be devastated," said Hermione with a frown on her face. "It's not funny."

"It is if you've been living with him as he goes on and on about how great Crouch is! I just wish I could've seen the look on his face when he showed up at work today! I can't wait for him to get home so I can watch the twins harass him! I think I'll ask him, 'Do you think Mr. Crouch will want a report about prison bar thickness?'"