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The Revelation Of Harry Forrester
joerandom
Story Idea Started: 13 Nov 2016
SUMMARY: Sirius escapes with Harry after the Potters die. He makes it all the way into the US before Death Eaters catch up to them and he has to abandon Harry. Now Harry is alone. In the US foster care system. With no name, no history, and no trace. Then, after 13 years, Harry returns to Britain as a very different person. With a completely different view of Magic. A view that breaks everything. H/Hr.
CATEGORIES: Drama/Romance
RATING: T (PG-13)
CHAPTER POSTED: 7 June, 2019
CHAPTER SIZE: 9699
POSTING SCHEDULE: Every Friday at 18:00GMT
STORY SIZE: 134k words, 8 chapters
VERSION: 1.0
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing; I'm only visiting this universe.
AUTHORS NOTES: This story has a touch of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, with a big dose of the Pied Piper thrown in too. But at it's core, this story is about turning the concept of magic on it's head. Or, maybe more accurately, embedding magic deep into the human subconscious psyche. Where magic comes to re-enforce the psychological and emotional systems of families and groups.
I was most of the way into writing this story when I realised that, in canon, Hogwarts had an orchestra and a frog choir, portrayed at the beginning of 3rd year and during the Third Task. I had forgotten that. And the orchestra and choir seemed to be treated as a bit of a joke, though as a caricature it was effective. I consider music education as actually important. Therefore, the Hogwarts in this story does not have any music. Otherwise, all the electrons that comprise this story would be wasted.
TYPOGRAPHY: Punctuation within quotes is meant to be lyrical rather than grammatical; e.g. a "," is a pause that marks the end of a spoken phrase, a "–" is a longer pause in someone's thinking or an interruption of someone's phrase, and a "..." is the unintended, and usually confused, end of someone's sentence.
Chapter 1
The Duty Of Sirius Orion Black
Sirius Orion Black
Sunday, 31 October, 1981
Sirius flopped down on his couch, after fixing himself a glass of – tea. Fortified tea. Also known as: single malt whiskey. He was barricaded in his muggle flat, hiding from the wizarding world. For a while, at least. A lot of fun has been taken out of his life since James and Lily went into hiding; to be honest his life has turned grim. He still had his Auror duties to keep him busy and that has been very engrossing, given that he would take out all his family frustrations on all the Death Eaters he caught up to. But today was his down day. And today he had sat still a bit too long and fell asleep on the couch in the late afternoon. Now, he should start thinking about dinner. He sighed heavily. He should think about it. There's just not enough reason to. So – he leaned his head back and started – thinking ... deeply.
An alarm started wailing. It took Sirius a moment to identify what it was. Then another to remember why it was important. This alarm meant that the wards on Godric's Hollow have been breached!
Sirius screamed as panic jolted him. He jumped up and ran outside, into the darkness of evening, outside of his own wards to a place he could apparate. He landed in front of Godric's Hollow and found it a shambles. Rubble splattered over the yard, windows broken, front door off it's hinges. "Oh, gods, no!" He ran into the house and found James amid destroyed furniture and scorched walls downstairs. With sightless eyes looking into eternity. An expression of shock.
Sirius almost collapsed, then regained some strength at the sound of Harry crying. He ran upstairs to find Harry's room a disaster, the roof blown off. Lily on the floor, next to a set of empty clothes. The light and life of those eyes, gone, her expression empty. He almost lost it. Then Harry cried louder when he saw Sirius. Sirius picked up a blood-covered Harry, he turned and heard a snap as he stepped on and broke a wand on the floor, amongst the clothes. He ran downstairs and out the front. Hagrid was coming up the walk, "Sirius! How is Harry?"
Sirius was trying to hold it together, "He's got blood all over him. I need to take him to get checked." He started moving.
Hagrid held out his hand, "Sirius, Dumbledore sent me to take Harry to a safe place so he can be hidden."
All Sirius' alarm bells went off. He turned very serious, "Hagrid, I am Harry's Godfather. That is my responsibility. I will take him." Harry was clinging to him with an exhausted whimper.
Hagrid was almost pleading, "Sirius, Dumbledore said no one else should know where Harry is taken."
Sirius got a bad feeling about that. He will not have this sacred responsibility taken from him, not now. Not after all that he has lost, "I'm sorry Hagrid, but no. I am Harry's Godfather. I will take care of him." Sirius apparated away, out of Hagrid's reach.
Sirius landed in the front yard of a small house, one he hadn't been to in a long time. The house of Andromeda and Ted Tonks to have Harry's injuries healed, as Andromeda is a Healer. He knocked on the door rather franticly. Harry was whimpering and clinging to him.
The door opened to Andromeda, "Sirius!" She saw Harry whimpering in his arms, "Inside!" She moved out of the way and Sirius rushed in, "The couch."
Sirius moved quickly and carefully laid Harry down.
Andromeda waved her wand in diagnostic and healing spells faster than Sirius could follow. "Sirius, Harry's scar is a curse scar. It won't heal easily." Harry sighed and fell into sleep quickly since the healing spells had taken away the pain. She set out some potions and some supplies for Sirius to take for Harry. She started writing a list of potions, salves, and treatments for Sirius to get for Harry.
Sirius was in too much of a hurry, because he knew Dumbledore would not let go of his plans easily. And that meant everyone will be chasing him. Sirius started packing up the supplies and had Andi conjure a sling to carry Harry. Sirius was struggling to put the sling on comfortably.
"Sirius, where are you going? He needs to rest."
Andi's daughter, Nym, came up and started snuggling Harry into his blanket on the couch.
"I can't stay here. Dumbledore has some plan that he is determined to see through. One that includes taking Harry away from me. That is not acceptable. Harry is my responsibility. I've lost too much already. I won't lose this, too."
Andi looked at him sadly, then nodded and stepped back, "Good luck, Sirius."
Sirius hugged Andi, then Nym, "Thank you Andi. See ya kiddo." He kissed Nym's forehead, picked up Harry in his sling and the bag of supplies and apparated. He landed in darkness at the front gates of Longbottom Manor. He touched his wand to the front gate and it swung open. He hurried in toward the front door. It swung open before he got there.
"Sirius! What's happened? Who – This is Harry?"
Sirius almost collapsed at the question and the hug from Frank. His voice unsteady, "Lily and James –" He choked, "Gone."
"Oh, gods." Frank pulled him inside. He stood on the edge of trembling, looking into nothing. He gathered himself, "How is Harry?"
Sirius was still struggling to talk coherently, "Fine, now. Andi saw to him. I just need –" His eyes looked wild, he started breathing too hard.
"Sirius, hold it together, man. Come. Sit." Frank pulled him into the parlour to a chair and gently pushed him into it. "Tell me, slowly."
Sirius started to break down, until Harry started whimpering. Then Sirius froze. He spoke quietly, "James and Lily are gone. Dumbledore has some plan. He wants to take Harry away from me and hide him somewhere. I can't let that happen. I'm his Godfather. Harry is my responsibility. I need to keep moving. I – just need some advice – and supplies."
Frank looked at him, "That could be difficult." He turned slightly, "Tambor."
An elf popped in, "Yes, Master?"
"Please let Alice know I need her here."
The elf bowed and popped away.
Frank turned back to Sirius, "Do you know what Dumbledore has planned?"
Sirius shook his head, "No details, just that he wants to hide Harry away from everyone including me. I can't let that happen."
Frank shook his head slowly, "No. I agree."
Alice walked quickly in, "Sirius! What happened?"
Sirius turned his head away in pain.
Frank stood and hugged her, "James and Lily are – gone."
Alice let out a cry and almost collapsed, "No!"
It only took a few moments and a few deep breaths for Alice to come roaring back. She stood up straight and looked at Sirius, "How is Harry?"
Sirius swallowed, "Doing better than I am."
"What do you need, Sirius?"
Sirius took a deep breath, two, "I need some supplies, or at least a list of supplies I should have – and some advice."
Alice turned slightly, "Tambor." The elf popped in. "Bring me Neville's bag, please." The elf popped out and back in a second with a large baby bag. Alice reached into a side pocket and pulled out a paper, tapped it with her wand and duplicated it. She handed the copy to Sirius. "Here. This is a good list of what you will need."
Sirius took it and nodded. "Where should I go – to hide?"
Alice looked confused, "Hide? Why?"
Frank picked it up, "Dumbledore has some plan to hide Harry away, even from Sirius."
Sirius gathered his determination, "I won't allow that. I've lost too much. I won't lose Harry too."
Alice's expression darkened, "No."
Frank shook his head, "Sirius, you need to get out. Out of the UK. As far as you can go. Trust no one. Remove your Auror tracking spells."
Sirius looked at Frank, "What about you two?"
Frank looked at Alice with a dark expression, "We'll be fine, here. Longbottom Manor is safe." He turned to Sirius, "Good luck, Sirius. We'll see you when this is over."
Alice turned and hugged Sirius, "Good luck, Sirius."
"Thank you. You too." Sirius walked out the door determined to run. He only got 10 metres down the path before he stopped dead. Sirius saw Dumbledore walking up the path. His stomach sank.
"Sirius."
"Albus."
"Sirius, it is vital to the future of the wizarding world that Harry be protected."
"Yes. It is. So, what happened with that?"
Dumbledore looked darkly at Sirius, "It was not I who decided to change the secret keeper."
Sirius blew out his breath, "Yes, and neither of us noticed that Peter was a Death Eater! We both failed Albus. But I can not let that happen again."
"No. We can't. That is why you need to give Harry to me."
Luckily, Sirius already had his wand in his hand underneath the sling that held Harry. "Albus –" Sirius ran the Auror Emergency Extraction spell chain and popped out to the Auror extraction point, then immediately apparated again. He landed in the darkness of starlight on the front path that lead to the burnt husk that was all that's left of Potter Manor. He ran behind some of the statuary in the overgrown front garden and into a slightly sunken section. He pointed his wand at a small rock on the main path, turned it into a portkey and activated it, sending it off to Remus' house. He ducked down.
Within seconds Albus popped in, stood still for a few seconds running a few spells, then apparated out to follow the portkey.
Sirius ran around the back side of the manor and set a timed portkey on another rock aimed at Grimmauld Place. The portkey would activate in a few seconds and the residue would cover his apparition. He apparated to Diagon Alley and walked stealthily down the alley toward the apothecary and handed Alice's and Andi's lists to the girl behind the counter and waited as she filled up an expanded bag that he had conjured. It only took a few moments.
He took the full bag and walked across the alley to the trunk shop and bought an expanded steamer trunk with an apartment inside. With that shrunk in his pocket he slunk down the alley into Gringotts. He had them transfer the expanded trunk to a muggle shipping expediter destined for Montreal, Canada. Then he used their secure apparation point to apparate to his last stop before fleeing England.
Bones Manor. He touched his wand to the front gate and waited. In less than two minutes the gate opened and he walked up the path. The door opened and Amelia ran out to meet him.
"Sirius! Why are you here?" She hugged him as he turned a bit sideways to spare Harry the collision. "What's this?"
"Ami." He kissed her forehead as his eyes started tearing up, as he started to lose it. "This is my Godson, Harry Potter."
She gasped at the implications.
He nodded to her assumptions, "They're gone."
Her face started to crumple before she gained some measure of control. "Come. Inside." She pulled him in the door.
He was not able to gain any control. He sat down heavily on a couch in the sitting room.
"What happened?"
Through his tears he told her all that happened. Including Dumbledore's plans for Harry and his intentions to escape England. "I'm sorry for running. And leaving you with this mess that is England. I – just have to fulfil my duty to Harry, James and Lily."
"I understand. You need to do this. And I think you're right. Just – be careful. I want you to come back to me when this is all done."
"Yes. More than ever. And I want you to be careful too – to be here when I get back."
Amelia nodded.
Sirius got up, "I should go, before I lose my nerve and –"
"Sirius, we'll be alright. Something good has to come of all this. You'll see." She looked like she was trying to be strong.
Sirius didn't want to spoil her effort. He nodded through his tears. "I just had to say goodbye before I left. Be good, Ami. I love you."
She barely held on to her emotions with the shock of what he said, what he was finally able to say. "I love you, Sirius Black. You be good, too."
Sirius turned and walked out the door to apparate to the next step in his escape route out of England.
Sirius landed at the muggle ferry service toward France. Once on board he could relax for only a few minutes. Then, a few kilometres into the English Channel, before they crossed the English Customs apparition and portkey redirection wards he activated the reverse-targeted portkey to take him into the expanded trunk. Reverse-targeted portkeys were so finicky to set up and took so much preplanning that not many knew how to use them. They were a two-part portkey; the target placed in the trunk and the activator that pulled you to the target instead of the normal push to your destination. As a side-benefit, because of the pull instead of the push, these reverse portkeys can work through most anti-portkey wards. And, given the magical residue left on the ship, any apparition or portkey trace would indicate a portkey left the ship at a specific angle, but with no indication of which way the ferry was facing at the time. Leaving no trace as to the direction or distance he traveled.
Once in the trunk, Sirius could begin to relax. He took the Auror Trace spells off himself, then he started looking at Harry for any tracking spells, magical links, or magical beacon signatures. He took a few off but couldn't find any more. Then he applied his own magic masking spells to hide Harry's signature. And to hide his own.
Finally, Sirius could relax. But now, this was worse. Now he had nothing to distract him from his pain. He collapsed into the bed next to Harry and tried not to cry. For his shattered life, for his dead friends, and most of all, for Harry.
Thursday, 4 November, 1981
Sirius jumped out of bed, standing in a panic, at Harry's blood curdling scream. He moved to the crib to see Harry trying to breathe. Sirius picked him up and held him, an engulfing hug was all he could do. Harry let out one more anguished cry as he started to fill his lungs again. Harry tapered off into sobbing, wilted whimpers, and eventual shuddering breaths. Sirius gave up trying to stay awake and sat on the edge of the bed. With Harry cuddled to his chest, he slowly leaned back into bed with Harry laying on his chest breathing tiredly. He started to hum a slow melody, his low resonant voice adding to Harry's distraction and calm. Sirius pulled up the covers and was asleep soon after Harry.
Sirius awoke to the gurgle of Harry's voice and Harry's hand grabbing his beard and pulling, hard. "Ow."
Harry started laughing and slapped his hand against Sirius' cheek a few times.
Sirius opened his eyes and mock-glared at Harry, "Oh, treat me like a rag-doll, eh?" He ruffled Harry's hair, "Are you hungry, little man?" He pushed up to sitting, holding Harry against his chest. "Come on, let me show you about this thing called – cooking. It's wonderful, actually. But it's not easy. It can actually be quite dangerous. Skill! That's what we need, I'll show you."
Harry blew a raspberry and grabbed again for Sirius' beard.
Sirius defended himself by nibbling Harry's hand as it tried to get a grip on his nose. Sirius mumbled as he nibbled until Harry's hand escaped, "Ok, Kiddo, are you ready to watch this daring display of Dad-ly skill? Check this out as I show you –" Sirius yelped as he dropped the jar of baby food. The jar broke on the floor. Sirius began to cry imitating Harry as they stared at the mess and started to whinge piteously.
"You got that right, kiddo. Now what do we do?" Sirius waved his wand a cleaned up the mess. "We just might have to –" Sirius' expression exploded as he gasped, "– get another one! Isn't that amazing?" He reached into his expanded bag and pulled out another jar of baby food and held it up to show Harry. "See? Aren't I amazing? Now, let's see if I can do this without dropping it again, huh?"
Harry started looking around the room and pointing at things, making noises and looking at Sirius like he wasn't paying enough attention. He pointed at the light in the ceiling and leaned back in Sirius' arms until he was almost falling out, upside down.
"Hey, kiddo, you're gonna fall out of my arms, here." Sirius rescued Harry with a hand behind Harry's head, pulling him back to vertical, "I think I'm going to have to put a rubber ball spell on you so you'll bounce if you manage to jump out of my arms." He picked up his wand and readied the spell as he pointed his wand at Harry. Harry screamed and dove away from the wand, "Whoa! Hold on! Sorry! I forgot. I won't do that again." Sirius dropped the wand and hugged Harry, barely stopping him from falling to the floor. Sirius crooned at Harry and held him, bouncing and dancing a bit to calm him down.
After a few moments Harry was calming and Sirius could draw back and look at Harry, "Sorry, kiddo. I forgot you were still sensitive to that. Let's not do that again, ok?" Sirius started back into opening the jar of food. "Shall we try this again? This mm...mmm stuff is what you want, right?" Sirius sniffed the jar and grimaced, "Oh, smells wonderful, doesn't it?" Sirius sat down at a kitchen chair, with Harry on his lap, the bottle on the table, and a spoon in his hand. "Here, shall we try this one?" He scooped a spoon full, "Ready? Here it comes." The spoon made flying noises as it came swooping toward Harry's mouth.
Harry opened wide and managed to capture most of it. In two short minutes Harry polished off that jar and was back to pointing at things in the room. A big yawn came roaring out of Harry as he blinked slowly and leaned into Sirius' chest in a hug.
"Ah, tired are we now?" Sirius stood up and moved in a dancing motion toward the bed. As Harry calmed and started breathing Sirius sat down and leaned back onto the bed. In just a moment he rolled on his side and deposited Harry onto the bed for a nap. Sirius remembered Lily's advice as she had said, "If Harry is asleep then I should be too. Otherwise I'll never get any sleep." With that advice, he was out too.
Friday, 5 November, 1981
Sirius decided to look out the hidden porthole in the side of the expanded trunk to see if they had arrived in Montreal. It was dark outside the trunk. but there was a touch of light that, when he let his eyes adjust, was enough to see the trunk was stacked in a large warehouse with small high windows. It was definitely different than the small shipping container they traveled in for a few days. He thought it must be time to pop out and have a look-see.
He got Harry put together for moving, including his bag of supplies. He looked out the porthole so he could see where to apparate. He popped just outside the trunk and shrunk it and stuffed it into his pocket. It was a short walk to the door with a window in it. From there he could see out the window to apparate again. It was like a game of checkers, hopping from each spot to the next spot he could see, until he could finally orient himself enough to find the local Gringott's office. Once inside, he could withdraw some Canadian funds, get directions, and make plans. All that worked well, until he left the bank.
He noticed two suspicious characters hanging around as he left the bank. They were down the alley about 20 meters, but close enough to keep watch. They started to move when he changed direction. He ducked down a side-street and apparated up to a balcony on the front of the building across the street. He disillusioned himself and waited. Sure enough, those two characters went hurrying down the street. This was not good to be spotted so quickly after leaving England. Once they had turned a corner he apparated back to the front of Gringotts and went inside to 'consult' on his next steps.
He changed the Canadian money back into US dollars and (for a substantial fee) asked how to get into the US without any 'difficulty'. They mentioned that, if someone wanted to, they could take a portkey from Gringotts secure apparition point to an address on Rie Cordeau in Stanstead, QC. It just so happened that less than a block away is a public library that the US-Canadian border passes right through the middle of. You walk in the front door in Canada and walk out the back door in the US, into the town of Derby Line, Vermont. Then, with that information and a few questions about destinations and muggle transport, he and Harry were off toward the US east coast. To disappear into the huge cities.
Tuesday, 9 November, 1981
Sirius woke up as the sound of the bus engine changed. It was slowing down. He looked out the window. They were exiting the freeway into a small town. He frowned, another bus stop. At least they didn't have to get off. The quiet pre-dawn darkness of this small town was interrupted by the noise of the passing bus. As they got closer to the bus station Sirius heard a soft gong, the sound of his hostile intent ward that was anchored in a small stone carried in his bag. He sat up and took a deep breath to wake up. His ward was keyed on hostility toward him or Harry only. Someone was expecting them. He shut the ward off so it wouldn't be detectable, though the fact that he detected them meant that they likely detected his ward. For the millionth time, he thanked Lily for showing him the spells for quieting babies, making diaper changes simple, and all the magic to keep him sane and Harry comfortable for this flight through secrecy and danger.
The bus moved slowly into the station. A sign read 'Warner, New Hampshire'. Unfortunately, it was the only bus in the station. It would be rather obvious that the only 'new' magical presence in the area would be on this bus. His second thought was that whoever this was knew he was coming. This was intolerable, and confusing. How did they know? As the bus came to a stop and shut down, only a few people got up. He saw no one in the bus parking area. He saw a candy wrapper in the isle of the bus and turned it into a portkey aimed at the last turn the bus made before the station. He activated it. He ran a spell sequence to passively detect magic in the area. It showed someone apparating to follow the portkey and someone else disillusioned standing near the corner of the building. He turned another bit of paper on the floor into a portkey and sent it to the roof of the bus station. The person at the corner of the building did not react. He must be good to notice that the portkey spell wasn't strong enough to be carrying a lot of mass.
The bus driver had unloaded some pieces of luggage from under the bus and started walking toward the station. Luckily, he left the luggage compartment doors open, on both sides of the bus. Sirius readied a spell chain – and performed a mutli-apparition. It sent a number of fake apparition signatures in several directions and a real apparition, sending him and Harry into the huge luggage compartment. Because there was a real apparition as part of that spell chain, all of the apparition signatures looked real. He then crawled out of the luggage compartment on the other side of the bus and started walking around the back end of the bus. He started with a disillusionment spell and spotted a few possible apparition destinations. He kept walking away, into the darkness, running the passive magic detection spell.
The detection spell showed an incoming apparition landing in front of him. Sirius ran a spell chain. The first apparated him a few yards forward, behind the attacker. The second spell sent a piercing hex into the attacker, and the third spell apparated 10 metres to the left. Sirius was lucky his spell chain was so fast. A blast of nasty magic came flying past him. His attacker evidently had a passive 'retribution' ward on him. As Sirius' piercing hex hit the attacker, the retribution ward had fired back at him.
Sirius ran another multi-apparition to send himself and Harry to the top of a nearby building. Another passive magic detecting spell showed a lot of activity around his attacker as others came to bundle him off to medical help, but nowhere else. He waited a good while, watching for more activity. He sighed. He couldn't use the bus any more. He reached into his Auror kit and pulled out a shrunken broom. He unshrunk it as he walked to the other side of the roof and, disillusioned, flew off in a direction perpendicular from the bus' path. He had to assume he might be followed so he started randomly apparating a few miles, flying a few miles, and apparating again. Tracing an apparition from a random point in the sky to another random point in the sky was almost impossible. He just needed to not lose track of where he was trying to go.
After an hour of watching the sun rise from random places above the trees, and trying to avoid larger towns, he was finding it harder and harder. The population was getting denser the closer he got to Boston. He saw a town poking out of the open spaces in the steady forest. He flew around it and spotted a back alley. He apparated into a quiet corner and walked out to figure out where he was. He had been heading in the correct direction using a pointme spell, but he needed to know how much farther he needed to go. Rather quickly he found he was in Billerica, Massachusetts. But that didn't help much, not knowing how far to Boston. His luck soon changed as he saw a hotel. He made his way (with a few sly apparitions) into the lobby and asked how far to the airport in Boston. The clerk said 30 miles. He sighed, that was close enough for a taxi. By this time it was nearing mid-day. He was trying to time it to catch a red-eye flight south from the airport in Boston. He asked the clerk for a good restaurant and headed for lunch. Feeding Harry in restaurants was always so fun because all the waitresses hovered around them trying to help. Harry was just too cute for words. Then back to the hotel where he rented a room for a shower and a nap.
The nap really helped. Apparating constantly was a huge drain. He and Harry made their way back to that restaurant for dinner. Then Sirius charmed the hotel clerk (without magic) into calling him a taxi and waited. Sirius conjured a bag of luggage just so the driver would have something to load into the boot and not look suspicious. In just a few minutes they were off to the airport in Boston.
Given that it was almost 8pm, the traffic was lighter and they made good progress. The cabbie kept trying to be talkative so Sirius pointed to Harry in his sling and put his finger to his lips to explain his lack of conversation. The cabbie caught the clue and concentrated on driving. The highways kept getting larger with more lanes and more traffic. The complexity was mind-boggling with all the merges on and off, and roads joining. They came to a whole set of bridges in parallel crossing a river, with a sign mentioning the Charles River. Sirius noticed off to the right a sign on a tall building 'Massachusetts General Hospital – Emergency Room'. All the roads started merging more as they started down off the bridge on the other side of the river.
Sirius' hostile intent ward gonged. He looked out the window and glimpsed movement above. He tried to bring up a shield. The car exploded. Sirius screamed in pain, Harry started crying in pain. The car crashed in to the sidewall and spun around several times, coming to a stop. The front of the car was gone along with the driver. Sirius apparated to the only place in his mind; Massachusetts General Hospital Emergency Room.
Sirius woke up laying in a car park in significant pain. He couldn't move his left arm and he must have some fractured ribs because he couldn't sit up. Harry was screaming, still in his sling laying on top of him. Sirius rolled onto his right side and stood up slowly, cradling Harry. He looked around and saw a row of ambulances in front of a sign that read 'Emergency Room'. He started that way, stumbling in his dizziness. He rounded an ambulance and almost ran into a guy in a uniform.
"Whoa, careful there. Hey! What happened to you?"
Sirius could only grunt and moan as Harry cried.
"Here, lets get you inside. Man, you got a baby in there? He sounds injured too. Here, this way."
Sirius was lead through some automatic doors down a hall.
"Alicia! Alicia! This guy is in bad shape."
A young woman ran up, "Whoa, what happened?"
Sirius could only mutter, "Car – car."
"He's got a baby in that sling that looks in bad shape, too."
Alicia turned and yelled down the hall, "Code pink! Code pink!" She turned to Sirius, "This way." They hobbled into an alcove with curtains and a bed, "Here, can you lay the baby down?"
Sirius tried to lean over so he could lay Harry on the bed and take the sling over his head but his ribs were killing him. "Ah! No! Can't lean over –" He was gasping for breath.
Alicia held him up with a hand on his shoulder, "Ok! Ok. Stan, hold his arm. Let me untie the sling." She tried to hold his left arm but Sirius screamed and almost fell. "Ok, not that one." She ignored his arm while she untied the sling and the ambulance guy, Stan, held his other arm. Harry screamed when he was laid down. "Oh, he sounds bad." She yelled back down the hall, "Where's my code pink! Move it, people! Jennifer, get Johansen!"
Sirius couldn't stand up on his own, he could only groan with his right hand on the bed.
Stan pulled Sirius back to standing, "Ok, sir, lets get you into this bed right next door, Ok?"
Sirius could only rasp out, "Harry! Help Harry. I'll be Ok, just help Harry!"
Stan was helping him lay down, "What's your name, sir?"
Sirius would only point to Harry, "Help Harry."
Stan kept talking, "You lay still, let me get your vitals. Where does it hurt?"
Sirius lay still, mumbling in pain for a few moments as Stan worked. The sound of Harry screaming was tearing at him. He then put a light compulsion on Stan to get him to help Harry. When Stan left, Sirius ran some disillusionment charms and some muggle-repelling charms. Then he could run some basic healing spells on his arm. The pain of the basic healing spells almost made him black out. He then started cleaning and healing his face, clothes, and ribs. It was basic, but it allowed him to move. He slowly stood up, panting from the effort, and peaked out of the curtains around his bed. The next bed, with Harry, was a beehive. He noticed the nurses were calling him Harry as they worked on him. Sirius had to turn his head away, Harry was covered in blood. He was still screaming with gasps of fear.
A doctor was shining a light in Harry's eyes, "He looks like he's got a concussion, too. Let's apply some splints to his arm and leg and get a set of X-rays. A complete body X-ray should show us everything that's broken. And lets start some pain meds."
Sirius could not imagine how to get Harry away from all these people. And he was so tired, where would they go? Then realisation finally landed on him; someone was able to track him. This was the third time he has been attacked when no one should have been able to find him. He must still have some tracking magic on him. Particularly since after each attack they gave up so easily. They must be confident they can find him again. He sat back down on the bed in his alcove. He came to the conclusion in one leap; he must leave Harry here. Let the doctors heal him. He must draw the attackers away from Harry. If he can find the tracking magic and get it off him, then he can come back and pick up Harry and keep going. But for now, he must draw them off.
Sirius stood up and peaked through the curtains. He poked his wand through and sent a linking spell at Harry as they started wheeling his bed down the hall. That done, he almost collapsed again. Fear struck him, Harry could get killed because of him. He needed to move, now! He snuck out of his alcove and back down the hall to the line of ambulances, out into the dark car park.
He thought of where he could go. He remembered looking out the window of the cab a few miles back and saw an office building beside the highway. It was enough. He apparated there, to start. He started down the street, still very stiff and painful. In only five minutes he was able to hail a cab and ask for the airport. The cabbie said there was a major accident on the Charles river bridge so he would take another route. They crossed the river on another bridge and Sirius could see the flashing glow of red lights of the emergency crews on the other bridge. It took another 20 minutes to get to the airport and another 10 to find the right spot and get dropped off. His first stop was the toilets to see how bad he looked. It wouldn't do to be running from Harry and get arrested for looking like a drunk accident victim. With a bit of additional cleanup and healing spells for some of his visible bruises, he moved toward the ticket counters to buy a ticket south. He needed to stay away from Harry for a while. The first flight leaving toward the south was to Baltimore. He took it because airplanes were a lot faster than brooms. That would give him some time to look for some tracking magic.
With a little compulsion magic he was through security and onboard the plane. In 10 minutes he was off the ground and heading south at three times the speed of the fastest broom. He spent the time wracking his brain on what kind of tracking magic he could have missed. The only possibility he could think of was something about the Auror tracking and safety magic that he missed. He would look again the first chance he got.
Sirius thought about his fights with the attackers. They would attack, then not pursue him, then take a while to attack again. It's as if it took significant time or energy to track him. And they didn't seem to worry they might lose him. So, maybe it wasn't important to run fast, maybe it was more important that he just keep moving. Constantly. If that was true, then maybe a train would be better.
By the time the plane landed he was getting tired again. And as he got tired, his pain was rising again, reminding him that his healing was incomplete. He walked out of the airport in Baltimore and caught a cab, asking to be taken to the train station. It was near midnight so the ride only took 25 minutes. He almost fell asleep on the ride.
At the train station he bought a ticket to Miami, Florida. He spent the extra money for a sleeper cabin so he could do magic out of sight if needed. He may not make it to Miami, but it would take him a few days if he did. The main problem was that the train didn't leave until 2pm the next day. What a way to run a railroad! British Rail ran better than that. He huffed, and asked the ticket agent about local hotels. He started walking the few blocks to the nearest and got a room. The attackers always seemed to take a few days off between finding him.
His exhaustion knocked him out the moment he made it to his room.
Wednesday, 10 November, 1981
Sleeping was a very good decision, but he barely got up in time to make the train. Sleep was still the right decision. He missed lunch and any place to eat lunch between his hotel and the train station. Hopefully there was food available on the train. But make it, he did, even if it hurt to move so fast. His cabin was spartan but comfortable. And they did have food. He got some food, set up his hostile intent wards and other protections on his cabin and fell back to sleep.
Thursday, 11 November, 1981
Sirius woke up to the sound of his hostile intent ward going off. He struggled to get his brain in gear. He ran a tempus charm and found it was 2:30am. The train was moving. He cut the hostile intent ward and lit up his passive magic detection spell. He looked out the window and saw a few lights passing by in the dark countryside. Then he saw the magic of several brooms glide into view and hang in the air, keeping pace with his cabin. He immediately reached for his broom, unshrunk it, and tried to apparate up a few thousand feet. He hit an apparition barrier like a brick wall at significant speed. The pain was intense. He regained his thoughts as he was falling in the dark, the wind tearing at him. He struggled to get on the broom. The instant he made it, he started flying as fast as the broom would go. A spell flew by as he wobbled on the broom. He ran the passive magic spell and immediately fired a machine-gun of piercing hexes at the brooms he could see and scattered them like bowling pins as they dodged. He started apparating random distances in random directions interspersed with flying.
After an hour or so, he landed near a petrol station at a crossroads surrounded by darkness. He stood in the lights of the closed up station, tired, confused, depressed. His injuries were inflamed again after running into that apparition barrier. It hurt to breathe too deeply again. Not to mention that they had found him again and he hadn't had time to look for tracking magic. His passive magic detecting charm showed no magic anywhere around, just his own magical glow. He moved a distance into the darkness and started running all the magical tests he could remember looking for tracking, linking, and beacon magic. Nothing. He tried to detect any magic leaving the area. Nothing. He tried to detect any drain on his magic. Only his injuries and his hunger.
His fear started to rise. If he couldn't figure this out he couldn't go back to Harry. He started breathing slowly as he fought to calm down. He was a freaking Auror, for God's sake, he could figure this out! He started looking at his magic, looking for anything unusual. He looked three times because he couldn't see anything amis. There was the magical link to Harry, but that was not there before. He started looking at everything he was carrying, looking for anything that someone could use to find him. His heart sank as he kept looking but could find nothing. Just in case, he started dumping things that might be a problem, like the ward-stone for his hostile intent ward. He was about to dump the shrunken steamer trunk apartment, when he thought that if there was some way to trace that, he could use that against the attackers. Instead of running from them, maybe it was time to make them the victims.
He picked up the discarded ward-stone and jumped on his broom to head west. His pointme charm gave him the direction and he started flying. He was going to find a place to draw his attackers in and turn the tables on them. He didn't bother trying to apparate, since trying to apparate inside of a mountain was rather painful. Besides, he needed time to think. Some good Marauder time. And all that old nasty Black Family magic that he hated so much.
In about two hours of flying the sun started to lighten the sky behind him. This gave him enough light to not run into trees or hillsides. He had also noticed that the lights of houses and roads were now few and far between. He found a hilltop, or more accurately a ridge line that came to an end leaving a hilltop, with no buildings or roads or magic anywhere nearby. He landed and looked around at the trees.
This was a good place to turn the tables. He started setting up his wards. First was his hostile intent ward, a big one. 300 metres radius. Next came the anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards at about 100 metres radius. These last two were a bit unusual in that they would disrupt the 'Destination' part of the 3 D's, so you could apparate into the space, but not out or within the space. Just outside of that, came a very large cage ward. This would keep all magic and everything magical, inside the ward. So once anyone entered, they couldn't leave without breaking down the ward and that meant breaking the ward-stone in the centre of the hilltop or overpowering the ward itself. Because this ward faced inward, it only reflected magic on the inside, therefore it was very difficult to detect before you got inside of it, and then it was too late. The last ward was an unusual anti-broom ward. It disrupted the rune set that allowed brooms to fly. Anyone flying into this space would plummet to the ground.
Next came a few rather esoteric defences. He set about creating a segmented ward fence. It was a ring of separate wards, overlapping, around the top of the hill, just inside the outer layer of wards. These discrete wards would attack the magic of anyone passing through them, to weaken them, like acid corroding their magic. Then, just inside that ring, he set up another segmented ward fence that would attack the biology of anyone violating them, making them very sick.
Then, scattered around the area, were deadfall traps into pits with nasty spells or spikes at the bottom. Some of these traps had glamours on them and some only had natural leaves and sticks over them. Some were also disguised with other traps around them as distractions.
His next bit of anger management release came in the form of bits of wood from the surrounding trees. These bits of wood had rune sets drawn on them that would cause them to act like magical land mines, some set off by motion and some by proximity to wizards. He scattered these liberally around the area. There were some of these that he shaped into the wooden equivalent of a Frisbee. He could fling those around quite easily, even with sore ribs.
His next contribution was a set of conventional concentric defensive wards centred on the top of the hill, extending to a range of radii. This would give him time to fight against a larger group of attackers. Each of these wards used different styles so breaking one ward did not give you any advantage on breaking the next one.
And, finally, it was with grim determination that he set up a huge explosive hex, big enough to take the top off the mountain, that was linked to his consciousness as a dead-man switch. If he lost consciousness, for any reason other than sleep, the hex would explode, and be contained within the outer cage ward, completely destroying everything inside. This was his failsafe. It meant that if he lost, the secret of Harry would die with him and all his attackers.
He was determined to not let that happen. To stop this group of attackers and return to Harry to continue hiding him. But – Harry came first.
With all of that prepared, he fixed some breakfast from the supplies he had, and went to sleep to be rested enough to fight and win.
Friday, 12 November, 1981
It wasn't until the next day that his hostile intent ward triggered. Eight times. He sighed as his heart sank. The odds of him getting away from eight wizards of possibly equal or better capabilities was not good. But at least it wasn't 20. And thinking of Harry gave him strength.
He ran his magic revealing spell and saw two coming in from the west, walking along the top of the ridge line. Two had crashed their brooms on the east side when they flew into the anti-broom ward. That left them climbing the steep slope on that side. Then four apparated in on the south side, just outside the cage ward, and started walking up the slope to the edge of the first segmented ward fence, where they stopped. Sirius smiled, all eight were now inside the cage ward. That meant that only he had any chance of getting out alive.
Shooting spells generally wasn't very effective at 100 metres, so he didn't bother. He would wait for them to get closer. And in the mean time, he could watch and see who was competent and who wasn't.
The two coming along the ridge line from the west were currently the nearest and largest threat. They had stopped at the edge of the first segmented ward fence, evidently having detected it. One of these was evidently very good because that segment of the first ward fence was down in less than a minute. And the next layer just as quickly. They stopped to plan their way through a set of dead-fall traps laying between them and the first defensive ward.
While the west two were working to take down the defensive ward, Sirius sent some spells in that direction that set off some of the land mines, this caused them to jump and dodge, and get caught in the traps. One was killed by a non-magical dead-fall trap. The other seems capable and was moving very slowly back toward the first defensive ward.
Sirius moved over and he checked out the two on the east side, who had just dug themselves out of the underbrush where they had landed after they fell off their brooms. One had almost landed in one of the dead-fall traps but barely missed. The other did not seem to be that capable and seemed to be injured. They were moving slowly up the hill. They made it through the segmented fences, avoided the land mines, and up to the first ward.
They attacked it and it broke relatively easy. Sirius was impressed. They moved forward quickly. Sirius reconstituted the first ward, then sent a frisbee down the slope and hit a big tree causing it to fall toward them, setting off all the land mines around them. This killed one, seriously injured the other. Team East was out.
Sirius moved over to see what the south four were up to. They had been standing at the ward fence for a while planning. Then they had blasted through both ward fences quickly, set off all the land mines and avoided all the dead-fall pits. They had made it to the first ward. Then, when it fell for the east two, one of the four made it through before it was put back up. They weren't expecting Sirius to put it back up again. Now they were split up.
The west guy was now also passed the first ward.
The west guy and the one south guy were working on the 2nd defensive ward. While the three south guys were working on the first defensive ward again. The 3 south guys knock down the first ward and all get through before Sirius can put it up again, so he didn't bother.
Now there is one west guy and four south guys at the second defensive ward. Sirius lobed a few explosive frisbees at the west and south guys. He knocked one of the south guys into a pit and he didn't climb out again.
The three south guys and one west guy started attacking the 2nd defensive ward. It's different enough that it took them a long time to knock it down. As they were occupied with banging on the ward, Sirius sent a few frisbees at them and knocked some trees down and set off some of the land mines. He injured one of the south guys.
Eventually they all got through the 2nd defensive ward and made it to the last ward. Three south guys, one west guy were at the last defensive ward. It was only 25 yards out. Sirius sent frisbees and just plain hex's at them. He pushed one south guy into a pit and hit one south guy with a flame spell, who was injured but not out. Sirius set the trees on fire and made the attackers move; they couldn't concentrate on the ward because they need to escape the fire.
At this point, the only combatants left were two south guys, who are both injured, and the one west guy. As the last ward started weakening he sent some frisbees at the two south guys. The last ward fell and one south guy and the one west guy made it through. Sirius put back the last ward and kept one of the south guys out. He started dodging spells from the south and west guy. He got clipped by a cutting spell from the south guy, hit inside of his right arm and right ribs, then he cut the south guy badly. He concentrated on the west guy, but he got hit from behind by a cutting spell. He fell and tried desperately to make sure he landed on his back, to face his attackers. He watched as one of the east guys walked up to look at him. Sirius thought the east guy was dead! The west guy joined the east guy as he felt dizziness start to rise.
The guy from the east growled, "Where is Potter?"
Sirius could relax. Now he knew Harry would be safe. He had succeeded. Sirius coughed up blood, smiled and croaked a laugh, "Gotcha." Sirius felt the dizziness rise fast and blackness stole up on him.
Special Agent James Landow FBI/M
Saturday, 13 November, 1981
Special Agent James Landow, FBI/M, sat on his flying motorbike 30 feet above the immense field of destruction. He shook his head. The magical forensics guys were not going to be happy when he told them how much reconstruction and magical decontamination they would need to do. There were still too many magical and physical traps laying around. Not to mention bodies and – parts.
The surprise that almost knocked him off his bike was what his magical scan showed him. Something he had only seen once before in his life. The Death Watch signal. Magical residue imprinted on an area, at the site of the death of a British Auror. Specifically, the signal indicated Senior Auror Sirius Orion Black had died here. It was quite sobering to see. The FBI/M doesn't use those signals any more, partly because they are connected into the Auror's soul, which is rather finicky to remove, and it is possible to track that unique style of magical linkage into your soul.
Regardless, what was Sirius Black doing over here? There was no record of any mutual aid, joint missions, or shared training between services. He wasn't even here on any tourist visa. The other bodies, and body parts, shown in his magical scan all came back as British bounty hunters, some here legally and some not. The only thing that made sense was that the bounty hunters were after Sirius Black. It was Black's magical signature that was all over the huge explosion that destroyed the hilltop and killed all the others. But he wasn't listed as missing, wanted, or even any person of interest by his own agency. Or Interpol de Magique.
As Landow sat waiting, a message came in on his magic-tab, the small new-fangled two-way spiral-bound notepad that carried messages. The message was from his group's intelligence officer:
Our intelligence officers in the US embassy in the UK say Sirius Black (25 years, black hair,grey eyes, 160lbs, 5' 10") is the Godfather of Harry Potter (1.5 years, black hair, green eyes).Harry Potter survived an attack from (and some say killed) their most recent Dark Lord,known as Voldemort, a week ago and has gone missing. Potter is listed as an orphan, the lastof the Noble and Ancient House of Potter. Sirius Black is a Senior Auror, heir to the AncientHouse of Black. No other current information or whereabouts on Black.
Landow took a deep breath. Well, that changed everything. He could see no magical evidence of Harry Potter being here, or even any blood or body parts from a 1 and a half year old. So his bet would be that Harry Potter was hidden somewhere on the east coast, or somewhere in the UK. Regardless, publishing the results of this investigation would light the fires of every bounty hunter in the world, and every remaining Death Eater. He would not wish that on anyone. Given that Harry's accidental magic would start to show in the next few years, it suggested that if Harry Potter was somewhere over here, all they had to do was wait.
Landow decided to bury this report as top secret, cross-referenced to Harry's magical signature. For the world at large, Sirius Black and all those bounty hunters will have disappeared without a trace. Once any of Harry's accidental magic showed up, his magical signature would trigger the release of this report. Then the pieces would fall into place and Harry could be helped. Until then, he was probably quite safely hidden. He sent off the message to the forensics guys to come clean up the mess and then made an immediate strategic withdrawal to clear out of their way (and out of their line of sight).