Chapter 3 - Teaching and Rescuing

Harry returned to the park the day before school went back after summer holidays. He was seven now, and starting year 3 tomorrow. Dudley had managed to get rid of their last teacher, and Harry hoped this one would last longer. He sat down on the swings and waited for the black dog to come. And he wasn't let down. Out of the bushes strolled the black dog, and Harry jumped up to play with it. He also brought it food today, something he could only do so often.

"Hey boy," said Harry softly "do you want some sandwich? Its ham, I didn't know what you wanted, do dogs like ham anyway? Well here you go." he said as he unwrapped the sandwich. The dog did seem to like ham sandwiches, because before Harry could blink the sandwich had gone.

"I guess dogs do like ham then." he said, astonished that something could eat so fast. "did your old owner used to give you ham? Maybe that's why you like it. I wish I knew what your name was." at this the dog whined. Almost as if it knew Harry was going to give it a daft name. "so you do want a name then." said Harry smirking at the dog.

"how about… Fluffy?" he said excitedly. The dog pouted. "I suppose not then. How about…err… for some reason I keep thinking Sirius, because that's the name of my godfather, well that's what he told me anyways. So maybe Sirius?" The dog looked shocked "You know you look nearly like a person when you do that? Anyway Sirius is a stupid name. who would call someone Sirius? Seriously" The dog looked indignant, then snorted at what Harry said. It took Harry a moment to realise what he had said, but eventually he caught on to his own joke, and burst into giggles. When he'd finished he jumped up into the air and cried

"I got it! Ill call you snuffles!" the dog buried its head in its paws.

Remus gazed over the sea of children pushing and shoving their way into the classroom. He had almost given up on Harry when he saw him, trailing in almost last. He was the spitting image of James, but showed none of his confidence. A fat whale of a creature came up behind Harry and pushed him into a desk, sending Harry and the desk flying across the room. The whale and his friends burst out laughing, while Harry picked himself up and ignored them. Remus didn't fail to notice that Harry sat outside the rest f the group. When everybody was settled, Remus made his presence known.

"Good Morning everyone. I am Mr Brown, and I'll be teaching you for your third year. I'll start by taking the roll shall I? okay." Remus turned to grab the roll when he sensed something flying at his head. Luckily he ducked in time, because a spit ball went flying past his head and on to the blackboard behind him. He turned back round to the class who all had innocent looks on their faces, all except the whale who pushed Harry. It didn't take a genius to figure out he was the class bully, and if remus had anything to do with it, he would be in for a shock this year. He decided to ignore it, at least until he knew the whales name.

"Right. Stacey Anderson…"

Sirius strolled lazily around Little Whinging in his dog form, occasionally chasing postmen and scaring the hell out of them. On the few occasions he saw harry he struck up a friendship with him. Unfortunately, this was all while being a dog, as whenever harry saw his face, he buggered off to god only knows where. This action on Harry's part demanded action by Sirius, but as usual, Sirius had absolutely no idea what to do. He could kidnap harry, but that wouldn't really be doing what he wanted for harry. Actually, he had no idea why he was even in Little Whinging. He should be trying to find Pettigrew, or remus, or Dumbledore… but then again, he hadn't really been proving his innocence by escaping had he? And now here he was, trying to get to know his godson, while under the disguise of a dog. Sirius had to admit he lived a pretty shit life. He knew it was Harry's first day back at school, so he supposed he should visit him at lunchtime. So Sirius set off in the general direction (or so he hoped) of the park.

Harry had instantly recognised the teacher as being Mr Brown, Mrs Figg's friend when he walked into the classroom. He had been so distracted by the new teacher that he hadn't been aware of Dudley's presence. That in itself was a hard achievement, but then to be so off guard that when Dudley pushed him he flew across the room was odd for Harry. He was normally ready, and he berated himself for not paying attention. He had picked himself up and went over to sit with the other year three students. He was annoyed when Dudley came and sat near him. When Mr Brown introduced himself, Harry heard Dudley snicker and whisper "let's see how long we can make him last!". When Dudley spat the spit ball at the teacher Harry was so mad! That was so mean of Dudley! But Mr Brown didn't seem to care. He just kept on reading the roll, as if nothing had happened. Until he got to Harry's name. He paused, and for a little while Harry thought Mr Brown thought he had done the spit ball. Just as Harry was about to say something, Mr Brown called Harry's name.

"Here" called Harry. Mr brown nodded, to indicate he'd heard, then carried on the list. Harry didn't think much on why Mr Brown paused, he wasn't really bothered. He supposed the other teachers had told him what a trouble causer he was.

'Oh well.' he thought 'I suppose I had better get used to it.' He sighed in a very grown up sort of way when he went to his desk to start spelling words.

Sirius finally found the school, after getting three different sets of directions of one person. He hoped he hadn't missed morning tea. Luckily, the bell rang as he was sliding in the hole next to the gate and kids of all ages piled out of the building. 'how am I supposed to see harry in this?' he thought. Then he saw him, sitting under a tree with a teacher. Wondering why on earth harry would be sitting with a teacher Sirius trotted over to them. He stayed behind them though, and listened in to their conversation.

"what are you doing harry?" asked the teacher. Sirius recognised the voice, but wasn't sure whose it was.

"drawing" came Harry's simple reply.

"Yes, I see. What are you drawing?" asked the familiar voice.

"A castle. Its magic you know. That there…" harry pointed at something on the paper "he's a wizard. And they are all magic people that can turn into animals." both Sirius and the familiar voiced person seemed shocked by this.

"Oh. And is that the sun?" asked the voice and Sirius knew whose voice it was.

"Nope. that's the moon. Coz this one…" harry pointed to another figure "…can only turn into an animal when the moon is out because of a spell."

"how… where did this idea of magic come from?" asked remus. Sirius assumed he was thinking the same thing as he was, 'How does he remember?'.

"I had a dream one night. My parent died in a car crash when I was little, and I had a dream about them. My dad told me loads of stories about him and his friends, and my mum told me all about magic. One time she accidentally turned aunt petunia into a horse. that's why aunt petunia looks like a horse now." Sirius couldn't help but snort at that. Unfortunately that meant the attention of the two under the tree was directed at him, something he didn't want right then.

"Snuffles!" shouted harry, and he ran up to Sirius and hugged him. "come meet my new teacher snuffles. Its mr brown." said harry, then he leaned in an whispered into snuffle's ear "but I think he's lying. He looks like moony." Sirius froze. Wondering how in hell harry could remember that. He couldn't remember stuff from when he was 20, let alone 1! Harry tugged hard on Sirius' fur, causing him to yelp, and dragged him over to lupin.

Sirius was quite scared of lupin. He knew what his temper was like. Not as bad as lily's, but bad enough. So he knew he had to play the part of innocent stray really well. Luckily, a trait of the black family was Mind Magic, so he was able to falsely plant a memory in Harry's mind about snuffles being his stray friend since he was three.

"Harry," said remus in a tone that Sirius really didn't like. "where did you find this dog?"

"I found him when he was a puppy in the river. I think I was three when I found him. I tried to take him home, but Uncle Vernon wouldn't let me keep him. So he lives at the park." replied Harry nonchalantly. "why? Is he yours? Coz if he is I'm sorry." he added hurriedly.

"no, he's not mine as such, its just err… dogs carry diseases and germs. You have to be careful around dogs. They are supposed to be loyal, but you never know. You might wake up to find s dog killed three of your best friends." said remus, and Sirius knew who the message was intended towards.

He also knew that remus wouldn't harm an innocent dog, which is what he seemed to be at the moment. But just give him some time, and he would have Sirius figured out. So Sirius barked, instead of looking bashful like was expected. He gave no indication that he heard the conversation as he pulled harry by the sleeve over to the oval. They played chase until the bell, and did the same at lunch. After school Sirius walked harry home before retiring to the park. He vowed to himself that night that he wouldn't take harry away, but he would look after him, and guard him for as long as he could.

The school week continued in pretty much the same manner until Friday. Sirius went to the house at night, only to hear Vernon yelling about a useless freak, and the sound of harry screaming. He raced around the house, trying to see what was going on. All the doors were locked and only the kitchen window was open. Petunia's car was gone, and the only light on was in the main bedroom. Then, through he curtain he saw Vernon raise his belt and strike something just below the window. Sirius knew what was there and he wasn't going to stand there and let it happen. He howled and howled, and tried breaking in, but the wards wouldn't even allow him to change from animagus without setting off an alarm. So he decided to wait it out, and hope that harry was ok. He hatched a plan for midnight, when he would save harry from the hellhole.

Sirius stole a glance down the street. Looking both ways and not seeing any sign of his ex-friend, he crossed Privet Drive and strode up the garden path. Lifting the mat, he found the spare key typically hidden there. He was just about to unlock the door when…

"Don't you dare" growled a voice Sirius could've recognised anywhere. He put his hands up in defeat and turned around. He cast a glance at the moon and guessed it to be a few days off full moon. 'well that explains the growl' he thought.

"You really don't want to be doing that" said Sirius.

"oh, no I really think I do want to be doing this" said Remus.

"you do realise you sound an awful lot like Snape when you do that don't you? Been taking lessons on how to be a greasy git have we Remmy?" retorted Sirius who was very much pissed at his friend for leaving him in Azkaban for six years without so much as a letter! Marauders till death his arse! Remus' only reply was to jab Sirius hard in the chest with his wand.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you on the spot" snarled Remus.

"My superior knowledge, resourcefulness and all round Excellency and beauty not matched by any other living being." Said Sirius.

"You forgot traitorous two-faced Death Eater bastard. Kissing Voldemort feet hasn't helped you in the wit department either so guess again." Remus practically spat each word out, a feat which Sirius was both surprised and smug about. He did sound almost exactly like Snape when he did that.

Sirius mocked thoughtfulness and said "Oh I don't know? Somewhere in that big old brain of yours is a rational side that hasn't seen the light of day in a while and is telling you that by killing me, you wouldn't really achieve anything. You would become a murderer, leave parentless Harry without a godfather in a house where he is so obviously abused. You wouldn't find out the truth behind Lily and James' death, or the rats. You are constantly questioning why I did it, and you are going to kill the answer. Plus you would feel unimaginable guilt. So tell me Remus, do you really want to be doing this?"

"I do want to. You're the reason Harry has no parents. You murdered Peter, and show no remorse, so I could get tips from you on how not to feel guilty. Of course, Peter wasn't a betrayer so the circumstances are different…" said Remus, almost too cheerfully for a man on the brink of homicide.

"Ironic that. But how could you get tips on living a guilt-free life off me if you killed me? Anyway we are completely off topic. You are just about to let me open the door and take Harry and run. And no Harry won't be used in a ritual to bring Voldemort back, nor will I murder him out of spite. Okay?"

Remus growled.

"Didn't think so, so I guess I'll just have to…" Sirius whipped out the wand he had stolen and pointed it at Remus. "petrificus tot-"Sirius stopped mid-way through the spell. At first, remus was confused, until he heard the tell-tale thump of a body falling.

The two marauders shared a look, and bolted towards the door of number four. Sirius blasted the door apart, to see his godson being thrown down the stairs and landing in a heap at their feet. Sirius fell to the floor and checked Harry for a pulse. Remus however, strode past Sirius (who he was still furious at) and stunned the person at the top of the stairs. He turned back to Sirius.

"Please Moony, help Harry."

Chapter 3 is up and posted... It needs editing a bit (pft A LOT) but it's here waiting for all of my loyal reviewers (note the sarcasm)...