Chapter 1 - Arriving
The sea boiled and frothed in the storm blowing from a northeasterly direction off the vast expanse of ocean. It had been blowing for five hours at a steady pace and was finally letting up. As the winds died down, locals who were gathered in small cottages and huts began to tentatively look out their doors and windows. Local hotels were mostly shut down for the season, but one small hotel had left a wing open with several staff remaining for the occasional off season tourist. One of these was a caretaker named Chahaya who ventured out while the wind was still dying and headed down to the water. Storms often blew interesting debris out of the Indian Ocean and occasionally something of value would surface. In the thirty years that Chahaya had worked at the small hotel he made a fair bit of profit scavenging from the sea. As he approached the dark sands near the hotel, his trained eye began scanning for anything unusual. There was plenty of organic debris, from seaweed to water logged coconuts, which Chahaya passed over without a second glance. He located several intact shells that would sell for a small amount in the tourist shop and pocketed them before proceeding on down the shore as the wind continued to diminish. After walking for a couple kilometers, Chahaya was beginning to consider turning around when something caught his eye near the tide line a hundred meters ahead of him. Picking up his pace, Chahaya neared the lumpy object and suddenly realized what he had found. Whispering prayers to several local deities, the caretaker moved forward to examine the body.
As he approached, Chahaya mentally prepared himself for what he would find. His uncle had once found a woman washed up on the beach and had detailed how badly bloated and horrific the remains were. Chahaya expected to find something similar and began to calculate how far he was from the nearest village polisi station. Then, something unexpected occurred when the body twitched and moved. The caretaker was startled and briefly considered running off. Still, if the man was alive it was his duty to assist, so he moved closer and circled the man cautiously. When he reached the man's head, Chahaya found him opening his eyes as he took several shuddering breaths. After several minutes, the man calmed and looked up at the caretaker. He began to speak, but Chahaya knew only a few English words that he had learned from hotel guests and could not understand much of what the man was saying. The one piece of information that the two men did manage to exchange were names. With no further way to communicate, the caretaker helped the bedraggled man stand and gestured him to follow. Sirius took the hint and pulled his lanky body off the beach as he made his way in Chahaya's footsteps.
When they finally reached the hotel, Chahaya bypassed his hut and led Sirius on into the village polisi station. Once they reached the station, Chahaya explained where he had found the man and that he seemed to be British by his speech. No one in the office spoke much English either, so Sirius' attempts at communication were largely in vain. Frustrated, Sirius collapsed in a chair and decided to wait on the locals. Sirius was still a bit fuzzy and had little idea of how he had ended up where he was. The last thing he remembered was fighting the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries. Then there was a flash of light and a feeling that he was falling. After that his next memory was waking up sore and tired on the black sand beaches of wherever he now was. As the local polisi and Chahaya conversed, one word hit Sirius' and gave him his first clue. The men mentioned Jakarta and Sirius was stunned. 'Jakarta? As in Indonesia? How in the bloody hell had he ended up in Indonesia?' Eventually the men finished their debate and the polisi turned to Sirius and gestured for him to follow. Still confused, Sirius rose and followed the man to a car, where he was holding the door open, smiling at Sirius and motioning him to enter. As Sirius moved forward, he turned to the man who had found him on the beach and thanked him. Chahaya smiled and waved before turning around and proceeding back to the hotel. Sirius then climbed in the small Muggle automobile, glad that Lily had once educated him on the strange Muggle contraptions.
The drive was bumpy but scenic. The polisi who drove was named Hameng something or other. The name was long and Sirius couldn't begin to wrap his tongue around it, not that he had much need to speak as they man kept a moving dialogue in his local tongue with an occasional English word thrown in. The only information that Sirius much understood was that the village they just left was called Pangandaran and their destination was Jakarta. In Jakarta, Hameng insisted there would be 'help'. As the drive continued, Sirius' main thought was a vague hope that Jakarta would have some kind of Ministry of Magic. The drive seemed to take forever and eventually Hameng quieted down. They made several stops along the way in villages that were no more than a few small huts with an occasional modern concrete block building. The car was fueled at several points, but only in one larger town was there an actual pump. Most of the smaller towns simply fueled the polisi via large fuel cans. Several hours after they started, Hameng stopped for fuel and disappeared for a few minutes, leaving Sirius in the car smiling at the young boy doing the fueling. When Hameng returned, he carried a paper sack, from which he produced several pieces of spiced chicken and two cups of a sticky, slightly sweet rice. It was the first food Sirius had seen since his arrival in Indonesia and he dove into while thanking Hameng. Finally, nearly eight hours after they had left the coast, Sirius saw a collection of lights on the horizon and realized they were approaching a large city. Hameng entered the city and began to navigate through a maze of streets before finally stopping in front of a gray building with yellow trim. Sirius took Hameng's cue, exited the car and followed him into the building.
An hour later, Sirius was sitting in the polisi captain's office relaying his brief story for a second time through an interpreter. Since he was in a Muggle office, Sirius gave very little information. The story he concocted was that he had been on a British cargo ship and had washed overboard. He remembered nothing until he woke up on the beach where Chahaya had found him. He knew the story was weak, but there was no way he could tell them the truth. Realizing that Sirius wasn't going to give them more information, the captain and interpreter left the office, advising Sirius to wait. Frustrated, Sirius stood up and began to pace when he saw a newspaper sitting on the desk. Leaning over, he looked at the front page and bypassed the headline he couldn't read. Instead, he focused on the date: January 12th, 2003. That bit of news caused Sirius to collapse back into the chair. Seven years. It had been almost seven years since the battle in the Department of Mysteries. What had happened? Sirius had no clue.
Several minutes later the captain and the interpreter returned and they did not look happy. He glared at Sirius and began speaking so quickly that the interpreter had a hard time keeping up. The captain had run his name through the computer and had found out that Sirius Black had been declared dead by British authorities over six years earlier. Which meant that the man in his office was an imposter and most likely a drug smuggler. He informed Sirius that he was going to be held until he told the truth or someone appeared who could provide appropriate papers. He was welcome to make a phone call if he wished. Sirius sighed, he had never used a Muggle telephone in his life and no one he knew had a phone to call. When Sirius said nothing more, the captain called in a young polisi who took Sirius by the arm and led him to the back of the building. Once there, Sirius was shoved into a cell. He heard the door lock behind him and shuddered. 'How the hell am I getting out this?' Sirius thought.