The Plague Ship
Synopsis: What might have happened if Sirius had been a bit more proactive after the dementor attack on Harry and Dudley? AU, and Hermione had not gone to Grimmauld Place, deciding to spend time with her family. No super-powered Harry.
Timeframe: Starting early August 8, 1995, then continuing afterwards
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Potterverse, so quit asking for loans or donations.
Chapter 1: Flight
He awoke suddenly, feeling a hand over his mouth. Instinctively, he reached for his wand, and his glasses, in that order, as defense was at the moment far more important than vision.
In his ear, he heard his godfather's voice. "Harry, wake up and be quiet. We need to go! Now!"
Putting on his glasses, Harry Potter looked around 'his' room at #12 Grimmauld Place, London, and looked up at Sirius Black, who was looking very worried.
"What's going on? Why do we have to leave now?" he asked.
Sirius looked serious. "Harry, I have a really bad feeling about this situation. I don't trust them as far as I could throw Hogwarts into a stiff headwind! Any of them. This just seems too much like fourteen years ago, when they threw me into Azkaban without a trial, and absolutely nobody bothered to check out why not. Not even Dumbledore. They did it to me, and from the look of things, they are trying to do it to you. You're even more of a problem to them because you actually saw Voldemort, and now they have sent dementors after you and you still got away from them! I just have a feeling about this, and I think we should go, now."
Harry looked through bleary eyes and asked 'What time is it?"
The older wizard nodded. "Good question. I think it's about half past one in the morning. I think everybody's asleep, and we need to go before anybody wakes up."
Behind Sirius, they heard a gruff voice say quietly "Lumos", Harry grabbed his wand as Sirius spun to look at his old mentor from his auror days.
Alastor Moody smiled. "Black, I know I taught you better than that. I guess thirteen years out of practice made you rusty." He paused and whispered "Silencio et audibilius". Listening to the enhanced sounds of the people sleeping in the house, he nodded.
Just then he felt the tip of Harry's wand just behind his ear. He heard Harry's voice ask "Who are you really, Professor? What did you do to frighten Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom last year?"
Moody smiled. "I was never your professor, Potter, and I did nothing to Longbottom and Weasley. I was locked in a box most of last year." Harry nodded to Sirius and lowered his wand.
"I guess you're not that rusty after all, Black. You remembered to use constant vigilance and evaluation, because you can't trust people. I agree with you. Potter here saw Voldemort rise again, and noted who was with him. I heard his story, and I noticed that Fudge had Barty Crouch 'Kissed' before he could be questioned. That worries me, badly. Potter saw Lucius Malfoy at the graveyard, and I have noticed that he has a little too much influence around the building downtown for my liking."
"I wouldn't trust Fudge with a burned out candle, much less Potter's freedom, or even his life. You need to go. I'll head back to bed, and stupefy myself so I don't witness you leaving. And by the way, give Bunny my regards."
With this, the retired master auror closed the door, and they could hear his footsteps going down the hall. The two wizards noticed that, by the door, he had left the wand he used for a lantern
Harry looked at Sirius, and asked "What did he mean, 'Give Bunny my regards'?"
Sirius smiled. "He was giving me instructions that he and I would understand, but no one else, including you, I see, would figure out. Now, put together whatever you don't want to leave behind. We're leaving. We are going upstairs where Buckbeak has been staying. By the way, you wouldn't believe the amount of manure a grown hippogriff can produce."
Harry gathered up his belongings, and was about to leave the room, when Sirius stopped him short. Pulling out his own wand, he ran it over Harry, his possessions, and three times over Harry's wand. He nodded, and mumbled, "The old man must be getting soft. When I was a trainee, he would have hit me upside the head with a quidditch bat, but tonight he just called me rusty. His motto was always 'Constant Vigilance', and tonight I let down my guard. He reminded me of that, in a kind way. Certainly kinder than he was back in basic training."
"You've got three tracking spells on your wand, and five on your stuff." Waving his wand, he dispelled the spells, and then checked himself. "I checked me before, but 'Constant Vigilance'. Moody might have cast something while we were not watching him. But I can see he didn't. Nice of him. Unusual. The old man must be really worried."
He then checked the wand by the door. "Most interesting! He left an untrackable auror's wand. He is really worried. Okay, let's go."
Being as quiet as they could, Harry and Sirius crept up the stairs to the attic where the condemned hippogriff was being kept out of the sight of officialdom.
Casting silencing spells, they entered the room, and woke the great beast. Sirius pulled out a beef roast from his bag and tossed it to the creature, who appeared pleased with the offering.
Mounting up, Harry asked "Where are we going?", to which his godfather merely replied "East."