"Yes," Ragnok nodded, "I believe so as well. Snapfist, put out feelers for the magical guardian issue. Let us make this a race shall we? Goblin vs. wizard. Who will find the loophole first I wonder?"
Harry and Shiva made a stop at St. Mungos after leaving Gringotts. He received vaccinations for everything Muggle and magical as well as a prescription for nutrient potions to reverse some of the malnutrition left over from his years at the Dursleys. Shiva had received several dirty looks as the results of Harry's deep-scan were revealed though the two quickly corrected the healers that Shiva was actually the one responsible for removing him from that environment. After that the Healers were far nicer and agreed to their request to keep the visit quiet for the time being. It wouldn't do for the majority of the wizarding community to start hating Muggles just because Harry's relatives were the worst of the lot.
After the medical appointment was a shopping trip through Diagon Alley and the nearby Muggle shopping center. It had been an experience for both of them; Harry had never been to one before as the Dursleys always left him at the house when they went shopping. Shiva on the other hand had a relatively willing young man to play dress up with.
After a few hours Harry had stopped being amused and requested to return home.
"Let's go for a walk, kid," Shiva said tossing the bags they had accumulated on the couch and waving towards the door.
"We've been out all day!" Harry grumbled. "Can't we just sit down for a few minutes?"
Shiva sighed and shook her head. "Come on, Harry. We need to talk about that thing in the Prophet I didn't want you to read."
"And we can't do that on the couch why?"
"Because it's a beautiful evening for once and there is a nice park a block away. Stop complaining, we can sit down a bench in five minutes."
"You will be the death of me, woman," Harry said standing back up and following her out. True to her word, Shiva had them on a bench in the park near the house before five minutes had passed and with snacks to boot.
She handed Harry an ice cream cone as she took a seat next to him. Harry raised his eyebrows but attacked the dessert. "This is definitely going to be bad if you are bribing me with ice cream before even starting."
"You know about Azkaban right?" Shiva said wincing at his comment.
"Yeah. The prison. Horrible guards that literally suck out all good feelings."
"Yeah, that's the one. It's also supposed to be impossible to escape from," Shiva paused as a large black dog poked its head out from the nearby bushes.
"Hey, boy," Harry said holding out the remainder of his ice cream to the dog. The dog seemed to consider it for a moment before slowly padding out and licking the cone. "You're a long way from home, buddy."
"You know this monster?" Shiva asked squinting at the dog. It was huge but very underweight. The poor thing's fur was somewhat matted as well. At least it seemed friendly enough.
"He was there when I took the Knight Bus to your place. I figured he'd just ran away but I guess he jumped on the back or something."
"That...seems odd, Harry."
"He's a dog Shiva. Not an evil mastermind. If he was an animagus trying to kill me he could've done it when I first ran into him the other night." The dog's tongue lolled out and he sat down promptly next to Harry. "He's obviously smartly than a regular dog though – probably as smart as Hedwig if he managed to follow me here. He was probably some wizard's familiar or something and the guy died leaving the poor guy alone. Can we keep him?"
Shiva sighed. "I don't think so, Harry. You already have a familiar and I'm more of a cat person. We're not really supposed to have dogs at Hogwarts and we can't exactly just leave him here while we're gone for months." Harry's face fell. "Tell you what, I'll ask around a bit. Maybe one of my friends in Hogsmeade will want to take him in. Then you can visit him during the school year."
Harry smiled at that and the dog yipped. "Okay, that works. Thanks, Shiva!"
"No problem, kid." Shiva gave the animal a scratch. "You should probably name him."
"How about Blacky?" The dog growled at that making Harry laugh. "Guess not. Thunder? Hmm, Snuffles? Oh, you like that one. Okay, Snuffles it is." The newly minted Snuffles licked Harry's hand. "Alright, enough stalling I suppose. What were you saying about Azkaban?"
"A prisoner broke out a few days ago." Shiva leaned back on the bench and stared off into the distance. "His name was Sirius Black."
"You say that like I should recognize the name," Harry said while scratching Snuffles who had fallen silent.
"You were just a baby when he was locked away. Sirius Black was one of your father's best friends, Harry. He was also your godfather." Harry's eyes narrowed and the dog whined a bit as his scratching got more intensive. "When your parents went into hiding with you they were under a charm called Fidelius. It works to hide the existence of a secret – generally a location but it could be anything – from the world at large. Only someone called the Secret Keeper can show or tell others the secret."
"And Black was the Secret Keeper for where Mum and Dad were?" Harry asked quietly. Snuffles whined beneath him but Harry gently shushed the dog.
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