Beta: SensiblyTainted

CH 3:The Alley

Harry ended up spending one last night at Privet Drive. By the time the Dursleys agreed to move, it was close to eight that night. It was now mid-morning and Harry was sitting in the foyer, staring out at the street, waiting. Finally, the limo from yesterday pulled up in front of the house.

Harry opened the door and tore across the lawn. As Sirius stepped out, Harry latched onto the man.

Sirius smiled down at the young wizard. "I packed everything for you last night. Are you ready?"

Harry nodded. "I have everything by the door."

"Alright. Let's get it all in the car. I'll have to have a word or two with your uncle before we leave, though."

Harry signed and nodded. Just then, the driver who was dressed in a chauffeur's uniform came around to them.

Sirius said, "Harry, I'd like you to meet Bert Aubrey. He's my driver and tries to keep me out of trouble. He'll help you load your stuff."

Aubrey held a hand out to Harry. "I'm glad to finally meet you, Mr. Potter." Aubrey was of average height and build with close cropped hair.

"Um." Harry shook Aubrey's hand. "Glad to meet you, too. Just Harry, though, please."

"Of course, Mr. Potter." Aubrey said. Harry rolled his eyes and missed the smirk that came and went on Aubrey's face.

"Now, Mr. Potter, let's get your possessions loaded."

Sirius barked out a laugh. Harry spun and glared at him. "What's so funny?"

Grinning, Sirius shook his head. "Nothing. Nothing at all. Now let's get started."

As Aubrey went inside to get Harry's trunk, he said, "Mr. Potter, I can get all of this loaded, if you'd like a few moments to yourself."

Harry hardly thought that his trunk and Hedwig's cage qualified as "all this" but he didn't comment. Instead, he walked around the house towards the kitchen door. He gazed out at the tool shed, then looked over Aunt Petunia's garden. He was confused. He knew a normal person would be sad for leaving the place they'd lived most of their life, but with the kind of life he'd led here, he thought he should feel ecstatic over finally being freed from prison. He really didn't feel much at all. He was just kind of... numb.

As he stood in the back yard of number four, he drifted off in his mind again. The warm summer sun was replaced by a chill gloom. The feel of cold stone on his back... burning sensation in his arm - the metallic taste of fear... NO! Harry shook the feeling off. He wasn't going to think about that. Not today, of all days.

He walked into the house. Hearing his aunt, uncle, and godfather talking in the living room, he decided to avoid that part of the house. Feeling very ambivalent, he slowly approached the cupboard door. It felt different from before. The air seemed thick- almost greasy. He almost smelled something rotten and his stomach twisted in protest. Gagging, Harry closed his eyes tightly and pressed his hands on the door, leaning on it for support. Unnoticed by the boy, a bright white light flashed around the doorframe, as if someone had set off a camera flash in the cupboard.

Grinding his teeth together, he opened the door and stepped inside. The first thing he did was prop the door opened with an old shoe. He pushed his way past the coats hanging in front and the empty place his school trunk usually spent the summer. In the back of the closet, though, Harry got a shock. There was nothing left from his time in there. Vernon had long since cleaned out the storage area, making it into what it had always been meant to be - just a place to put things and forget about them. Harry also noticed that feeling of wrongness seemed to be gone. In fact, there was no sign at all that a very alone, unwanted, and scared Harry Potter had once lived there. That was just the way Harry wanted it.

After he regained his composure, Harry went into the living room where everyone else was talking.

"Ah, Harry!" Sirius said. "Are you ready? My staff will be here shortly to pack the house, and your Aunt and Uncle want to stay to direct them. I figured we can go spend the morning in the Alley, and bring back lunch, pick everyone up, and go to the new house."

Petunia and Vernon exchanged looks at the idea of Vernon's new employer going to spend time in some alley. Harry's eyes lit up at the idea. Dudley pushed his way from between his parents.

"I'm," he started, then paused and tried again. "Can I come with you?"

Petunia's face was strangely blank, but Vernon spoke up. "Dud, d'ya really want to go with them? They're probably going to a place filled with... well, you know."

Dudley turned to glare at his dad. "It's dull here! All my stuff is going to be packed soon. I wanna go!"

While Dudley was yelling at his father, Sirius glanced at Harry, raising his eyebrow. Harry shrugged, then nodded.

Sirius said, "It's fine with me, as long as he knows to behave."

Dudley blanched for a moment, then looked up at his dad. "Please, Da! His car's a Silver Shadow!"

"Actually, it's a Silver Spur," Sirius corrected.

"What's the difference?" Vernon demanded. But Dudley just stared, his eyes bugging out slightly and his mouth hanging open.

"I imagine your son could tell you. Once he recovers, that is."

Vernon turned and looked at Dudley. "Oh, fine! If Mr. Black says it's okay. Just be sure to mind him. I don't want you coming back with another tail!"

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Tail?"

Harry snickered. "Tell you later."

The three walked out to the limo and climbed in. Harry, who'd never even seen pictures of the inside of a car like this, was surprised. Dudley, who knew about what to expect, was shocked. The inside of the car was huge! It was at least twenty feet wide, and longer than that. The front left quarter of the room was taken up by a small dance floor. A wet bar was in the opposite front corner. Along the back wall was a large leather sofa, with end tables on each side. Two humongous reclining chairs were on the right wall. Harry and Dudley both jumped into the recliners.

Sirius settled on the couch, and said, "Diagon Alley."

Harry couldn't feel the engine start at all, and the only way he even knew the car was moving was by looking out the window. After a few seconds, he heard a voice he recognized as Aubrey's.

"Invisibility Booster is activated. Portkey in thirty seconds, sir."

"Brace yourselves, boys." Sirius advised.

Harry closed his eyes and tensed up, grinding his teeth at the thought of what had happened the last time he'd portkeyed. A cold sweat quickly covered his body. He refused to show any outward sign, though. He didn't want Sirius to pity him. He gripped his wand tightly just in case.

Dudley just said, "Huh?" and looked confused.

All of a sudden, the world seemed to twist around Harry, and he felt a hook somewhere deep in his guts pull him off in some strange direction. For a moment, everything went black, then he felt himself falling. The air around his was very cold, and there was a strange sort of pressure against his skin. He opened his eyes, and couldn't see anything. Panicking, he opened his mouth to scream, only to roll over and vomit. He was laying on the floor of the limo. He could feel the carpet under his hands, taste the sour bitterness in his mouth, smell the- 'Oh no!' he had time to think, right before he got sick again.

Harry felt Sirius's arm around him, and something cool wiping his face clean. 'Hm. That's nice,' he thought. He took the rag from Sirius and wiped his face clean, as he heard Sirius mutter, "Evanesco.

"Harry? Are you okay?'

Harry nodded. After a second, he said. "Yeah. That was... different."

Sirius shook his head in puzzlement. "Have you ever traveled by portkey before?"

"Yeah. Last year. This time it wasn't like that at all. I felt the pull then I was falling. Everything was black."

Sirius spoke in a slightly louder voice now, "Aubrey, check on that for me." Then he opened a cabinet and pulled out a couple of wizard's robes. He muttered a resizing charm as he waived his wand over one, which he then passed to Dudley. He gave the other one to Harry, then he gestured at his own clothing and a very nice set of casual robes appeared on him. With that, Sirius opened the door and helped Harry out.

"Those cloaks have a mild Notice-Me-Not charm woven into them. Not enough to keep people from seeing you, but I hope it's enough to keep them from recognizing you," Sirius explained.

Dudley got out of the car after them and stopped, staring around him with his mouth open. Diagon Alley was just the way Harry remembered it. At least, it seemed to be at first. Something was off about it. Harry couldn't put his finger on it, though, and Sirius didn't seem concerned.

The three spent the morning walking around the alley. Dudley hung back behind the others, watching everything and flinching anytime anybody glanced at him, but as the morning went on, he began to relax.

Eventually they found their way to Quality Quidditch Supplies. As Harry and Sirius walked around the store calling to one another and talking excitedly about the sport, Dudley just looked more and more lost and confused. Eventually, Harry realized this and took pity on him. He pulled his cousin aside. "Look, here's what it's all about." Harry started to explain all about quidditch. As he was explaining, he walked through the store, until he got to the section with books. He pulled out a simple playbook and continued to explain to Dudley when he noticed the bigger boy was distracted by the moving pictures.

"Looks like you have another winner, Potter. You just can't seem to pick decent friends, can you?" The voice cut through the rest of the noise in the store. Harry looked up to see two of his schoolmates sneering down at him.

Theodore Nott was relatively quiet. He didn't bother Harry or his friends much at school. The boy standing beside him, though, seemed to think that he was Harry's arch-enemy. Draco Malfoy leaned casually on the wall, his posture emanating confidence.

Harry glared, coming to his feet. "Stuff it, Malfoy!"

"Eloquent as always, Potter," Malfoy said. He already had his wand out and was fiddling with it casually as he spoke. "I swear, your new one looks even dumber than Goyle."

Harry slid his wand from his back pocket as he said, "Where are your goons, anyway? They get smart and finally bugger off?"

Draco glared and was about to say something else when Nott put his hand on his shoulder. "Let's go," he said softly. "I don't like the clientele here."

Draco inclined his head. "Later, Potter," he said, spinning on his heel and walking out of the store.

Dudley looked at Harry. "Who were they?"

"Just some berks I go to school with." Harry led Dudley to the front of the store where Sirius was chatting up the clerk.

When Harry told Sirius about what happened, he seemed to think it was much more important than Harry did. "Okay, let's make for the Cauldron. Harry, keep your wand out, but don't look like you're expecting anything. I've just signaled Aubrey. He's waiting with the car on the Muggle side."

"Why? What's the big deal? And how did you signal anyone?" Harry wanted to know.

"Sons of Death Eaters. You met their dads."

Harry nodded. "But what difference does that make? Malfoy's dad is dangerous, but he's really not much of a threat." His voice dripped with derision.

"I just have a bad feeling," Sirius explained.

Harry thought about it for half a second. Something did feel off about the entire area today. He'd gotten used to it as they broused, but now that he was paying attention, it was back full force. "So do I. Let's go."

The three progressed down the alley towards the Leaky Cauldron with Sirius in the lead, then Dudley, and Harry bringing up the rear. They walked quickly but casually, giving the appearance of someone running a little late. As they neared their destination, Harry tripped and stumbled towards an alley. 'An alley in the alley? Is that still what it's called?' he had time to think, giggling to himself, as he was grabbed around the shoulders by a shadowy figure and pulled further in.

Dudley saw a flash of light near Harry just as the young wizard faltered and fell into the alley. Dudley changed directions and ducked into the side street in time to see two figures in gray cloaks. One was holding Harry, and the other was pressing a wand into his side. Bugger! Harry was the only one watching out for him in this freaky place! He couldn't let anything happen to him. He tackled the wizard holding the wand on Harry. Straddling the wizard, he pulled his fist back to knock the man out when a bright light struck Dudley. The fat teen was knocked off the wizard and into the wall of the alley with a sickening crunch. He collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

From the mouth of the alley, Sirius muttered, "Reducto!" as he pointed his wand at the downed wizard. Before that spell hit, he also cast a quick stunner. The first spell destroyed the target's wand- and most of his right arm. The second cut him off before he could start screaming.

The man holding Harry spun him around, held him close, and pressed his wand to Harry's head. "Alright, Black, just stop right there if you don't want to see his brains splattered all over!"

Sirius stopped moving. He looked into Harry's eyes. The child's eyes seemed to be rolling in his head at times even looking in different directions. That couldn't be good.

Another wizard in gray, the one that blasted Dudley, pointed his wand at Sirius as he maneuvered for a clear shot.

"Wow, Sirius! Didja see what ya did? His arm sploded!" Harry said animatedly.

Harry was under a confundus charm. Sirius needed to buy some time. Hopefully Harry was too powerful for the charm to affect for long. "Okay, buddy, you got us," Sirius said, holding his arms out to the sides, his wand gripped loosely.

"Too right, we do!" the second wizard spat. "Now, why don't you just drop your wand and back up, eh?"

Sirius glanced around quickly, knowing he couldn't drop his wand.

Harry stiffened and muttered, "What the..."

The wizard holding him tensed his wand arm, about to cast a spell. Harry drove his heel into the man's foot, throwing him off balance, just as Sirius dove to the side and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

The spell hit Harry and the wizard both, flinging them to the ground. At the same time, a spell thrown by the second wizard passed through where Sirius had been standing. Sirius hit the ground in a roll, came up, and snarled as he dived at the second wizard. In mid-leap, he became a humongous black dog. He lunged at his target who was able to throw an arm between the gaping jaws of the dog and his throat. Sirius clamped his jaws down on the man's arm.

Harry recovered quicker than the wizard that had held him. In an instant, he was back on his feet, pulling his wand from his back pocket. He shouted, "Stupefy!" at the gray-cloaked wizard.

Harry's target barely managed to roll out of the way as he frantically scrambled for his wand. He launched another stunner, and again, the wizard managed to dodge. Harry took half a second, grounded himself, and seemed to feel a wave of tranquility wash over him as he brought the target into his sights and calmly stunned him just as he picked up his wand.

He turned, just in time to see a bright curse knock Sirius off the prone wizard. Three more gray cloaked wizards were at the opening of the alley, wands drawn, and were advancing slowly. Harry stumbled over Dudley's unconscious body as he tried to reach his godfather.

Sirius resumed his man-shape, clutching his ribs. "Harry! Take this. Map password. Take your cousin." With that, he flung a muggleish ring of keys at Harry.

"Sirius! No!" Harry yelled.

"Stop him!" one of the gray wizards shouted.

"Now!" Sirius's tone of voice was so commanding that before Harry realized it, he was bracing himself and his cousin for portkey travel.

He looked into Sirius's eyes, then softly muttered, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

The portkey still felt wrong. When the spell lifted, Harry had time to see fine hardwood flooring inches from his face- right before he got sick all over it. Then he passed out.

B R E A K

Harry slowly awoke with a sour nasty taste in his mouth. His head was laying on a warm, soft pillow. He felt something else warm rub his chest, which he realized was bare. He opened his eyes in panic, only to see the most beautiful blue eyes looking down at him with warmth and concern. He quickly closed his eyes again, shocked. 'Okay, let's try that again,' he thought. He was about open his eyes when he heard a soft, feminine, and very pretty giggle. He opened one eye. The blue eyes were still there. Opening both eyes wide, he stared, with his mouth hanging open, till he heard another very pretty giggle. Wow. He shook his head to clear it.

He looked away from her face, down to his chest. She was cleaning him off with a soft sponge. Sighing, he relaxed and sunk back into the soft pillow. Pillow? Harry thought about the angle the face hung above him at, then about where the hand was coming from. That meant that the pillow was...

Harry scrambled out of the girl's lap and up to his feet, slipping around a little on the hardwood floor and blushing all the way from the tips of his ears down his bare chest. As he did, he heard the pretty giggle again, coming from the pretty girl. He also heard someone else howl in laughter. He spun, reaching for his back pocket to draw his wand. He felt helpless for a second and was starting to flip out when he recognized the man.

"Professor Lupin!" Harry yelled.

Remus laughed again. "Please, Harry. Remus. Call me Remus."

The sound of the girl rising to her feet behind him made Harry realize he was still topless. "Um..." he looked around, crossing his arms and rubbing his upper arms. He didn't see his robe, cloak, or shirt anywhere. He was suddenly very happy that he still had his jeans on.

"Oh, yes," Remus said with a smile. "This is Eloise Midgen. She's Sirius's personal assistant."

Harry stared. This was not the girl he remembered.

As Remus introduced her, Eloise muttered a conjuration under her breath and waived her wand. A shirt appeared a few feet above Harry and slowly drifted into his hands. "Glad to finally meet you, Harry," she said softly.

'Merlin!' Harry thought. 'She has a pretty voice, too!' Then Harry snapped out of his daze. "Sirius! He needs help! We were ambushed at Diagon Alley."

Eloise shook her head. "He got away, Harry. In fact, he could have gotten away at any time. He just wanted to make sure you and your cousin got out. He'll be here shortly."

Harry sighed in relief. "What about Dudley? He took a hard hit."

Remus rushed to reassure Harry. "A very mild concussion and some severe bruising. He should be perfectly fine in an hour or so."

"And how do you know Sirius is okay? Where is he?"

"I know he's okay because he's already checked in. We have a set of magic mirrors that let us talk across long distances," Remus explained. "He just wants to settle things with the Aurors."

"Now come on!" Eloise whined, bouncing on her toes. That sure got Harry's attention fast! She grabbed his hand. "I'm supposed to show you around!"

Her hand felt soft and warm in Harry's and a little moist. And very tiny. Harry was extremely conscious of this as he followed her out of the entry hall and into the house.

She indicated a door to her right. "That goes to my office and Remus's, and to the big library." She pointed to two doors on her left, and said, "Those go to the reception room and drawing room."

As the tour continued, Harry came to realize the house was huge and mostly decorated with big heavy leather and oak furniture and lots of warm colors. The rest of the ground floor consisted of a couple of public rooms, dining rooms, various "rooms for the servants, like the kitchen and pantry," and what Eloise called the "Dursley suite" which was almost a separate apartment with two bedrooms, a drawing room, a den, and a kitchen.

The first floor had Sirius's study, Harry's study, a room called the tiny library, a living room, and a billiards room, among other rooms. Harry thought that it was funny that the so-called tiny library had more books than the big library. Eloise explained that it was because the library on the ground floor was for entertaining guests in an intellectual atmosphere, and the tiny library was situated to be accessible to Harry and Sirius's offices.

The second floor consisted solely of bedrooms. There were about twenty of them. Most of them were actually suites with a small kitchenette, a setting area, and a bedroom. Upon seeing Harry try to make sense of how everything fit together, Eloise giggled at him again. "It's all Ng space."

"All what?" Harry asked.

"Ng space. Nth dimensional space. Erm... Muggle raised, right. Well, you know how some trunks and bags are bigger on the inside than the outside?"

"Well, yeah, I guess..."

"Okay, I'm not McGonagall, but here's the basics. If you picture space as an array of five-dimensional loci-"

"Huh?" Harry looked even more confused.

"It's magic," Eloise said.

"Oh, I get it. Cool," Harry answered.

"It's just bigger on the floors we want to be bigger. And the rooms I think are cool I make even bigger," she went on.

"Okay." Harry said.

"And when we have guests spending the night, I can turn rooms into suites if I need to."

"Okay! I get it," Harry interrupted.

Eloise smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"So, um-" Harry started, then paused. "I have a study. I've never even had a bedroom before."

"Oh! That's... Well, let me show you where your room is. Top floor. It's just you and Sirius. She led Harry up one final flight of stairs to a small landing with three doors. She said, "That's the attic, and that's Sirius's rooms. And these," she said, throwing opened one of the doors, "are your rooms!"

Harry wasn't sure what to expect, especially after the limo and the rest of the house. What he saw blew his mind. The door opened into a richly appointed sitting room. A fireplace dominated one wall and a huge set of double doors on another led deeper into the suite.

Harry just gaped at the room, but Eloise smiled and, taking his hand again, tugged him into the next room. While the sitting room was warm shades of red and brown, the bedroom of Harry's suite was all cool shades of blue and green. Very soft navy carpet, pale green walls marbled with darker green, and a huge four post bed with blue silk sheets and velvet curtains dominated the room. There was also a wardrobe, buffet, and chest.

"That's the bathroom. Huge tub, and a shower big enough for four people." Eloise grinned impishly as she pointed to another door.

Harry sat down on the bed, shock evident on his face. "It's just too much," he whispered.

Eloise dropped down to one knee on the floor in front of him, putting her eye level just below his. "Hey," she said, in a slightly more serious tone than Harry had heard her use yet. "Harry, Sirius wants to make up for what he lost. He knows he wasn't there for you in the past, but you're his number one priority now." She took Harry's hand and held it between both of hers. "Besides, you're the ward of one of the most ancient and noble houses of wizards that there is." She looked deeply into Harry's eyes, trying to will him to feel her sincerity.

Harry looked into her deep blue eyes. He felt her hands around his. The way she was on her knees in front of him was really making him uncomfortable. His mouth went dry, and he had to try hard not to lick his lips. Suddenly, the conjured shirt she made for him disappeared. Conjured items only lasted a short while.

A gruff voice from the door startled Harry. "Well, I was going to check on you, but you seem to be getting on alright!"

Harry jumped back as if burned. He quickly stood up and stepped away from Eloise, his eyes darting around nervously. He could feel his face burning again. "Sirius!" he shouted.

Eloise gracefully rose to her feet. "Milord," she said softly, keeping her eyes downcast. "I was just showing the young lord what was his."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Sure you were! Knock it off, brat!"

Eloise laughed at Sirius. "Okay, fine." She looked him in the eye. "I was just showing him around, boss."

"Whatever," Sirius responded, winking at Harry. "So, pup, what do you think of the place?"

Harry just shook his head. "It's bloody brilliant!"