Knowing that he had to move quickly now Sirius hastily left the Ministry building. He exited via the DMLE entrance which was so busy none of the wards on the door even registered his presence. Old memories of when he had been a member of the DMLE began to resurface in his mind but he quickly pushed them back. Time was against him now and he couldn't afford to waste time reminiscing. Voldemort being sighted on Ministry grounds and several of the wizarding world's most 'upstanding' citizens being outed as deatheaters would take precedence with the DMLE but sooner or later someone was going to bring up his supposed death and there was a lot Sirius needed to get done before that happened.

As soon as he was clear of the Ministry's wards he apparated back to Grimmauld Place and as he hurried through the door he noted with some irony that for the first time in his life he was happy to see his childhood home. It had been a close call tonight, too close, and something like that could not be allowed to happen again. He hadn't considered the consequences of running off to the Ministry until it was too late and that mistake had almost proven fatal. For Harry's sake he couldn't keep doing shit like that. He needed to start thinking things through.

He shut and locked the door behind him and then, with a flick of his wand, started altering the wards. Dumbledore may be secret keeper for the Order of the Phoenix but Sirius was still Master of the Manor so he could go around whatever protections the old man had put on the house if he so desired. He sealed the house with some of the Black Family Magic that his Uncle Alphard had taught him. Only men of Black blood could command the family magic so the Order of the Phoenix wouldn't be able to get back in and Sirius hoped they would think, in the aftermath of his death, the house had locked itself down automatically, awaiting its new master. The story wouldn't hold for long, especially if they made an effort to find out who the new master might be, but it would hopefully buy Sirius enough time to start putting his plans into action.

He started to head upstairs only to almost trip over Kreacher's headless corpse which was lying on the hall floor. Sirius snorted disgustedly. From the little he'd been able to glean about why Harry had gone running off to the Department of Mysteries tonight he'd already figured out that Kreacher must have sold him out to one of his foul cousins and guessed that the Black Family Magic had punished the elf for betraying his master. Feeling absolutely no regret or remorse Sirius vanished the corpse with another flick of his wand. The horrible house elf had gone out of his way to make Sirius' life hell ever since Orion and Walburga Black had obtained him when their eldest son was five years old so there was no way that Sirius was going to honour the elf with a burial, especially not after the fiasco that had happened tonight.

He finally made it upstairs and slipped into the Master's study. Contrary to what Remus and Molly seemed to have gotten some sort of sadistic pleasure from telling everyone he hadn't actually spent the majority of the long hours of his imprisonment in Grimmauld Place shut away with Buckbeak or locked in his room guzzling firewhiskey. He actually spent most of his time in here. Nobody seemed to understand that after so long in Azkaban he wasn't a social creature anymore. He was used to, and had grown to appreciate, solitude and stuck in the house, unable to go outside, the time he spent shut away in the study was the only privacy he ever got.

It wasn't like he lacked things to do. He'd spent countless hours this past year combing through the massive Black Library, in a hidden room off the study, looking for ways to dispose of Voldemort. Most of the books in here were less than reputable so he'd had hope that he would find some sort of option that Dumbledore hadn't considered. Unfortunately he hadn't had any luck, not that he'd got anywhere near all the way through the library. He probably should have recruited some help but he was reticent to invite anyone else into his private domain and there was almost no one in the Order who he trusted enough to grant access to this wealth of knowledge anyway. He'd also had the feeling that if he revealed the existence of the library the kids would have found out about it and Hermione Granger would have begged for access. Sirius owed Hermione a lot for helping Harry to save his life two years earlier so would have had a hard time denying her anything she asked for but as much as he felt the kids deserved more information than Dumbledore and Molly were giving them he didn't think even the supremely intelligent Hermione Granger would be able to cope with some of the literature in here. The best idea, he'd decided, was definitely to keep the library a strict secret.

Sirius sat down at his desk and wrote out a letter to his Gringotts bank manager, begging for a face to face meeting as soon as possible, and sanctuary while he was inside the bank. He needed to work something out with the goblins as soon as possible. They had been helping him since he'd escaped Azkaban, letting him access his vault from time to time, but now he needed to ask something more of them. Eventually someone, probably Dumbledore, was going to try and have his will read. If the will he'd written out in his twenties was still valid then Harry was his major beneficiary but Sirius couldn't afford to have his estate redistributed. He would require a lot of money to put his plans in motion and hoped that he could get the goblins to agree to some sort of subterfuge that would pull the wool over the eyes of both the Order and the Ministry.

He sent the letter off with his owl, Rusty. He'd had Bill buy the bird for him earlier in the year so he'd have a reliable way to communicate with Harry but thanks to Delores fucking Umbridge contact with his godson had been all but non-existent since Christmas so Rusty had been sadly lacking things to do. The owl took his letter and swooped off out the open window, presumably wanting to get away quickly in case he changed his mind. Sirius then went back to his desk and wrote letters to Mad-Eye and Bill. They were the only two he was prepared to trust with news of his survival right now and, presuming the goblins granted him the meeting he desired, Sirius would also need to meet with the other two at Gringotts tomorrow.

He then set the letters aside to be sent off when Rusty returned. It was at times like this he really regretted not being able to produce a patronus anymore. He was working on it but after so many years being exposed to the dementors chances were he would never be able to produce one again. It was extremely frustrating because sending messages via patronus was basically the fastest, most reliable method of communication in the entire magical world. Sirius was going to have to think up something else if he didn't master the patronus charm again soon.

He pulled out some parchment and a quill to start making a to-do list.

Organise meeting with goblins to take care of finances (enquiry pending)

Find solicitor? Look into ways of securing freedom and formally getting custody of Harry

Obtain reliable house elf to clean up Grimmauld Place

Decide who, among old friends, is trustworthy and track them down (Mad-Eye can help)

Kidnap Harry from Petunia

Organise professional healer for Harry and myself (necessary evil)

Educate Harry about social status in wizarding world

Improve Harry's education

Research Voldemort's background and weakness

Research reliable communication options for allies

Sirius cringed when he looked at the list. It was only 10 items but all of them were easier said than done, especially as he was a wanted fugitive. Unfortunately there was also one more thing to do, something that he'd left off his list. He sat back in his desk chair telling himself that it was the right thing to do even though all he wanted was to run in the other direction screaming.

Really, he should have done this when Uncle Alphard died and he became Head of the House of Black but after rebelling against pureblood dogma all his life and listening to his uncle complain about life as a noble in the political arena he'd put it off and off until finally he'd been locked away in Azkaban and claiming his inheritance wasn't an option any more. Sirius honestly couldn't figure out whether his uncle had done him a favour or not by putting him off politics. If he'd been Lord Black at the time of his arrest he surely would have had a higher chance of getting a trial but by the same token he may not have even been alive to need a trial because Voldemort would have come after him with even more determination so the Malfoys or the Lestranges could claim the House of Black after he was dead.

Sirius sighed, knowing that he couldn't put this off anymore. He raised his wand and recited the oath. "I, Sirius Orion Black, heir by blood, law and magic, do hereby claim the House of Black. I promise to lead it with honour and integrity and to protect and guide all those who remain loyal members. So mote it be."

He watched in mild fascination as the onyx signet ring he'd seen on his uncle's hand and which had been coveted by his father appeared on his own hand. Sirius sighed, still scarcely able to believe that this was happening. He'd distanced himself from the Black Family as soon as he was able, even going so far as to become a ward of House Potter. Now here he was the Head of the family of his birth. It was absurd.

Well, it wasn't actually. It was all because of Harry and Sirius would do anything for his godson. He just hoped that it would be enough. The newest Lord Black peered out the window in the direction that his owl had flown. Everything hinged on getting that meeting with the goblins.

Sirius needed them to grant his request or none of his plans would come to fruition and both he and Harry would be in more danger than ever before.