Chapter 3: S

Two years previously...

He enjoyed the air on his face. At that altitude, the air was without any doubt cold, but to him, it had a warmth that he had missed for twelve years. Not even when he was on the run earlier in the year had he felt this free. His quest to reach Hogwarts and complete the task for which he had been imprisoned in the first place had given the whole experience a war mission like feel.

Now, although he was still on the run, his whole being felt a lot lighter than before. He had met his godson as well as his closest friends (one of them briefly and one a lot longer which included saving his very life) and had managed to convince them of his innocence.

Of course it had helped that Remus had also been around to add his support to a truly incredible tale.

In the end, even though he would have very much liked to have killed Peter Pettigrew (he forced back the urge to vomit at the mention of the name itself), Sirius Black was happier that common sense had prevailed and that he had gotten a little time to bond with his godson.

To him it was the only bright spot in what had become an extremely wretched existence.

He pushed away the thoughts, the colour the same as his family name, and focused on guiding Buckbeak to a safe place to land. They had been travelling for more than a couple of hours now and Sirius knew that even though the Hippogriff showed no signs of fatigue at the moment, there was no point in increasing that risk. All would be for naught then.

Spotting a clearing in what seemed to be a forest a few miles ahead, he quickly disillusioned himself as well as Buckbeak and gently guided the half-horse half-eagle to the open space.

For someone who had not flown for the past dozen years, and who preferred other instant modes of transport in any case, the landing served to reinforce why the choice was such.

Massaging his globular maximus, while still trying to inject some sense of feeling into his limbs, Sirius Black groaned. It was now apparent to him why the ministry had never bothered to outlaw travel by such beasts.

It was quite literally a pain in the rear.

Nevertheless he was thankful and as had become his custom (something that he had adopted from Lily) he looked to the sky and offered his gratitude. And as was his wont, his eyes quickly searched for the Orion constellation, and sought out his namesake in particular. Seeing it twinkling merrily always gave him a sense of calmness, something he had never managed to understand why, but which he accepted and often needed whenever his mind was troubled.

He turned towards Buckbeak who was observing him, well, seriously (or would that be siriously he wondered). The beast said nothing, continued to gaze at him unflinching for a couple of seconds before emitting a sharp sound.

Now, Sirius was no expert with animals, even though he had an Animagus form. But he knew enough about the primal side to understand that Buckbeak was probably hungry and at the moment expected Sirius to feed him as payment for the ride.

(Of course this understanding was generously helped by a loud sound which if Sirius had not known better, would have guessed to be a whale's mating call. As it had originated from him and as he wasn't a whale, at least till the last time he had checked, he was pretty certain it was his stomach protesting from hunger)

Thankfully for him though Hermione had given him a couple of fruits that she always kept in reserve. She hadn't explained why she felt the need to keep in reserve but it ended up being beneficial to him. He had protested initially that he would be fine, but Hermione first and Harry later had been quite firm in that it would be better for him to keep it instead of them.

And their foresight would now quite literally help Sirius stave off hunger at least temporarily.

He decided then and there that he would be sending both of them thank you gifts.

Even when they weren't around, the two had saved him again.

The thought brought about fresh tears to Sirius' eyes and it devolved into a full fledged wailing.

Buckbeak gave a startled squawk at the sobbing which allowed Sirius to pull himself together.

He opened the satchel that Hermione had given him and took out the fruits, a couple of slices of bread, serviettes (that girl truly thought of everything!) and to his surprise what seemed like muggle biscuits.

He threw the vast majority of the fruits towards Buckbeak and sat down to enjoy his mini meal of sliced bread and biscuits.

His thoughts now shifted fully towards his two rescuers, and he wondered how the future would unfold for them.

Perhaps there was something brewing between the two of them that both of them had not yet noticed.

A large grin spread on the old dog's face. Perhaps the next time Sirius met Harry, it would be a great opportunity to tease him to test out his theory.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve, he rummaged through the satchel to ensure that nothing had been missed and nor was there anything that accidentally the two kids had forgotten about.

It was empty, save for a small flask that contained some water. Drinking about half of the quantity, Sirius got up and made a makeshift bowl for Buckbeak and poured the rest of the water into it.

The minute he had finished, he felt quite tired. The day's events had taken a toll on him and so had his wandless magic. Twelve wasted years. Twelve years of no exercise, with only bare survival on the menu and hope alternating with desperation for the rare dessert.

Although he was now miles from that accursed place, he could still feel everything as if it were happening right in front of him. As if he were back in Azkaban. And for a moment, that is exactly how he felt. He began to move around, circling wildly about his original position, putting out his hand to shield him from harm and attempting to turn into his Animagus form to escape the pain.

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately), he did not have sufficient energy to draw from to be able to attempt the transformation.

The circling continued at an ever-increasing pace, causing Sirius to spin around wildly trying to fend off the imaginary dementors. Suddenly, it was the situation by the Black Lake from a few hours ago, when dementors were practically swarming around him and Harry. He let out a cry of anguish and fell to his knees, as the last of his physical strenght drained out of him.

The fall though wasn't smooth and he ended up bruising his knees against the lone sharp rock that jutted from the ground. The cut sent adrenaline flowing into his veins allowing him to clear the cobwebs that had settled in front of his eyes. Shaking his head to pull himself together, he realized that Buckbeak had approached him and was neighing softly, in a manner very much like a horse.

Sirius stroked Buckbeak's feathers, all the while whispering to the proud beast, "I am alright. Don't worry. I am fine", though he had no idea if the Hippogriff would be able to understand him. It seemed it did, because Buckbeak leaned further into Sirius' touch.

Looking up at the sky once more and gaining peace once again, Sirius turned in for the night, hoping that the rest of the night would feature no nightmares.

This prayer would be answered.

The only prayer that would be answered.