Muggle-Raised Champion

Sane? Insane? It's All Overrated Anyway

And then had come the real kicker: Harry Potter wasn't a Hogwarts student! How that'd been allowed, he had no idea. It was something that he, as Harry's godfather, was determined to put right, after he'd dealt with the bloody rat, of course.

Then had come the year-long game of cat and mouse. Sneaking into the castle; avoiding the patrolling dementors; even managing to enter Gryffindor Tower once, even if he did have to leave empty-handed in a hurry. And, of course, dodging Remus. His old marauder pal hadn't known about the change in secret keepers, and Sirius was sure that Remus blamed him for what had happened to James and Lily.

And then everything had come to a head at the end of May.

Sirius had managed to catch the red-headed boy and the rat out after curfew and to squirrel them off to the Shrieking Shack. The fact that Moony had seen it happen from his classroom window and followed without alerting anyone else had been a blessing. And then Sirius had managed to reverse Pettigrew's animagus form right when Remus stepped through the bedroom door.

Explanations, revelations and manly hugs abounded before Remus managed to stop Sirius from killing Pettigrew there and then.

He'd had to turn himself in to the DMLE, but with Pettigrew firmly in hand, it hadn't taken long for the Ministry to arrange for a dual trial, a trial that ended with Sirius being exonerated and Pettigrew being found guilty and given the Dementor's Kiss.

For one brief, shining moment, Sirius had envisioned striding from the building and apparating straight to Harry. The Ministry, of course, had had other ideas. They'd wanted to compensate him for what he'd had to suffer for the past twelve years.

That's when he'd found himself in the clutches of the Healers of St. Mungo's Hospital. And they weren't keen on letting him go, not until he was completely healed, mind and body.

Six months, they'd promised.

And now six months had come and gone and Sirius was itching to get out. Harry, he'd read, had returned to the magical world after being entered into the TriWizard Tournament. And he'd already had to face dragons in the past month! There was no way that Sirius had any intention of letting him face anything else without his godfather firmly by his side.

As if he'd been summoned by Sirius' very thoughts, the door to his room opened and Healer Kellingsworth strode in reading the chart that he was carrying.

"Mornin' Raymond," Sirius called, forcing his voice to sound jovial, rather than anxious.

"Mister Black. How are you feeling this morning?" Healer Kellingsworth replied.

"Fit as a fiddle and raring to go," Sirius replied.

"That's good to hear," Healer Kellingsworth nodded. "And it seems that all of the Medi-Witches agree. Or, at least, the Medi-Witches are all eager for you to leave so that they can get a bit of peace and quiet again."

Sirius grinned lopsidedly. "Well, if we're all in agreement, I'll just go pack my bags then."

"Hold on a minute, Sirius," Healer Kellingsworth replied. "There's one more person who needs to agree before you can be released."

"Oh? Who would that be?" Sirius asked.

"Me," Healer Kellingsworth replied simply.

"And what's your opinion?" Sirius asked lightly, repressing the urge to throttle the man that kept dangling the carrot of escape in front of him.

"Your progress has been remarkable. You've responded well to your physical therapy, you've put on the required weight that we wanted and your psychological sessions have been very promising. However, I'd like to see you have a little more exposure to the outside world and evaluate how you deal with it before we fully release you from St. Mungo's."