Sirius nodded and they continued their way. They were halfway through the atrium when they both caught sight of purple and pink robes and heard Sirius's name being called. They glanced at each other, sighed and turned to the approaching headmaster.
"Ah, Sirius, my boy, I had heard you were here finishing up on the final paperwork. I wanted to talk to you about young Harry," Dumbledore said when he caught up with the two men.
"Albus, how good to see you. This is my cousin, Hydrus Black," Sirius said, waving his hand at Hydrus, who simply nodded his head to the old man.
"Ah, yes, Hagrid told me about you. He said you had taken a vow to help Harry. May I ask why you did such a thing?" Albus asked as he stroked his beard, his twinkling eyes looking over his half-moon spectacles.
"I heard the family was in trouble and thought I could help. I was too late and felt a bit guilty," Hydrus said, with sadness in his voice. "That man… Hagrid, was huge and I didn't want the baby to get hurt, so I made the vow so there wouldn't be any fighting. Seemed like the thing to do at the time." His guised grey eyes were sincere.
"That was a very serious thing to do, young man. You have no idea how it could affect your future," came the reprimand, though he was pleased to have seen the true remorse in the young man's face.
"Whatever," the immortal said. He wanted the headmaster to think he was unimportant and not a threat, that vow will go a long way with that.
"Albus," Sirius said, bringing the conversation back to him, "you said you wanted to talk about Harry, not chastise my cousin."
"Forgive an old man his meanderings, Sirius. As to young Harry, I wanted to inquire if you were planning on removing him from his aunt's house. I must warn you that should you do that, he will be most vulnerable," the headmaster said in his I'm-older-and-wiser voice.
"Why? Why shouldn't I raise my godson? Lily and James left me custody!" Sirius raised his voice. He was acting confused and riled.
"When Lily died to protect young Harry she established a blood protection around him. That protection can only be maintained if Harry calls the place where his mother's blood dwells home," Albus explained.
Sirius waved it off. "I can hire Gringotts' employees to put up wards."
"Yet they will still not be as strong as a mother's love," came the gentle argument.
Sirius scoffed and said, "Like I'd know anything about that."
He shot a side look to Hydrus to see how he was taking Sirius's acting. Hydrus gave him a subtle thumbs-up and a wink.
"And I, for one, am very sorry for your upbringing. It always saddens me when I hear of families who cannot love," the old man said remorsefully and then his face morphed back into the calm grandfather visage. "Now, back to Harry, I must insist that you leave him at the Dursleys. He will be protected there like nowhere else. I am sure his new family will take excellent care of him. He will grow up away from the growing fame and have a happy childhood." That twinkle was going full force.
This time Hydrus scoffed, causing the Headmaster to glance at him. The immortal put on a look of innocence.
"Can you promise me that those wards are the best? Would you swear on it?" Sirius decided it was time to get home and stop playing with Albus.
"You have my word," came the slightly triumphant response. A beaming smile broke across Albus's face.
"Then you have mine. I will not take Harry away from the blood wards," Sirius promised sincerely.
"That is good news indeed, my boy. Thank you for considering an old man's opinion," Dumbledore said jovially. "I must bid you good day, gentlemen. I have much to do." He then gave a nod to the two men and walked away knowing his mission was complete. It didn't even register in his mind that Sirius should have fought harder.
Sirius and Hydrus shared a look and chuckled. "Let's go see if Remus wrote back yet," Hydrus said as he clapped the other man on the back.
"Yes, let's."
Back at the house, Hydrus went to check on Harry, while Sirius read the missive that was indeed there. It was full of guilty rambling and apologies, and said that he would be happy to meet Sirius at the eatery, sharply at five in the evening.
The rest of the day was spent with Harry. They wanted to make sure the tot knew there were adults there for him. Harry was adapting surprisingly well, with only a few times where he cried for his parents, mostly when he was tired. At four all three males, dressed as non-magicals, buckled safely into Hydrus's car and drove to the restaurant. They were early, so they sat at a window table to wait. The two adults ordered a small dinner of Shepherd's pie. Harry had a cheese sandwich and a sippy cup of milk, making quite a mess of it, but some got into his mouth.
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