Chapter Two -- Kidnapping
Harry was staring at Sirius in horror as he saw the white beam coming right at him. He ducked, the beam went overhead and hit the lamp of the street light. It blew apart sending shards of glass everywhere.
Harry left his trunk where it was and started running down the street in terror. All he could think of was that man was a wizard and he wanted to kill me. He was used to this of course what with Voldemort still out there, and that chamber of secrets incident. But now he felt panic nibbling away at him and all he could think of was to get the hell out.
Sirius was chasing him, hard. Harry could hear his footsteps on the empty street. It was dark and when he looked back all he could see was a blur. But he knew that Sirius was chasing him and he knew he had to get away. He went down an alleyway and started running harder. Sprinting, as fast as he could.
The alleyway was red, that was all he could remember later. Red bricked walls on either side, and a lot of garbage. He neared the end of the alleyway and realized his mistake. This was a dead end! Sirius's footsteps were coming closer and closer, Harry could hear them clearly.
When you are scared silly out of your miind, your senses get clearer, and sharper, Harry had noticed. Survival's instincts perhaps. Or maybe it was the adrenaline in his bloodstream. There was no light in this alley way, but he could see Sirius Black clearly.
Dirty, rugged beard, unshaved, puffy and bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep, wearing torn rags, had cuts all over his body... He looked like the murderer he was. Harry backed away as Sirius approached menacingly, until his back hit the wall. There was no way to go, this was a dead end.
"Well well well Mr. Potter..." Sirius said softly, but his voice carried. "You shouldn't run away, you know."
"Who-who are you?" Harry stammered out in an effort to buy time.
"My name is Sirius Black, and I have escaped from Azkaban. A tiring journey for sure," Sirius said, grinning widely. "But its worth it because I finally found you." He took a step closer, wand out and pointed at Harry's heart.
"No, please." Harry said, heart thumping as he backed into a corner. "I didn't do anything to you, just leave me alone. I won't tell, so the police won't know that-"
"You fool! You think I care about the muggles? Or even the aurors? I don't give a damn, because I have what I want, and this time there will be no running away." Sirius narrowed his eyes, "Crucio," He said it like he was just having tea, very casual and slick.
The white beam impaled itself onto Harry's heart, and Harry felt pin pricks all over his body. They intensified slowly until Harry felt his skin tearing apart. He was dying and in a lot of pain. He started screaming, as loud as he could. It felt like hours, the pain was like lightning bolts all over his body, his eyes were getting ripped out of his skill, blood was seeping out of his skin, a tooth in his mouth fell out, the base of his tongue tore a bit.
Then Sirius lifted the curse away, a sad almost contemplative look on his face. Maybe wistful too. "I knew your father, Harry. James Potter was a good man, a bit foolish in the head, but good nonetheless."
"You-" Harry spat out blood.
"I killed him you know."
Harry looked up, alarmed, "What?"
"Yes, I killed him. Well not really, Voldemort killed him physically but I was his secret keeper. You know that right?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Harry stammered out.
"Fidelous charm. It's a spell that keeps the people protected inside a location, and only the secret keeper of the charm can reveal the location. They made me secret keeper."
"But why? You are a death eater!"
"Of course I am, but they didn't know that. They thought I was Sirius Black, a rougish Gryfindor. As if I ever was a true Gryfinddor, pah!" Sirius spat green mucus on the ground.
"What they don't know is that Gryfinddors are brave, but Slytherins are the sneaky ones. No, they knew that, but they didn't see it."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Harry was recouvering now.
"Your father was a maurader, Harry. A prankster, we were a group, me Remus, your father, and Peter Pettigrew. I killed two of them."
Harry seemed confused, but that was just a mask. His eyes were darting back and forth. He wanted to get out of here!
"I made the plans you know, that was my Slytherin side. I am a Black, a pureblood. We are natural Slytherins trained in youth in the arts of cunning and trickery. I was the true genious. Did you know we were all animagus? That's wizards who can turn into animals. But who did all the work? Who made sure we didn't get caught? Me! ME! ME!" Sirius was shouting now.
"why did you betray my parents?" Harry asked. He had to buy more time, had to think of a way to escape. Perhaps he should run? No, Sirius would kill him straight away. He started to inch closer as Sirius went on preparing for a futile leap to safety.
"I don't know. It just seemed like a good thing to do, so I did it."
"what?"
"Voldemort offered me your mother, and she was very pretty. I took it." He shrugged. "It was fun while I was a death eater. I did a lot of... fun things."
"You were in love with my mother?"
Sirius sneered. "That bitch? That prussy hag? 'Oooh do this! oooh do that! That's a rule you cant break it! Stop this pranking nonsense at once! Study harder! Do this! Do that!' Pah, what a mudblood bitch."
Harry was slowly inching closer until Sirius was only ten feet away from him, then summoning all his energy, he bent his legs and jumped as far as he could. Then he pounded away, sprinting hard, running past Sirius.
"Hey, wha-!"
Harry ran harder. Then he felt his legs freeze up and he fell to the street pavement, hitting his chin against a little rock. Blood seeped out of his mouth.
Sirius laughed. "Who do you think I am? I am the best, the BEST auror on the force, you know. Better than James, better than Dumbledore even. I beat Flitwick in the duelling tournements too all the time. Hell, I could even match Voldemort in one of our spars."
Sirius sneered. Harry turned around and the last thing he saw before unconsiousness took him was Sirius, looking at him in disgust. Then a red light (Stupefy!) and then... nothing.
------
When Harry woke up, he was in a hard oak chair, in a very dark room. He could see nothing for a few minutes. He only felt his hands bound behind him in tight rope and his legs bound as well. There was a gag on his mouth. Then his vision turned sharper. Night vision, he supposed. There was window in the upper right corner that gave off light from the moon. Pale white light, and he could see he was in some sort of cellar maybe. It smelt of soil and mud, there were cartons stacked and he could see there were books in it. There was a burnt out candle next to him, on a small table. There was a bed under the window. The man - Sirius Black - was sleeping underneath the blankets.
Harry groaned, the gag tasted like cigerrate and bitter coffee. Who had it in their mouth last? There was also the bitter iron taste of blood. Harry tried to spit it out but it was in a tight knot. He tried to move his hands, and his legs, and found he couldn't. He was stuck! Trapped in with a death eater!
He felt helpless and tears came down his face. Normally he didn't cry. He couldn't remember the last time he cried, wait he could. It was when he was six years old and the Dursleys bought Dudley five christmas presents. Harry got none. He started bawling and Vernon threw him in the closet which then became his bedroom.
He had never cried since.
Now however silent tears streamed down his face as he realized he would die. In pain no doubt. He had so many things he wanted to do though like finish Hogwarts, play more Quidditch, travel the world (most kids had that, he supposed) and do so much! He wanted to live his life! He didn't want to die.
But it seemed like he would, Harry thought. He was sitting in that chair, helpless until Sirius woke up and killed him. Or worse. He had heard tales from Voldemort's reign, where people were tortured night and day, and kept starved in the dungeons, naked except for robes made out of muggle newspaper.
He had also learnt of the holocaust in school, he had read it in the library when he was ten and Dudley and his gang were chasing him. He had snuck in to the bright well lit library. Nobody was there, the librarian was out to lunch. So he sat in a corner between the shelves and took out a book titled Holocaust. There were pictures there, of jews tortured and such.
It gave him nightmares for weaks. He had never forgotton. Now he wondered what sort of torture Sirius would put him through. The tears - tears of helplessness, lonliness came out. He remembered how he had no parents, just an orphan boy, and he was living on borrowed time. Now it came back, and he would die now.
"Oh stop your snivelling, brat." Sirius said and with a wave of his hand the gag dissapeared. He had woken up it seemed, Harry thought in morbid terror.
"You-y-you're gonna kill me." Harry said through tears - natural tears all helpless children in danger must have.
"No I am not," Sirius said slowly. "I wish I could, it would make my whole life so much easier, and better, but I won't because that's not how I roll."
Sirius leapt out of bed and grabbed Harry's hair and pulled back. Harry screamed. "Listen up, brat. This is what I am going to do. I will find the remaining death eaters not in Azkaban, rally them up, free the death eaters in Azkaban and take over the wizarding world."
"What about Voldemort?" Harry asked before he could stop himself. He noticed something and knew he should have noticed it before. It filled him with a strange horror: Sirius did not flinch like Snape or the others when Harry said Voldemort's name.
"What about him? He's dead, gone for good, and honestly I am glad. That fuckin' half blood made us bow before him, pah, if he hadn't offed himself because of your bitch mother's little trap I would have killed him myself sooner or later."
Harry's eyes widened. "What's going to happen to me then?" He asked ratiionally, as rational as he could be in this situation that is.
"I am going to use you to get into Hogwarts and kill Dumbledore." Sirius said, grinning crazily.
"He-You will never kill him!"
Sirius's grin fell off his face. He backhanded Harry leaving a pink handprint on Harry's left cheek. Another tooth fell out to the cold cement floor. "I will you just see it I will. I goddam will you hear me!"
He turned around so Harry could see his back. Then Sirius turned back, the crazy grin once again etched on his face. "Its going to be amazing, my world. There will be no such thing as rules or teachers or aurors or even police. It's a dog eat dog world, or I am going to make it so. And guess who's going to be top dog?"
Sirius changed into a black labrador, teeth bared in an insane grin with drool foaming out of the mouth, wide sharp eyes that put a chill in Harry's neck. "Woof woof," Sirius said. Then he changed back to a man again.
He's crazy. Harry thought. He's wacko, out of h is mind! The thought gave him no comfort.
Sirius waved his wand - no, Harry's wand - and the gag came back on. Then Sirius lifted a palm to Harry's forehead and whispered, "Light's out."
Harry fell into a deep sleep in a second. The last thing he saw was the moonlight on Sirius's face and that insane looking grin. It filled Harry with a kind of sadness and pity. This man wasn't himself anymore, he was something less now. The terror didn't go away though.
He dreamt in his sleep. He was walking down a long red colored path. Around him there was nothing but darkness. Then his parents appeared on either side, until they were walking with him. They were cast in a golden hue, and had eyes that showed infinite sadness and pain. They were silent.
Harry looked at them in confusion but he kept walking. He tried to stop but he couldn't. He had to keep walking, that was all he knew. Then in front of him, a big ball that looked like the moon appeared. It was the size of a full grown man. The moon had red eyes, and a mouth that showed rows of jagged shark teeth. It said in a cold voice, 'I will kill Dumbledore... I will kill Dumbledore... I will kill Dumbledore...' Then a grin appeared, and the moon launched itself into the darkness, dissapearing out of sight.
Then to the left of him, his mother spoke. It was slow, like she was having a hard time breathing.
"Si...Sirius... Is...innocent..." She was saying in a sickly voice.
"He... has... changed... because... of... Azkaban..." James said wearily.
"He... is... really... INNOCENT!' They both yelled that out loud and then dissapeared into the darkness. Harry could hear echoes of the last word.
"Innocent... Innocent... Innocent..."
Then he woke up, sweat beads lining his face. It was daylight and the room was empty. After a while he calmed down and his thoughts drifted, hunger nibbled at his stomach. Then he forgot about his dream.
The Divination experts would call this dream a message from the beyond, but Harry hadn't taken divination yet. And he probably never would. So he didn't know or understand his parents' message. He didn't know or understand that Sirius was not really a death eater... Azkaban had just made him crazy.
And crazy he would stay.
He remembered a story from when he was a child, right after he woke up and right before he forgot the dream.
When Harry was a little child, across the street from the Dursleys, the neighbors (who moved away a year later) had a dog. A nice puppy. She was tied to a wooden fence in the front lawn every day all day in the hot summer sun. The kids came by to pet it and she always had a nice smile on her face and wagged her tail friendlyily. Then the smile came off slowly gradually as the dog stayed in the hot summer sun, no water around. Soon the tale stopped wagging. But the kids came anyways and petted the dog on the head. Harry never came, he could see the dog's expression and it scared him. He always skirted away from the dog.
But the kids came anyways everyday all summer until suddenly the dog wasn't so friendly. It was growling now whenever anyone approached, and had a mean look on her face.
Then it happened. The stick on the camel's back broke, and when a kid, blonde haired, blue eyed, fatter than Dudley, came and petted the dog, the dog bit the boy in the stomach.
Harry had watched it from afar when he was pulling the weeds.
Sirius looked like that dog.