Title: Kidnapped from Privet Drive
Author: Pasopdromer
Rating: K+
A/N: Please R&R!
Disclaimer: nothing belongs to me! HP and everything else sprung from J.K. Rowling's genius and rightfully belong to her.
***
It was a dreary sunday afternoon. Outside a drizzle had started around midnight and had never ended. The television set of number four Privet drive could be heard screaming from the living room. On the couch sat Harry's fat cousin watching the screen with empty eyes. For a while, Harry had been watching from a corner of the room. But now a sense of mind-numbing dullness, that had been steadily increasing over the pas few hours, drove him outside to the hall way.
He was leaning on a door post, considering whether he would pay heed to a desperate need to get out of the house, even if it meant venturing into the drizzle, when the door bell rang. That was actually a bit odd: they weren't expecting any adult visitors: if this had been the case, Harry's aunt Petunia would have been busy all morning wiping every inch of the house with anti-bacterial cloth. And it was unlikely that any of Dudley's cronies would be so bold as to arrive at number four Privet Drive in wet clothing. They had learned from experience that Petunia's screams at such behavior were no laughing matter.
So Harry was not surprised to see the kitchen door open slowly, revealing a wide-eyed, horse-faced Petunia, staring at the front door in shock.
'Was that the door bell?', Vernon yelled from the living room. Petunia was so intent staring that she forgot to answer.
'Er... yes', Harry said.
Vernon came outside the living room into the hall way.
'Are you expecting someone' he hissed to Petunia. She shook her head in an agitated fashion. Vernon whirled towards Harry. 'You didn't invite anyone, did you?' he whispered urgently.
'No, who would I invite?'. Harry had not spoken in a whisper as he had not felt that the situation required it, but Vernon angrily shushed him. Several seconds passed and neither his uncle nor his aunt made any inclination to open the door, so Harry thought he should take matters into his own hands.
'Shall I open it?'. His uncle jumped.
'You stay right where you are', he hissed.
The door bell rang again.
'Who'f dere!?', shouted Dudley from the living room, apparently stuffing his mouth with something at the same time. That seemed to shock Vernon into action, because he suddenly strode over to the door and threw it open. In the rain stood a man. He had his hands in the pockets of a rain coat and wore a cowl so that his face was largely hidden. Vernon eyed the man from top to bottom and then continued to gaze at his hidden face.
The man, waiting for some word of greeting, didn't say anything for a few seconds. It then seemed to dawn on him that no words of greeting were going to come, so he ventured: 'Hello. I'm looking for Harry Potter'. Harry's heart leapt into his throat. Now here was a novelty: someone visiting him! He wanted to move over to the door, but his aunt grabbed him rather painfully by the arm. Not being able to get closer to the stranger, Harry tiptoed trying to see over Vernon's shoulder. Vernon's face purpled.
'There's no one by that name living here', and he threw the door shut.
'Hey!', Harry protested. But Vernon grabbed Harry's shoulder and dragged him up the first few steps.
'Get upstairs, don't make a sound!'. The door bell rang for the third time. Vernon cursed and let go of Harry. He cast a warning glance in Harry's direction and threw open the door. 'Now see here!', he bellowed, 'there's no Harry Potter here, so get lost!'. Being taller than Vernon, the man outside could peer over him and he saw Harry standing on the stairs.
'Who's that then?'.
'None of your business', Vernon roared and tried to close the door for a second time. But now the stranger was too quick for him. He put his foot between the door, and Vernon, try as he might, couldn't close it.
'I just want to talk to him', the man gasped, seemingly trying to ignore the pain from the door that kept smashing his foot.
'Leave. Us. Alone!', Vernon yelled, punctuating each syllable with a smash from the door. But the stranger obviously meant business, because, seeing that he couldn't get inside in a civilized manner, threw his weight against the door. His timing was good: the door was just bouncing back from the stranger's foot and that, combined with the momentum from the stranger's push was more than Vernon could handle. The door flew open and Vernon fell backwards on the floor. Petunia screamed. Harry supposed Dudley would come waddling out of the living room any second now, but the television set was still screaming and it seemed Harry's cousin was too engaged to notice anything.
'Shish!' said the stranger, who was now standing inside the hall way looking bewildered at Vernon and Petunia (who were cowering against the kitchen door), 'I just wanted to talk to Harry. There's really no reason for being so inhospitable. I came through the front door and everything'. That last remark seemed a bit odd to Harry, as if the stranger has also considered coming through the kitchen widow. The stranger then tore off his cowl and turned around towards Harry. Now that Harry could see the man's face, he thought it looked rather unhealthy. It was so thin that it looked almost skeleton-like and purple lines ran under his eyes. His hair looked like it hadn't been combed... ever. When the man saw Harry, his face broke into a grin.
'Hi', he said.
'Hello', Harry said back.
'I'm Sirius Black, I was your father's best friend and I'm your god-father. You ever heard of me?'. The man had spoken rather fast.
'No!' Harry said surprised, 'Never!'. The man looked rather relieved at this.
'Oh! Good, Excellent!'. Harry stood gaping at the man, waiting for further exciting revelations, but the stranger fell quiet. Seemingly at odds about what he would do now he glanced at Petunia and Vernon who were still cowering against the door, then back at Harry, and then back at Harry's aunt and uncle.
'Say...' he said, 'would you mind if I took Harry for a... a walk?'. At first both Vernon and Petunia seemed too frightened to answer, but then Vernon gasped
'Take'm!'. The man looked as if he couldn't believe his luck.
'Good!', he said happily. Then, suddenly realizing something, he looked at Harry: 'You want to come along, don't you?', he asked.
'Hell yeah!', said Harry and he bounced down the stairs and grabbed his coat from the hat stand.
'Well', said the man again turning his attention to Vernon and Petunia, 'I'll bring him right back, I promise'. As he was not graced with a reply, Sirius turned around and, with Harry in front of him, walked outside and shut the door.