If Only

Disclaimer: I do not own the series of Harry Potter or any of its characters. To my knowledge, everything belongs to J.K. Rowling.

"He's at Hogwarts," Sirius mumbled to himself as he carefully watched the Dementors glide around, just waiting for his chance to escape. "He's at Hogwarts."

Peter Pettigrew, that foul, miserable, loathsome, cowardly, pathetic, sniveling little piece of dog poo, was at Hogwarts, or at least he would be once the new term started, and Sirius was going to make sure that, this time, the little rat was going to pay for betraying Lily and James to Voldemort. That's right, Voldemort, not You-Know-Who. He wasn't afraid of the "Dark Lord", and he would have been more than willing to die fighting to protect his best friends. But that little rat had handed them over gift-wrapped!

Lost in thought, Sirius almost missed the perfect window of opportunity, but he just barely managed to catch it. Shifting into his Animagi form, Sirius escaped from his cell, raced passed the Dementors who really couldn't be less interested in a dog, and dove into the sea. He was free! Now, all he had to do was get to England, and finally getting revenge on Pettigrew would be within his grasp. After spending thirteen years as an innocent man in a place as horrible as Azkaban, he truly did not care that his self-imposed mission would probably cost his life. Besides, James was worth it. Lily was worth it. Harry was worth it.

Harry…that was his biggest regret resulting from his confrontation with Pettigrew and subsequent imprisonment. He hadn't been able to raise the boy like he'd promised James. Although Harry had only been a year old when his parents died, Sirius had already loved him like he was his own son. Worst of all, Harry was sure to hate him. After all, the whole world knew him as the trusted friend of the Potters who betrayed their trust, as the follower of Lord Voldemort who'd lost his master, and as the murderer of only his old school "friend" and twelve innocent Muggles as well. Who wouldn't hate him?

Still, now that he was free, it couldn't hurt, could it? He just wanted a peek, just wanted to see how the boy was doing, just wanted to see that Harry was all right. Surely, it would be okay for him to check on the boy. After all, there were still a few more weeks until the start of term at Hogwarts. More than anything else, now that he'd thought about it, there was no way he wouldn't be able to go see the boy – he loved Harry too much not to.

So as soon as he reached shore, the first thing Sirius did was search out Harry's current location and make his way there as quickly as his four legs would take him. Be it by fate or an incredible streak of good luck, Sirius arrived in Little Whinging just long enough to watch Harry sitting on a low wall for ten minutes before he got on the Knight Bus.

In those ten minutes, he didn't approach Harry at all, only watched, but it was enough. Those ten minutes were more precious to him than all the gold housed in every single Gringrott's vault combined. He had seen Harry. He knew the boy who he loved like a son was alive and safe. And more than anything else, it cemented his resolve to find that foul, miserable, loathsome, cowardly, pathetic, sniveling little piece of dog poo and make sure that he never had the chance to hurt Harry like he had James and Lily.

A/N: Hope you liked it. Look forward to more Harry Potter drabbles over the course of the next two or three months. I get to do this for homework!