Don't get used to this quick update schedule, lol...I want to get some chapters written before I get on any sort of a posting schedule. Thanks to all the reviewers and readers who put this story on alert! As always, thoughts and commentary are welcome.
Sincerely, Lola.
Chapter Two
Finally, finally, finally the bike was ready to fly, his old wand was working better than he could have imagined, and it was time to go and get Harry. It was the middle of a January night, bitterly cold, and no stars visible in the sky this close to civilization. Sirius was parked in an alleyway nearby, a two minute walk from the Dursleys' home. He looked through the small satchel he carried with him, making sure all of the supplies were there: a charmed cloak for Harry to keep him warm while they flew, some food, water, and a map. With the exception of the food, he was amazed the supplies had kept so well stashed inside the Shadow all those years. Sirius had an idea of where they were going to go as soon as Harry was out of the house, and who they were going to see. He just wasn't sure if that person wanted to see him. However, there was no other choice. Even if Sirius ended up back in jail, he knew Harry would be taken care of.
Sirius took a moment to compose himself, then changed into Padfoot and took off down the street. He ran as fast as he could without raising suspicion, only stopping until he was hidden in the bushes beneath the Dursleys' front window. If only he could use magic, it would make this mission that much easier. He changed back and peeked through the leaves to see if the street was clear. The lights were all out in the windows nearby, and no cars could be heard anywhere. 'Now or never,' he thought, and crawled out of the bushes.
He slunk along the ground on his stomach until he came to the front steps, at which point he scaled them quickly and sat down again. Someone sitting down could be rationalized away as part of the bush. Sirius still had to be extremely careful though. Someone working at a door with a muggle lock-pick could not be as easily rationalized. Peter of all people had taught the Marauders to use the lock picks, and looking back Sirius wondered how he could have missed the signs. But there would be time to dwell on Peter later.
With a low click the door opened, and Sirius grinned. He was afraid he was a bit rusty, and while he may not have been able to pick a lock as fast as he did in his teenage years, he was still able to get the door open. Once inside, Sirius discovered that the Dursleys lived in a very boring house. A peek into the living room and up the stairs showed a multitude of pictures of their over-inflated son, but nothing at all of Harry. He wasn't at all surprised.
Sirius sighed and walked towards the kitchen, taking care not to make any noise. The kitchen was spotless, with nothing out of place. It was an uncomfortable, sterile place. He couldn't imagine that Harry was at all at home there. However, if Harry said that he wanted to stay with the Dursleys, then he was going to let him. All he wanted was his godson to be happy. He just didn't think though that the key to Harry's happiness was in Little Whinging.
He turned and walked out of the kitchen, intent on going upstairs to find the lad's bedroom. The tiny figure standing in the hall made him stop short. There was no doubt at all it was Harry. That messy hair was unmistakable. Directly behind the boy was an open cupboard door; and Sirius knew that it hadn't been opened before. "Who are you?" Harry asked quietly.
Sirius knelt down to Harry's level, staying a safe distance away. "My name is Sirius," he said slowly, trying not to startle Harry. "Do you remember me?"
Harry shook his head. "Should I?"
Sirius couldn't help but let out a little laugh. "No, not really. It's been many years since we've seen each other; you were only a little baby the last time. I'm your godfather."
The little boy's brow wrinkled. "Godfa—what's that?"
Oh, God, Sirius didn't want to have to explain this, ever, it would lead to far too many things to talk about. "A godfather is someone your parents picked when you were born to look after you if they can't." To his amazement, Harry crept closer.
"You knew my parents? Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon said they died in a car wreck. Can you tell me about them?"
It was the most Sirius had heard come out of Harry's mouth, and the light in his eyes once his parents were mentioned was amazing. "Yeah, I knew them, and yeah, if you want, I can tell you more about them. But I have something to ask you first. I'd like to take care of you, like your parents wanted me to. I want you to come live with me, but only if you want to."
"Can I?" he practically yelped. "I promise, I'll be really good, you won't even know I'm there."
The pleading broke Sirius's heart. He didn't want to cry, but it was getting dangerously close. "Are you sure?"
Harry nodded, and dashed back to the cupboard. "I just got to get my stuff."
Sirius followed him and peeked in. It was a tiny little space, with the small cot taking up the majority of the room in there. "Is this where you sleep?"
"Yeah. Dudley's got the second bedroom for all his toys." Sirius's eye twitched. No, no magic tonight, even though the Dursleys deserved something truly nasty to happen to them. He watched as Harry stuffed a small blanket, a worn out book, and an old jumper into a backpack that was being held together by more tape than canvas. Even faster, Harry pulled on an old pair of socks and his trainers and topped it all off with a jacket that practically drowned the boy. "Okay, I'm ready!"
Sirius frowned. "Don't you want to put your day clothes on?"
Harry slowly shook his head. "They're Dudley's old things. These won't fall down better."
"Okay." Sirius pulled the cloak out of his own bag, and swung the cloak around Harry's shoulders, bundling him tight in it. "This should keep you even warmer." Sirius was amazed with the trust Harry was looking at him with. It was unlike anything he'd ever known, and at that moment swore to do whatever it took to keep Harry safe. "Can I pick you up? We'll be able to move faster that way."
Harry nodded, and so Sirius bent down and swept him into his arms. With a nudge of his elbow he closed the cupboard and they walked to the front door. "Now Harry, you need to keep as quiet as possible. We don't want anyone to see us, all right?"
"Okay."
Sirius made sure the front door was locked from the inside and pulled it quietly closed as they stepped outside. He pulled the hood of the cloak over Harry's head, and began to make his way back to the bike. Sirius didn't breathe as he walked, constantly checking the windows and street to make sure no one was watching them. At one point a car drove by, making Sirius press his back against a tree and clutch Harry even closer. Finally though, they reached the alley with the bike and Sirius could breathe just a bit easier.
He removed the cloak from Harry's head. "You doing all right, lad?"
"Yep." Harry looked around and spotted the bike. "Is that yours?"
"Yeah, it is. We're going to go for a little ride on it."
Harry wrinkled his brow, deep in thought for a moment, as if something had suddenly occurred to him. "Does—does it fly?"
Sirius couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, it does."
The door to the interrogation room opened, startling Harry out of his memory. A tall, bald, black man walked in, with a shorter woman following after him. To Harry's surprise the woman had hair in a most unusual shade of pink. There was something about her face that struck him, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
"So, our mystery hero of the day," the man said, sitting down opposite from Harry, his wand out on the table between them. Harry bit the inside of his cheek miserably. He wanted his wand back; they'd confiscated it when they'd brought him in. At least they didn't get their hands on the sword—the invisible weight was comfortably snug against his back.
"I'm no hero, sir," he replied. "I just did what had to be done."
"Well you did something pretty impressive that wizards have been trying to do for nearly thirty years now. We just want to know how you did it."
Harry resisted the urge to roll his eyes behind the sunglasses. If they only knew of the years of study and traveling and hard work they had put in to get Harry ready for the inevitable final battle. It'd take a solid week to fill them in on every last detail. "If I knew, sir, I'd let you know also."
The man leaned back in his seat, taking on a relaxed pose. "Please, the 'sir' makes me feel even older than I already do right now. I'm Auror Shacklebolt, this is Auror Tonks," he waved a hand towards his pink-coiffed companion. "Do you have a name we could call you?"
Yes, he had a name, one he was quite proud of, really, but it was a name that would bring unwanted fame on his head. Fame wasn't really his thing. Maybe he could teach, that seemed like it would be an interesting profession. "No, no name. Sorry."
"You don't have a name?" Auror Tonks asked from somewhere to his side, and he turned his head to look at her.
"I'm nobody, as Odysseus said to the Cyclops," he replied. Merlin bless Remus for a good education in things aside from spells and charms.
"I'm impressed, you know your classics," Shacklebolt said. "So can we assume that you've been on an interesting journey before arriving here?"
A slow, predatory grin spread across Harry's face. "You have no idea."
By the time the sun had begun to peek over the edge of the horizon Sirius and Harry had made it to the south of France. Sirius guided the bike down into a small abandoned bit of forest as Harry dozed against his chest. He'd tried to keep the young boy awake for as long as possible so that they could sleep during the daytime, but he'd eventually dropped off, the small helmeted head bobbing forward every so often.
"Just a little bit of sleep, then we can be off again," Sirius murmured, sitting down with his back to a tree and the still slumbering Harry in his lap. He pulled the magical map out of his bag, an old relic left in the bike. It was one of those maps that could show you the layout of many major cities with just a tap of the wand. "Show me Rome, Italy," he said, jabbing his wand at the paper. There was a blur on the page as the map focused in on the major roads and monuments of Rome.
"Okay, let's see, the address is 98, via della Cisterna…" It had taken some sneaky research to find where Remus was currently residing, but a few glamour spells and lies had made an unsuspecting relative of the werewolf give up his current location. Remus was the only person on Earth who would give him a fighting chance though, and that wasn't saying much. Remus likely felt the most betrayed by Sirius also. It was because of him that he had lost everything, friends, trust, love…
It seemed almost juvenile to say that Remus was his boyfriend; they hadn't even used that term in their Hogwarts years. But he was undoubtedly Sirius's true love, even though at the end things had gotten so bad love and trust was a rare sight in their company. Sirius wasn't so naïve to believe that they would take up from where they left off in the good times, but his gut feeling was telling him that Remus would be able to put some things aside in order to help Harry.
The few hours of sleep Sirius got were restless and filled with dreams of what was lost. He awoke to find the sun high in the sky and Harry poking at his chest. "Sirius, I'm hungry."
"Yeah, just a minute." Sirius reapplied the warming charms to Harry and himself, then grabbed a few Mars bars from his bag. "I know it's not a proper meal, but it should work for now."
"I love chocolate," sighed Harry happily, tearing off the wrapper and taking a huge chunk out of the bar. "When are we going to start flying again?"
Sirius looked up through the trees, trying to locate exactly where the sun was. "Hmm. It looks like the sun should be setting in about three hours. We can take off then, and with any luck we should be in Rome by morning."
"What's a Rome?"
"It's a big city in Italy. Someone who may be able to help us lives there. So what are we going to do until we have to go?" he asked.
Harry looked up at him with wide green eyes. "Tell me a story? Something about my mum and dad?"
Sirius nodded. He could do that. He only hoped that he didn't break down crying in the middle of it. "All right. Well, one year, a few months before you were born…"
To be continued...
