Hey everyone! This is PonyDroverHPT. I welcome you to my first Harry Potter fanfic for ! A couple of things before I start…
1. I am completely averse to the deaths of Sirius, Remus, Tonks, and Fred. If you don't like that, I'm sorry. I think their deaths were unnecessary so I will not be dwelling on them in this story.
2. Dumbledore is another story. His death was crucial to the plotline, so he will remain dead when the time comes.
3. I don't write slash, not now and not ever. Unless it was meant to be, I'm not putting it in. That doesn't mean I'm anti-gay! I love gay people. More power to them!
4. I DONT OWN ANYTHING!!!!!! IT ALL BELONGS TO JK ROWLING!!!!
This is all… I look forward to seeing you at the end of the chapter!
Chapter 1: A Grim Night Gone Good
Harry was having a rough day. It all started when loud thunder and bright lightning woke him up at half-past three in the morning. Unable to go back to sleep after paying the Daily Prophet owl, Harry went downstairs around six to start breakfast. This task was harder than Harry thought, because the lightning wiped out some power lines in Little Whinging, so the only light in the house came from the stove that Harry was cooking on. This proved to be very dangerous, because without the light to judge the distance from the stove, Harry burned himself multiple times on the stove. The other terror that presented itself from the absence of electricity was the big one: Harry's cousin Dudley. Without the power to run his television, Dudley had reverted to one of his old favorite games, Harry-Hunt.
This led Harry to stay as far away from the house as possible. He was more scared of Dudley and his fist than a little wind and weather. For the rest of the afternoon, Harry stayed on the Merry-Go-'Round in the park on the corner of Privet Drive and Wisteria Walk.
When the sun began to set, Harry was shocked to see a tall figure approach him. Even at a distance, Harry could see the figure draw a long, thin object from the inside of his thin coat.
It was a wand.
The man was a wizard.
Instinctually Harry drew his wand and stood up to face the stranger. As long as he didn't die, Harry could handle using magic again as long as it saved his life. Who he saw in the flicker of the streetlamp made Harry feel temporarily relieved. It was his old professor and friend of his father's, Remus Lupin.
Lupin did not portray the same show of relief. He kept his wand pointed at Harry's chest, a look of suspicion on his face.
"What is the spell I taught you in your third year and what does it distinctly look like?" Lupin asked Harry. Obviously he had also received a leaflet from the Ministry of Magic this summer, because he was asking a security question.
"Patronus Charm. It takes the form of a stag." Harry replied with ease. Since the question he received was so easy, he was compelled to ask one of his own, so in turn he asked, "Who wrote the Marauder's Map, names and nicknames?"
"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. That would be myself, Remus Lupin, then Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter," Lupin replied, barely skipping a beat. Both men physically relaxed, and Lupin joined Harry on the Merry-Go-'Round.
"So what are you doing here, Lupin?" Harry asked, genuinely curious as to why his previous teacher was in his neighborhood.
"Your brief letters were worrying me; they almost seemed forced. And if you want to, you are more than welcome to call me Remus."
"Alright, but I didn't really have much to say. In fact, I haven't said anything all summer," That was true. Ever since the end of the last school year, his fifth to be exact, Harry barely spoke a word. He ignored his aunt and uncle, and he only answered the direct questions from his friends. If asked how he felt, Harry just said, "I'm fine" and would move onto the next subject.
"Harry, are you alright?" Lupin asked slowly. Harry was about to utter his usual retort, but he stopped himself. You can talk to Remus Harry thought he's probably going through the same things you are.
"How do you think I feel Remus?" Harry replied him in little more than a whisper. "I've just lost the last chance I'll ever have to having a decent family. I miss him so much it isn't fair." His knee-jerk emotions caused a tear to roll down the end of his nose. "I'm sure you understand," Harry finished, looking down at his worn-out trainers.
Lupin put his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Actually," he started, and Harry's head shot up to see if the smile on Lupin's face was as evident as the one in his voice. It was. "There has been a recent turn of events in my life, proving to me that there can be small miracles."
"Really?" Harry asked sarcastically. "Whatever could that be?"
Lupin gave a whistle, and out of the shrubs on the left of the playground came a dark dog. It ran at Harry full-force, and then began licking his face, hands, and hair. After what seemed like minutes, the dog relented, leaving Harry dripping in slobber.
"This is your miracle?" was Harry's incredulous question. "A dog?"
Before his very eyes, the dog backed away, and the area where the dog was standing was instantly filled with a man. His black hair was shorter than Harry remembered, and he still looked gaunt. His grey eyes shone with a new joy, and when he spoke, his voice had the same youthful enthusiasm it had a month ago.
"Harry, I'm hurt. Is that really all you think of me?" said the man known to the world as Sirius Black. Harry's heart leapt into his throat just as the bottom fell out of his stomach. Could it be? But he's dead! I watched him die! Yep, definitely not possible. Harry, for the second time that night, drew his wand.
"If you're really Sirius, then tell me only something only the real Sirius Black would know," Harry demanded.
"Okay," and Harry was surprised to see him grinning. "You probably don't remember this, but when you were a baby and Lily and James were busy, I would always get the job of changing you, so I am the only person alive that knows about the birthmark on your butt shaped like a thundercloud."
Harry was totally mortified. That was an extremely private piece of information, something he thought no one knew about. As he felt his blood rush to his face, he heard the uncontrollable guffaws coming from Lupin. But none of that was important. Sirius was actually alive, and that was all that mattered.
"Sirius, oh my God it is you!" Harry engulfed his godfather in a hug. He could hear Sirius chuckle as Harry fought to control the sobs that racked his body.
"Hey, you're not going hysterical, are you?" Sirius asked worriedly.
"I'm pretty damn close, seeing as my godfather whom I thought was dead is now, well, not dead," Harry mumbled darkly into Sirius' shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Harry. It was the only way I was going to escape from the Ministry. But now everyone knows that I'm innocent, and soon I'll let myself be seen so I can be free and alive," he explained kindly.
"But how did you survive? I mean, I saw the Avada Kedavra hit you, and-and you fell…" Harry rambled, but Sirius cut him off.
"Harry, Harry, Harry calm down! Let me explain. What really happened was this: Remus was paying a lot more attention than I thought was possible, so he Stunned me, and Disillusioned me, all in the last minute. It was quite outstanding, really." Sirius finished, flashing a grin at Lupin.
"But why didn't either of you tell me? I'm amazing at keeping secrets, you could trust me," Harry protested. He was beginning to feel really mad at them both for keeping them in the dark.
It was Lupin who answered this time. "Harry, in order for Fudge to find Sirius innocent, he needed to believe Sirius was dead. If you believed it, and Dumbledore believed it, then there was no denying it. Now the evidence has absolved his name, and he'll be a free man again," he said.
Oh. Well, that made sense, sort of. Harry was still a little put-out that he wasn't told, but it was okay. Sirius was alive, and Harry's world was back in rotation.
He didn't notice until too late that Sirius was scrutinizing his appearance. "Harry you're looking thin," Sirius noted, frowning at the fact that Dudley's hand-me-down clothes were going on ten sizes too big, "Have you been eating?"
"I went on a diet," Harry lied poorly, for even he realized that when he was depressed, he stopped eating. He caught "the look" from both Sirius and Lupin, so he muttered under his breath, "It would have worked if they were stupid." (See ending A/N) At that comment, Sirius chuckled softly and Lupin rolled his eyes.
"Well," Lupin said, "I think it's time we leave. I for one don't want to stay in this boring neighborhood."
"Oh," Harry said dejectedly. He didn't want to stay in Privet Drive anymore, and now his only way of escaping was leaving him behind, "thanks for stopping by."
Sirius laughed. "Are you mental? We're taking you with us. Dumbledore gave us special permission to come and get you."
"Really?" Harry said. Of course he had been waiting all summer for something like this to happen, so he hadn't unpacked yet. He hadn't really given up hope that someone would come and rescue him.
"Yes," Sirius replied, "Now go and get your stuff while we explain to your aunt and uncle."
Harry broke into a dead run down the street. Oh my God. Sirius is alive and I'm leaving this God-forsaken place! The thought kept running through Harry's head with his every footfall. He slowed to a walk as he reached the driveway, and, as usual, was completely ignored as he trudged up the stairs. It took Harry five minutes to clean out Hedwig's cage and gather whatever he had lying around in his room, including his Invisibility Cloak and his Firebolt. He had everything ready when he heard a knock on the door.
"Who in the bloody hell could be calling at this time?" Uncle Vernon's voice boomed from the hallway downstairs. According to Harry's watch, it was 8:00 p.m., so the power outages had taken a heavy affect on his uncle. The loud grumbling was then followed by heavy footsteps and the sound of the front door opening with a slow creak.
"Hello, Mr. Dursley, my name is Remus Lupin," Lupin's cool, authoritative voice floated, "I have orders to collect your nephew for the rest of the summer."
Harry was internally thanking his lucky stars that it was Lupin who came to the door. He knew that if it was Sirius, then emotions would fly and either Uncle Vernon would have been cursed into oblivion or Sirius would have been strangled.
"Hold on, I'm coming!" Harry dragged his trunk in one hand, Hedwig's cage in the other, and his rucksack on his back down the stairs.
"You ready to go?" Lupin asked with a small smile.
"Yep!" Harry answered breathlessly. After a very hasty farewell (which consisted of Harry waving over his shoulder to his uncle, not even waiting for a reply) Harry and Lupin walked to the edge of the street where a black dog was waiting for them. Lupin threw out his wand arm and, with a bang, the Knight Bus appeared. Stan Shunpike, the very-pimply young conductor, began his speech.
"Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for…"
Lupin cut him off quickly. "How much for two and a pet?"
"Twenty-five Sickles."
Lupin started searching his robes, but Harry was quicker on the uptake. He gave the money to Stan, pocketed the change, and found a seat next to Sirius.
"Thanks," Lupin muttered, also taking a seat.
"No problem, so where are we going?"
"Ottery St. Catchpole, we go on foot the rest of the way."
"What…" Harry was about to ask what was so special in Ottery St. Catchpole, but then he remembered something Ron had said once…"Fred and George met a muggle girl in Ottery St. Catchpole. That's the village down the hill…" "Wait. Are we going to the Burrow?"
"Yep," Lupin said absently, reading the Daily Prophet. Sirius yelped softly in happiness and Harry shut his eyes and leaned against the cold window.
So, about the quote. A very good friend of mine and I were talking in Chemistry, and at the most opportune moment she said this and it was the funniest thing ever. I vowed to put into my fanfiction story.
When you review, could you please give me suggestions about a good title? Quite frankly, I'm stuck!
Reviews are great, and so is constructive criticism. Flames aren't so I really don't want any. The more of you review, the faster I'll have the next chapter up! Happy Thanksgiving!
K~A~W
