Title: The hunt

Author: Roeschen

Summary: 1981: Sirius took Harry. Together with Harry he has to hide from Voldemort, his followers and the Order of the Phoenix. His only ally is Sara, who has never heard of the magical world before…

Disclaimer: Though I don't own Harry Potter, I own my story!


Chapter 1

Sirius Black stared stunned at the partly destroyed house and the Dark Mark hovering highly above him in the grey sky. What had he done? Firmly clutching his wand, he carefully went along the narrow pathway which led to the house. 'Oh, please let them be alive!' he begged fervently. He knew, however, that his wish, his desperate hoping was only an illusion. He stepped through the open door, halted a moment and strained his ears.

It was ghostly quiet, no sound could be heard. As an instant later the light of his wand illuminated the dark hall his gaze fell on a person who was lying at the bottom of the stairs and he felt his world breaking down.

"James," he whispered in a brittle voice and sank to his knees next to his best friend.

"No, James, please wake up, wake up!"

He lifted James up and held him in his arms. Tears began to burn in his eyes. In the meantime his mind was trying to understand what had happened. James, who had been like a brother for him, was dead. It had only been a few days ago since he had said goodbye to James, believing that his friend and his family would be in safety from now on. How very much mistaken he had been. Why hadn't he seen that Peter was the traitor? He had persuaded James and Lily to switch the Secret Keeper; instead of him they had taken Peter in the end and that only on his initiative. His conviction no one would ever assume Peter Pettigrew to be the Secret Keeper of the Potters, had turned out to be a deadly mistake, And now Peter had betrayed James, Lily and Harry and had handed them over to Voldemort. The guilt he felt seemed to engulf Sirius.

Sobbing, he laid James slowly back. Then he went upstairs and set off to search for Lily and Harry.

Blinded by tears he stumbled into the nursery, where he found Lily lying as well on the ground. Her dark-red shimmering hair was sprawled around her head like a fan and almost it looked liked as if she was sleeping. Dazed, he bent down, picked Lily up and bed her cautiously on the settee.

The squeaky voice, which so unexpectedly rang out, startled him.

"Sili, up!"

Fast as lightning Sirius spun around. He hardly dared to believe that...Harry was alive! There, behind the cradle which had fallen over, Harry was sitting and staring at him with wide eyes. Sirius raced towards him and hauled the child into his arms. His godson was alive! Half laughing, half crying he hugged Harry close to himself. So tightly he was holding the little child that Harry protested against it and began to cry. Loosening his grip, Sirius shook his head. How on earth had Harry survived the attack? It was a mystery. That the Death Eaters had let Harry alive struck him as a miracle beyond all description.

"Don't cry, Harry. It's okay," he murmured.

Only now he noticed the strange wound on Harry's forehead which seemed to resemble a bolt of lightning. How long he was crouching on the hard floor, he didn't know. Unable to move he just sat there, stared into space and was holding his little godson as tight as possible.

Steps on the stair caused him to stand up. Sirius took his wand in his hand, pointed it at the opening of the door and held his breath. His heart began to pound painfully in his chest. A little later Rubeus Hagrid entered the room. Relief flowed through Sirius. His trembling subsided.

"It's so sad. They were the greatest people I ever knew," the half-giant cried.

"And Harry has defeated You-Know-Who. I would have never guessed that such a thing would happen one day. But now I must bring Harry to Surrey," he continued and ran his hand over his face.

Sirius thought he had misheard.

"You surely do not want to say that Harry should live with his aunt and uncle, do you? They are terrible! No, I'm his godfather, I'll never allow that."

But in the same moment he realized that no one was aware of the fact that they had switched the Secret Keeper. How he knew the Ministry they would probably throw him immediately into Azkaban without wasting any thought.

The Death Eaters! Would they pursue him? If it was true that Harry had defeated Voldemort, but no, that couldn't be true!

"How do you know that Harry has defeated Voldemort?" he asked.

Hearing the name of the Dark Lord, Hagrid flinched.

"Dumbledore told me. Harry has survived his Killing Curse. But now give me Harry, Albus is waiting."

A one year old baby had defeated Voldemort? Dizziness overcame him. It was as if he couldn't think straight anymore. What should he do? He wanted to kill Peter, wanted to get his revenge and wanted to let him pay for this inexpressible betrayal. It was impossible, however, even if he would have wanted it more than anything else. Under no circumstances could he abandon Harry.

Never would Lily's half- sister raise his godson, the son of his best friend.

Away! He had to leave this place as soon as possible. The only question was where he should go to, he thought gloomily. Then there was Hagrid. He would never let him go. When Hagrid got an order from Dumbledore, he would carry it out. Pleas would not convince him.

Sirius didn't want to do it but he saw no other solution. He raised his wand and yelled,

"Stupefy!"

Hagrid, who hadn't realised what was happening, fell to the floor. Sirius' glance rushed through the room and after indiscriminately stuffing a few things of Harry into his pockets, he fled out of the nursery. In his arms he carried the little saviour of the wizard world.


In the meantime Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall were waiting at Privet Drive. Slowly, Albus was getting worried. Actually Hagrid should have been here long ago. Had something happened? The headmaster of Hogwarts riveted his gaze on the overcast sky and sighed. He had still difficulties to understand the events which had taken place today. His spy Severus Snape had come to him and had told him with an expressionless face that he had accompanied the Dark Lord to the Potters and hadn't had any possibility to warn anyone anymore. Potter and Lily were dead but their son had survived and for inexplicable reasons had somehow managed to defeat the Dark Lord since he had not only survived the Killing Curse as Severus assumed but had also caused the disappearance of Voldemort. Albus hadn't been able to believe it.

"Why haven't you brought Harry with you?" he had asked Severus disconcerting. Severus had merely shrugged his shoulders.

"He had only a small cut on his forehead, otherwise he was fine. I wanted to report back as soon as possible."

Albus had shaken his head and had rapidly decided to send Hagrid to fetch little Harry.

"Do you really think that Harry will be in good hands here?" Minerva asked with doubting voice and thus jolted him out of his thoughts. Distracted, he turned to her and nodded,

"Harry will be safest staying with his aunt and uncle, Minerva."

After waiting a while longer, Hagrid still hadn't appeared and Albus decided to apparate to Godric's Hollow. Minerva followed him. One moment later they stood in front of the little house. They crossed the garden and went through the open door.

In the hall they saw James Potter lying on the floor. In the nursery they finally found Hagrid and Lily.

In that moment they heard loud steps and then about a dozen of Aurors and Ministry people edged their way through the door.

"Is it true that You- Know-Who has been defeated, Albus?" Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, shouted from the door, while waiting for everyone else to make way for him.

But Dumbledore didn't answer him. Bending over Hagrid, he mumbled quietly,

"Ennervate."

Hagrid's eyes fluttered and he slowly sat up. In his face dismay was mirrored.

"Harry! He has him!"

"Who has Harry and what happened?"

"Sirius has him. Suddenly he took his wand and cursed me. I couldn't do anything."

Albus looked as if his worst suspicions had come true.

"Sirius Black was the Secret Keeper of the Potters. We must find Harry as soon as possible," he said and watched how Minerva's eyes widened distraughtly. She clapped a hand to her mouth.

"He betrayed them?" she shouted.

"Albus, what exactly happened?" the Minister, who finally had managed to enter the nursery, wanted to know impatiently.

Deeply sighing, Albus raised his head und looked at the Minister.

"I think we should hold immediately a meeting of the Order of the Phoenix and the Ministry."


Relieved, Sirius fell on the narrow bed. After cursing Hagrid and leaving Godric's Hollow he had apparated straightaway to his house at Grimmauld Place. There he had picked up a bit Muggle money, some other items he would need perhaps and his broom. Due to his unconsidered Apparation, the Aurors would know that he had been there. Well, he couldn't change that anymore.

Then he had flown to a cheap Muggle hotel, somewhere in the east of London. Now he was lying on his bed. Harry he held in his arms. The little child was crying and so Sirius tried to rock him to sleep. Softly he sang a lullaby to him. His efforts, however, weren't exactly successful. Harry didn't stop to cry and called for his mother.

Sirius heart broke. What could you say to a one year old child, whose parents had just been killed?

While both of them were lying snuggled up in the bed, Sirius felt a strange emptiness seizing him. Suddenly the loss hit him with all its force. How frightening fast his world had changed.

Only a few hours ago he had – unsuspectingly and fairly in a good mood – decided to go for a walk. He had wanted to relax from his profession as an Auror which seemed to him even more stressful since James had gone into hiding. Inhaling the cold air he had turned his steps unconsciously towards the area where James, Lily and Harry were living. He missed his friends greatly and the thought that he wouldn't see them for so long till there wouldn't be anymore a need for them to hide, had only made him more depressed. Who on earth knew how long it would still take to defeat Voldemort or if he would ever be defeated at all? A little while later he had seen the house and the Dark Mark.

Sirius swallowed as he suppressed the memories and the hopelessness. But he couldn't give up. If he did that Harry was lost. Gently he stroked Harry's black hair. He would protect Harry, he swore and for that he would do whatever was necessary.

As Harry finally fell asleep, completely overtired, Sirius was still lying awake for a long time and staring in the darkness.


At Hogwarts the members of the Order of the Phoenix were meeting. Remus Lupin was shocked. A few minutes ago he had discovered what had happened in Godric's Hollow. The tragic events had hit him and while sitting completely paralyzed on his chair he refused to believe what he just had heard.

How could Sirius have betrayed them so? How could he ever have joined Voldemort? It was incomprehensible, he couldn't understand it. Looking at the door, he expected James and Lily to come inside every moment and that everything would turn out to be a terrible nightmare.

In the meantime Peter Pettigrew, who was sitting opposite to Remus, tried frantically to decide what to do. Should he run away or should he stay? Apart from Sirius no one knew that Sirius had come to him a few days ago and had urged him to become James' and Lily's Secret Keeper. The first moment Peter had been so astounded that his problems would be solved in one go that Sirius had had to ask him a second time before he had been able to answer. But things had gone totally different as he had thought them to go. Never would he have imagined that Harry would defeat the Dark Lord.

The Dark Lord's followers would surely search for him. They would blame him for the downfall of their master. This thought caused him to shudder. As long as Sirius wouldn't turn up, he would be safe. He knew very well that the Order would get suspicious should he suddenly disappear without trace. No, it was much better to wait. He just had to play the mourning friend. No one would ever think of suspecting him and everything would turn out all right. As he realized that he hadn't understood a word of anything which had been said the last minutes he raised his head and concentrated.

Severus Snape just announced that his Dark Mark had nearly disappeared. Albus frowned and said in a grave voice,

"It's of the greatest importance that we'll find Sirius Black. He's dangerous and we can't allow Harry to be in his hands any longer than necessary."

Minerva gasped for breath.

"What are you getting at? He won't kill Harry, will he?"

"I don't know, Minerva. The possibility is there. He has betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort. So we can't preclude that he'll harm Harry. Even if he lets Harry alive, he will surely raise Harry to be a loyal follower of Voldemort. That we have to prevent at all costs."

"What exactly has happened, by the way, Albus? Harry has defeated him, hasn't he? He won't come back, will he?" Cornelius Fudge asked with a worried expression on his face.

Thoughtfully folding his hands, Albus leaned forward.

"I do not know anything more than you about what has happened, Cornelius. Whatever the reasons, Harry survived the encounter with Voldemort. But I'm sure that Voldemort will return. I believe Harry has put Voldemort out of action only for a short time.

Our first priority is, in my opinion, to find Harry. About the exact reasons for the today's happenings we can talk later. Perhaps we'll never find out how Harry survived."

"I'll immediately see to it that every available Auror starts looking for Black and the Potter child." Fudge said.

"Everyone will search; the more the better." Albus replied firmly.


At the same time Voldemort's followers had gathered in a dark and gloomy house far away from Hogwarts and were holding a similar meeting. Lucius Malfoy, who had declared himself the new leader, let his eyes wander over the Death Eaters.

Through the numerous spies in the ministry he had heard very quickly what had happened and he knew that should he not make a mistake and if would act wisely, he had a never returning possibility to gain unbelievable power. He was sure that his master was alive. If he succeeded in finding him, everything else would show itself.

First of all he had to find his master, however. The second task would be to find the Potter child and to gain control of him. Lucius, after all, knew why his master had wanted to kill the Potters by all means and he knew that his master would be pleased if he would be able to hand him over the child. Lucius quietly smiled, while thinking how he could put his plans into action.