Harry stood in front of the great fortress that was Azkaban prison. The sky was dark, moonlight illuminating the two menacing dementors that stood guard outside the gate. The black cloaks that covered them whipped in the wind, revealing hints of the shriveled and deformed bodies that Harry had always assumed lay beneath. Harry tore his gaze away from the dementors and looked at his watch. Reginald was late.
With no noticeable noise, Harry felt the presence of his companion appear to his right. He looked up and shot a small smile at the tall, haggard figure that stood next to him. The man's grey beard and wrinkled face gave him the appearance of a tired elderly man, but his piercing blue eyes and aura of power suggested otherwise. Harry tapped his watch, "You're late."
Reginald ignored Harry's comment as he viewed the prison in distaste. "You have 8 minutes until I tire and disapparate. Don't waste time indulging in your twisted fantasies of revenge."
Harry shot an annoyed look at Reginald, "Whatever, old man."
With that, Harry pulled his cloak tightly around him and began walking towards the entrance of Azkaban. Faintly, he heard Reginald begin chanting an unknown incantation behind him. As Harry approached the floating Dementors at the gate, he didn't feel the familiar dreadful feeling that overtook him in their presence. They made no move to stop him as he blasted open the gate and proceeded into the prison.
Sirius Black was woken from his sleep by an odd sensation sweeping through his body. He shakily stood from the lumpy cot in his small cell and attempted to place the foreign feeling. It was so...warm. It took him a moment to realize that he was feeling the lack of a dementor feeding on him. His eyes shot to the two dementors that were constantly positioned outside his cell. They were there, as usual, but he didn't feel them. He cautiously approached the bars at the front of the cell and inspected the dementors. They were floating there, but they made no movements whatsoever. It was as if they were asleep, or in a trance.
Sirius reached an arm out through the rusted bars to touch a dementor, but before it got there a cold hand grasped his wrist and twisted it roughly. "Argghh..." he groaned in pain as he dropped to his knees, snatching his arm back from the icy grip. He looked up to spot his attacker, and was surprised to see a young boy in a black cloak standing before him. The boy had a lithe frame, with unruly brown hair and blue eyes on pale skin. "Who the hell are you?" Sirius spit out, cradling his soar arm to his chest. The boy knelt down so that they were face to face on either side of the bars, and he began to...change. His hair shifted from brown to midnight black, his eyes changed from blue to emerald green, and a thin lightning bolt shaped scar appeared on his forehead, in sharp contrast to his pale skin. He's a metamorphmagus? Sirius stared ahead in shock as his mind pieced together who this person was. "What the fuck...Harry? Are you Harry Potter?"
"Yes," the boy answered simply, in a soft voice. "I'm here to kill you." The boy cocked his head, as if studying him. The boy's demeanor was strange for a person preparing to commit murder, but Sirius didn't doubt for a second that he was serious. If anything, the way the boy looked as if he were simply conducting a mild potions experiment was even more intimidating than any amount of anger or twisted laughter that a Death Eater would display.
As he processed this development, Sirius's eyes shot wide open and he grasped the bars infront of him, pressing his face up against them. "Harry, listen, you've got to believe me," he rasped out frantically, "It was Peter, it wasn't me. We switched places, Harry, we switched secret keepers. I would never have betrayed James..."
The boy frowned slightly and leaned so that his head was directly in front of Sirius's, "Look in to my eyes," he said in the same calm voice. Sirius, mind racing, stared directly in to the emerald pools in front of him. Moments passed, and then his vision suddenly blacked out, and he was no longer in Azkaban.
"Will you do it, Peter?" came James's voice. Sirius was standing next to him in the warm living room of Godric's Hollow, and they were both staring at the shivering form of Peter Pettigrew, who stood infront of the fire he had stepped out of moments ago. "Sirius is going in to hiding as well some time soon. No one will suspect you, Peter."
Peter Pettigrew looked at James, and then Sirius, fear flashing in his eyes. "Of-of course, James. It's an h-honor..." he trailed off, turning his gaze back down to the floor.
James nodded and looked to Sirius. "We'll do it immediately." he said, looking Sirius directly in the eyes, and then flashed a small smile, "I'll see you soon."
Sirius smiled back and pulled James in to a warm hug before disapparating. That was the last time he saw James Potter.
Sirius saw black, and then he was once again staring into the emerald eyes of Harry Potter. Harry's brows were now furrowed slightly, and his gaze had increased in intensity. The boy abruptly stood and smoothly drew a wand from his sleeve with practiced ease. He pointed the wand at Sirius, and began a broad sweeping movement. Sirius backed away from the bars on instinct and closed his eyes, preparing for the worst.
A moment passed, and then another, and Sirius finally reopened his eyes. He gasped as he saw that the gate to his cell was now open, and Harry Potter stood before him with a neutral expression on his face, a hand outstretched to help him up. Sirius looked at the hand wearily, memory of it's icy grip fresh in his mind. As if the memories of the hand had triggered the effect, Sirius began to feel cold seep back into him. But it wasn't the boy, Sirius realized, it was the Dementors waking and continuing their feeding.
Sirius's gaze shot past Harry and to the Dementors, who were now entering the cell, one grasping it's cloak at the head and pulling it down. The other Dementor moved to close the cell door behind them, locking Sirius and Harry in with them. Looking back at Harry, the boy didn't seem concerned, he simply gave a small encouraging smile. Choosing the lesser of two evils, Sirius grabbed the chilled appendage before him. Walls of blue fire shot up from the ground around the two of them, blocking the Dementors from advancing closer. The blue flames licked gently at Sirius with a calming warmth, chasing the Dementor's cold from him, leaving behind only the deathly cold that seeped from Harry's hand. It seemed only a moment after the walls of fire had erected themselves, they dropped back down and out of existence.
Sirius blinked in surprise as he found himself no longer in the all too familiar cell he had populated for the past fifteen years, but instead in a large open field of grass. For the first time in fifteen years, he felt the wind against his face, and soft grass beneath his hands. He stood on shaky legs and looked to Harry, who was studying him with a blank expression on his face. Numbly, Sirius looked past Harry and noted that it was night time, and the moonlight brightly seeped through holes in the clouds. He was out of Azkaban. It all seemed so surreal to him.
"Do you know where Pettigrew is?" Harry finally broke him from his reverie.
"I...I think so," Sirius replied. Harry simply continued to look at him with that blank face, so he elaborated, "He's with a Weasley boy posing as his pet rat in animagus form. Or, he was three years ago."
"The Dark Lord was resurrected two years ago." Harry informed him, frowning now.
"Oh..." Sirius faltered, "But I don't think Peter would go to him. He's most likely stayed with the Weasley boy where it's safe."
"Do you know where the Weasley boy is?"
"Well, no, but he's not of age yet, he'll be at Hogwarts most likely."
Harry nodded thoughtfully and then looked up to the sky. Sirius followed his gaze and spotted a red and black bird circling above them. The bird descended and landed lightly on Harry's shoulder. Only then did Sirius realize that it was a phoenix. Harry murmured something to the phoenix, stroking it softly. The phoenix gave the boy an affectionate nip on the ear in response and then disappeared in a flash of blue fire.
A minute passed in silence between the two, and then suddenly there was a tall, worn old man in a dark cloak standing at Harry's side. The man's blue eyes seemed to pierce straight into Sirius, and he grew dizzy looking into them. Sirius averted his eyes to Harry, but the man's presence still made him uncomfortable. There was an itch in his mind that told him something wasn't right.
"Potter Manor is located right in front of you," came the old man's gruff voice. Sirius reluctantly looked back to the man, but was distracted by a shimmering in the air behind him. Reality itself seemed to bend and twist in a swirl of color, and then a mansion rivaling the size of the largest Black estate was there. Potter Manor? There wasn't any Potter manor. James had told him that it was destroyed long ago.
A weight landed on Sirius's shoulder, and he turned his head to see the phoenix there. The phoenix nipped at him in the same affectionate manner it had with Harry, and then took off and flew towards the mansion. Sirius noted that the cloaked old man had disappeared in the same fashion that he had arrived, and Harry still stood in front of him, now with a small smile on his face.
"Zhar likes you," Harry commented as he softly pushed Sirius towards the entrance of the mansion.
"Does that not happen a lot?" Sirius asked, watching the retreating form of the phoenix. The phoenix's brief presence had left a warmth similar to that of the blue flames that had transported him here.
Harry shrugged, "She likes me and she doesn't like Reginald, so I guess it happens half the time?" he grinned as they approached the large front doors of the mansion, "Welcome to Potter Manor. Congratulations, you're only the third person to see it in two-hundred years. Or five-hundred...or something. It's old."
Sirius gave a short laugh, the first in fifteen years, at that comment. The Harry joking with him now was such a drastic change from the cold boy that he had met in Azkaban. It was hard to believe that this light-hearted, friendly boy was planning to kill him just minutes ago. Sirius found himself forgetting that the two were the same, until his hand casually brushed against Harry's and he felt the death-like chill that seemed to emanate from him.
As the two entered the manor, Sirius noted that it very much resembled a pureblood home. Priceless artifacts and aged paintings decorated the large entrance hall. In accordance to pureblood tradition, the paintings were of former Potter's, and Sirius searched the walls looking for someone familiar. It would be nice to talk to James again...or maybe James's parents, those who had taken him in at his time of need. Sirius frowned when he didn't find them. In fact, he didn't recognize any of the people in the portraits. None of their features even resembled James or his parents.
"Looking for someone?" Harry's amused voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Yes, actually." Sirius said, turning to Harry. "Is your...your father here? Or maybe your grandparents?"
Harry raised an eyebrow, "Old, remember? You won't find anything more recent than four-hundred years ago. I think the most recent painting hung was there." Harry pointed to a blank spot on the wall that had black imprints of a painting frame on it, but the frame was no longer there. As Sirius looked closer, he saw scattered burn marks in the space, as if the painting had been lit on fire and allowed to burn before it was removed.
"Who was it?" Sirius continued to study the blank space on the wall.
Harry gave a strange lopsided smile, "No idea. I think it caught fire or something, and the other paintings definitely aren't telling."
From the look on Harry's face, he did know who it was, but Sirius was distracted by a new revelation, "Why don't any of the paintings move?" That definitely wasn't pureblood tradition. It wasn't even heard of. It would be considered highly insulting having muggle paintings of purebloods.
"Reginald says they kept yelling at him, so he- um...actually, I have no idea what he did. He 'froze' them I suppose." Harry said. This struck Sirius as odd, as he had never heard anything of the kind happening before, but he had too many questions on his mind to ask Harry to elaborate.
"How did you end up here? James told me this place was destroyed by a dark wizard."
"Reginald brought me here the night my parents died. I've never asked how he came to live here." Harry shrugged, "Come on, lets find a room for you to stay in while you're here."
"I''m- I'm staying here?" Sirius stammered, cautiously following Harry up a large staircase.
"Well, everyone but me thinks you're a convicted murderer who betrayed his best friend. Do you have some place else to go? A meeting at the ministry maybe?" Harry seemed amused, as though it were obvious that Sirius would be staying.
"Well, no..."
"Good! Then you'll stay here the rest of the week." Harry smiled at him, pushing him into what appeared to be a guest room.
"The rest of the week?" Sirius answered, confused.
"Of course. After that I'm off to Hogwarts, and you'll have to come with me. I suppose you could stay in my trunk..." Harry cocked his head, thinking.
"In your trunk? Why am I going to Hogwarts in the first place?" Sirius took a seat on the plush bed in the center of the room.
"I've been in hiding for fifteen years. It's time I attend school." Harry winked, looking around the guest room in interest, as if he had never seen it before. Which, with the size of the manor, was quite possible.
"Oh...okay." Sirius murmured as he tried to absorb this new information. "Why are you in hiding? And why am I going with you?"
Harry turned around and leaned against the wall, giving a small shrug, "The entire wizarding world believes me to be dead, revealing myself would only earn me more enemies. As for your other question, you're much more familiar with Hogwarts than I am, and you can help me trap Pettigrew. That won't be an easy task with Dumbledore there..." Harry trailed off thoughtfully.
Sirius allowed Harry to drift off, taking the time to slow down and think about what was happening. Things were moving so quickly. He was out of Azkaban, and now in a guest room at Potter Manor, a place that was destroyed years ago. He was with Harry Potter, James's son who had died fifteen years ago with his parents, as well as an old man who's presence left Sirius with a strong sense of foreboding.
Harry seemed to sense his discomfort. He approached the bed slowly and took a seat next to Sirius. "I know this must be hard for you. The last time you've seen the outside of that prison was at the end of a war, and now another is beginning." Harry paused, looking Sirius directly in the eye. "Come to Hogwarts with me. We'll kill Pettigrew...you can have your life back."
For some reason, that thought had never occurred to Sirius. He had given up hope of ever leaving that prison. Now, though, now he could have a life again. James was gone, but wasn't Remus still alive? He would have to check. He had always told himself that if he ever escaped Azkaban, the first thing he would do after killing Peter would be to see Remus again.
Sirius suddenly realized he had drifted off, a habit he formed while in isolation at Azkaban. He looked up to answer Harry, but the boy was no longer there. Either Sirius had been so far gone that he hadn't noticed Harry walk out the door, or he had silently disapparated. Sirius sighed and lay back against the plush bed. He was already tired from all the walking he had done today. Sadly, it was the most exercise he'd had in a very long time. It wasn't long before he drifted off in to a deep sleep, the best he had in fifteen years.
A/N: I'd just like to thank the people that reviewed, I really appreciate it! I see why authors are always reminding readers to review now- more people have this story on alert than I got reviews! Even if you don't have anything special to say, every author likes hearing that their work is appreciated. If you DO have something special to say, I'd love to hear it! Comments, corrections, suggestions, and ideas are always welcome. Thanks for reading. :)