/The Pads Signal/
March, 1981
In the March of 1981, Sirius Orion Black turned on the Potters' television and channel-surfed until he found the Muggle news.
– But that isn't this story.
March, 1981 (again)
In the March of 1981, Sirius Orion Black turned on the Potters' television and was trying to reach the Muggle news when instead he happed upon a childrens' cartoon.
"Nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah BATMAN!"
Sirius watched, enraptured, as the black-clad, sexually-frustrated man flew around, dispatching clowns like lipstick-smeared dominoes.
"Sirius!" Lily admonished, entering the room, "I thought you were checking up on the Muggle news!"
"I was," Sirius said defensively. "I just got a little sidetracked."
"You always get sidetracked!"
"I do not. Drama queen."
"Oh? I suppose I imagined the time you were meant to change Harry and tried to give him wings instead?"
"You have been quite stressed lately."
"Sirius!"
"Lily, I'm the godfather. I'm supposed to teach him dirty words and slip him sweets when he's grounded, not clean up his excrement."
It was at this point that our hero got sidetracked. Again.
"What's that?" he asked, gesturing to the screen.
Lily turned to see what was distracting him this time. "That's the Bat Signal," she explained exasperatedly.
Sirius seemed vaguely impressed at this. "Now why don't I have one of them?"
Lily rolled her emerald eyes. "Maybe because you're too irresponsible to look after your own godson, let alone an entire city!"
Sirius, of course, wasn't listening. He had learned to tune out the former-prefect's voice long ago.
But he was thinking, dreaming up new ways to protect Harry – no matter what happened.
June, 1985
"How dare you ruined Dudder's special day?"
Harry Potter fell back, his cheek slowly turning red from the impact.
That was the first time his aunt struck him.
She regretted it soon after.
From the neat, uniform house in Privet Drive, a bright spotlight appeared, reaching into the stormy sky. And in the luminescent oval it created, a silhouette – a bear-like dog, with glowing eyes.
The Pads Signal.
Miles away, Sirius Black saw the symbol only visible to him and growled, eyes dark and tempestuous as the sky.
He hadn't been thinking straight, those past three years; too absorbed in grief and agony that the demons that guarded him would not let him forget. But in that symbol, he found clarity, purpose.
He waited – god, how he hated the waiting, but it was crucial, and he couldn't mess up as he had so many times before. After what seemed like an age he was racing past the guards, down the narrow hallway full of screams and out, out to where the air was clear and didn't taste like death. His cadaverous body aided him here – Padfoot slipped through the bars, away from his jailers' grasp.
By the time he reached the mainland, he was half-drowned, choking; more pathetic than ever. But he couldn't rest yet. Sirius knew what the signal meant – he had cast the spell himself.
His godson was in pain.
Through the night he raced with all the strength of a half-dead dog. The signal had long since gone – Harry was at ease again, but for how long? With this in mind, in searched for the source of the light. He already had an idea – Hagrid had told him that Halloween night. It seemed like another life, now.
He wanted it back.
Harry lay in his small, dark cupboard, waiting for the harmony of sleep. He had almost slipped into its tendrils when a canine howl pierced the night, followed by a thunderous pounding against the front door.
"What the devil is that racket?" Uncle Vernon's voice shouted from the landing. Harry could feel his obese mass thumping down the stairs. The front door was swung open with a loud creak of protest from its hinges.
Then there was a scream and quick footsteps, and Harry's cupboard was hastily opened.
It was an unkempt yet handsome man, with scraggly dark hair and beard, and gaunt cheeks like he'd been deprived of sunlight and sustenance.
"Harry?" the stranger said, his scratchy voice gentle. Harry blinked up at him in confusion. No one had ever addressed him so kindly before.
"I'm Sirius," the man continued, "your godfather. You wanna come out of there?"
Harry cautiously took the man's bony hand and let himself be led out of the cupboard.
"Your parents were some of my best friends," he said softly, "and they said that if anything happened to you, I should look after you. If you're happy here, you can stay; if not, you could come with me…"
Harry regarded the stranger in silence, drinking this information in. His parents?
"You are one of them!" Vernon cried in disgust. "You – freak!"
It was at this point that Sirius noticed the small, rickety bed crammed into the cupboard Harry had just vacated. He turned on his heel to glare daggers at the Dursleys.
"You make him sleep in a cupboard!" he growled menacingly, causing them to shrink back in fear. Harry's opinion of the man instantly skyrocketed.
"Get out… my house…" Vernon managed to mutter between gasps of terror.
"Gladly," Sirius replied shortly. "Harry?"
He knelt down until his silver-grey eyes were level with Harry's emerald ones, so like his mother's.
"Do you want to come with me?"
Harry stared. For a moment his gazed flickered to the cowering couple by the door. Then, slowly, he nodded.
In a beat, Sirius had scooped him up, and they were off, into the night, leaving Privet Drive far behind them.
"W-where're we going?" little Harry stuttered, as Sirius bounded through the backstreets.
"An old friend of mine's," Sirius replied happily, "also a friend of your parents'. Then, anywhere. Everywhere."
"We're free?" asked Harry, green eyes wide. Sirius smiled.
"Yes, Harry. We're free."
/fin/
I could continue this, but I doubt Harry, Sirius and Remus are going to travel the world and have the happy, not-at-all-normal life they deserve. Sirius and Remus will reconcile as lovers, and when Harry arrives at Hogwarts, people will be all "what the fuck", and he will laugh at them.
I think Sirius really could have escaped at any point, but the drive to actually do it was only triggered by seeing Wormtail in the paper – knowing Harry was in trouble. And I know that's not the purpose of the Bat Signal, but I had this idea and for some reason a giant spotlight in the sky seemed the best way to fulfill it. reviews?