AN: Ok, this fan fic was originally part of a story called "Only A Memory Away" by me. But I decided that the two stories really didn't go together, so I am putting it on another story. I intend to continue it if people are interested.
Chapter 1
Sirius staggered as he walked down Privet Drive in his animagus form. It had been only about a week since he'd escaped from Azkaban. Driven by a nameless faceless fear that refused to let him rest except when he was completely exhausted. It was the same kind of fear that had driven him to check on Peter the night his friends died. A fear that told him something was terribly wrong. He'd been too late that night; he only hoped he wasn't too late now.
It was about nine o'clock in the morning. The sun was shining and the lawns were kept in beautiful ordered rows that differed not the slightest from one house to another. The quiet hum of a suburban neighborhood getting ready for the day seemed ominous. The place was almost too quiet and he hated silence after his time in Azkaban.
Finally reaching number 4, he turned up the drive and then after careful consideration, snuck along the walkway towards the back of the house. No sense announcing his presence. If he remembered correctly, Lily's sister hated animals of any sort, and his condition of a half-starved, mangy, dirty stray wouldn't help.
He heard the rattling of pots and pans in the kitchen through the screen door. Looking in he saw a tall thin bony-looking woman standing at the stove stirring something that smelled good to his canine senses, even though it had a slight scorched smell to it. A crabby complaint came from a large child of about six* sitting in a booster chair on one of the chairs at the table.** Looking around for his godson, he couldn't see him from where he was standing.
"Just a moment, Diddy, darling," the woman said. "Breakfast is almost ready."
She turned around and saw something that irked her rather badly, though Sirius couldn't see what.
"You, get to washing this floor or you won't get anything. (Under her breath, but still loud enough for people three streets away to hear) Why we got stuck with a freak like you is beyond me."
Sirius bristled. He didn't know who she was talking to, but he didn't like the tone of her voice. The woman walked from the stove and put a bowl of some kind of cereal in front of the child at the table. The child immediately dumped it on the floor.
"Clean it up, you little worthless piece of scum. You're probably giving my Diddy indigestion and I want you out of this kitchen as soon as possible."
Sirius laid back his ears and snarled. Who was the woman talking to? It almost sounded like his mother when she was talking to him.
At that moment, a young child with messy black hair crawled into view. In his hands was a rag that was soaked in, what smelled like bleach. Rather than use the rag to clean up the mess the older child had caused, the new boy began to scoop up handfuls of the cereal and stuff it in his mouth as fast as he could.
Sirius stared. The new child, who could only be his godson, was barely more than skin and bone. He looked even skinnier than Sirius did himself. What had that dreadful woman been doing to his godson?
The woman shrieked and kicked out nearly striking the child in the head, "Grubbing on the floor like a dog, trying to steal my Popkin's food, casting your filth on my floor? Why couldn't your parents have taken you with them when they died. Then we wouldn't have been stuck with-"
But Sirius could take it no more. Leaping at the door from the outside and throwing it off its hinges, he transformed into his human self and was holding her with her feet off the ground and with a hand around her throat, snarled, "How can you treat him like this? He's just a child, your only sister's child at that. He's a person and the most important person in the world to me. You'd better be glad that I wouldn't want to kill someone in front of him or there would be nothing holding me back."
He would have continued, but a small hand tugging at the hem of his robes, stopped him. Looking down he saw the wide green eyes of his godson. "Please, Pahfoo, don't hurt her."***
Looking around and shaking his head as if he was coming out of a trance, he saw the older child on the phone. Realizing that help could arrive at any moment and worried that his godson would be caught in the crossfire, he scooped Harry up and ran out the door.
Several blocks away, he stopped, shaking. He had nowhere to go. Grimmauld Place would be the first place they checked since it was now his.**** He didn't have a wand to defend himself and who knew who would respond to the alarm at Privet Drive? It could be the muggle law enforcement or it could be an entire team of aurors. What was he to do where were they to go?
There was only one thing he could think of and it stuck in his craw to do it. But there was no other choice. He couldn't take Harry back to that place. He just couldn't.
"Kreacher!"
There was a crack as the dilapidated elf arrived. "Yes, master? (then under his breath) Kreacher should call the aurors, Kreacher should. Now that master is out and about in the world where he-"
"Kreacher, I'm begging you. I need somewhere where I can raise my godson in peace. I know we haven't gotten along ever, but this means more to me than anything else in the world. PLEASE!"
Kreacher looked up and was about to refuse out of habit, as master hadn't ordered him to do anything, but was stopped by the look in his master's eyes. It was true that Sirius and Regulus did look a great deal alike, and in that moment, they shared something that tore at Kreacher's heart. The look on Sirius's face was as close as it could be to that on Regulus's face the night that he'd asked Kreacher to take him to the cave. Ever so slowly Kreacher nodded.
But as Kreacher went to snap his fingers, Harry, who had been quite still until now, reacted. He could feel the tension and fear radiating from his godfather's body.***** As Kreacher's magic swirled around them, Harry's own magic rose up inside him and intermingled and strengthened Kreacher's magic. With a tiny pop, the two figures disappeared in a swirl of shining lights.
*Sirius only thought Dudley looked six because he was so fat. He's still the same age as Harry, which is about three.
**Forgive me, but I am an American and I don't know any other language to use so I use what I know. I know it's not the same as British English, but I'm not fluent in British English so you'll have to forgive me Americanisms. By the way, in case anyone doesn't know, a booster seat is something that a child uses from the time they are out of high chairs until they are big enough to sit at the table and eat properly.
***I made Harry about three because I wanted him to be able to remember Sirius somewhat.
****I don't know when Mr. and Mrs. Black died, but I know Regulus died in 1979 so the house would be Sirius's. I'm saying that the elder Blacks are now dead.
*****Abused children (and yes Harry was abused, anyone who says otherwise didn't read the books very carefully. Harry was abused pshycologically, mentally, verbally, emotionally, and he was also neglected. I don't know about physical but there might have been some of that, too. And anyone who says that these kinds of abuse aren't as hurtful and long lasting as physical or sexual abuse are kidding themselves) can sense changes in moods and tension and often react to it negatively.
