Harry couldn't believe it. The one person who Harry was trying the hardest to avoid, and he runs right into him. His stomach turned to ice, and his heart dropped to the floor. What would happen to him, would he end up in Azkaban, like his godfather? Would they expel him? Well of course they would expel him, that's a given. He broke the decree for underage wizardry, but he had also use his magic against a Muggle.
Slowly, Harry turned around. He was face to face with Fudge. "H-H-Hello Minister." Harry said swallowing hard.
"There you are Harry." Fudge said.
Stand jumped onto the pavement and asked. "What didja call Neville, minister?"
"Neville? This is Harry Potter." He replied wirily
"I knew it! Ern! Ern! Guess 'oo Neville is, Ern! 'E's 'Arry Potter! I can see his scar!" Stan shouted gleefully.
"Yes, well, I'm very glad the Knight Bus picked you up, but he and I need to step inside the Leaky Cauldron now…" Fudge said testily, still not having notice the Grim looking dog at Harry's side.
Harry felt Fudge steer him into the Leaky Cauldron, and felt the dog next to him tense a little. A stooping figure appeared in the door. It was the toothless landlord of the pub, Tom.
"You've got him, Minister!" said Tom. "Will you be wanting anything? Beer? Brandy?"
"Perhaps a pot of tea," Fudge still hadn't let go of Harry's shoulder.
There was a scrapping and the sound of people puffing from behind them as Stan and Ern brought out Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage.
"'Ow come you di'n't tell us 'oo you are, eh, Neville?" Stan asked looking around excitedly.
"And a privet parlor, please, Tom," said fudge pointedly.
"Bye." Harry said miserably to Stan and Ern as Tom beckoned Fudge towards the passage that led from the bar.
"Bye Neville!" Stan called back.
Fudge marched Harry down a passage behind Tom and into a small polar. And all the way, Harry pet the dog next to him in a soothing way. Once in the Polar tom click his fingers and a fire stared in the grate, and he bowed himself out of the room.
"Sit down, Harry." Fudge said indicating to a chair by the fire.
He sat down and Snuffles laid down in-between him and the fire. Goose bumps found their way up and down his arms, even with the warm glow coming from the fire next to him. Fudge took the seat opposite to Harry after taking off his pinstriped cloak and hitching up his bottle-green trousers.
"I am Cornelius Fudge, Harry. The Minister of Magic."
Harry already knew this, but only because he saw him when he came to take Hagrid away in his second year. But he was under his father's invisibility cloak, so Fudge hadn't known.
Tom interred the room, wearing an apron over his nightshirt and bearing a tray of tea and crumpets. He placed the tray between Fudge and Harry and exited out of the room, and closed the door.
"Well Harry you had us all in a…" Fudge stared but was caught short when his gaze fell onto the canine laying down next to Harry. "W-w-what is that." Fudge said pointing to Harry and paling visibly.
"Harry followed his finger and when he saw what he was pointing at, his stomach his the ground, but at the same time he wanted to smile because he knew exactly what was going through his mind.
"Oh this is, um, my dog, that I found at the pound. I f-feel safer with him around. I-I-I was going to take him back, but then I ran away, and now I feel safer with him around, you know, with Sirius Black lose and all." Harry lied quickly.
"Oh." Fudge said, clearly relived, then once he regained his composure, he continues. "Right, yes well all that matters is that you're safe now… How did you know about Sirius Black?"
'Oh Crap' Harry thought, 'Great verbal diarrhea.' "I read it in the Daily Profit that Stan let me borrow." He recovered.
"Oh, yes, that. Well…" The minister busied himself buttering the crumpet then passed the plate to Harry. "Eat, Harry, you look dead on your feet. Now then… You will be pleased to know that we have dealt with the unfortunate blowing-up of Miss Marjorie Dursley. Two members of acci…"
But Harry tuned out the last of what he was saying. He was going to be expelled, he knew it. He just had to have it confirmed by Fudge. " Am I going to be expelled?" he blurted out interrupting the Minister.
"Of course not. What would ever have given you that idea?"
"I-I broke the decree for underage wizardry."
"Oh, my dear boy, we're not going to expel you, nor are we going to punish you in any way for a little thing like that. It was an accident. We don't send people to Azkaban for blowing-up their aunts!"
Harry felt a weight lift from his shoulders. He wasn't going to be expelled. He was going back to Hogwarts, the only home he had ever known. He was going back. Harry felt like jumping up in the air.
"Now that we go that cleared up, there's the matter of were you are going to stay for the rest of the summer,"
Harry looked at Fudge incuriously, "I'm not going back?"
"Well unless you want to?" Harry shook his head. "Well then you can stay here, at the Leaky Cauldron. I'll go and see if Tom has a room for you." He got up and left.
Harry stared into space for a while until he heard a noise that brought him back to reality. Fudge came in, accompanied by the innkeeper, Tom.
"Room eleven's free. I think you'll be very comfortable. Just one thing, and I'm sure you'll understand… I don't want you wandering off into Muggle London, all right? Keep to Diagon Ally. And you're to be back here before dark each night. Sure you'll understand. Yom will be keeping an eye on you for me." Fudge said.
"Okay." Harry replied.
"Good. Don't want to lose you again, do we?" Fudge said with a heavy laugh. "No, no… best we know where you are… I mean…"
Fudge didn't finish, just pick up his cloak, and said. "Well I better be off, plenty to do, you know…"
Harry shook Fudge's outstretched hand, and when Fudge turned to leave, Harry felt something cold and wet on the palm of his hand, and the he remembered Sirius. "Um, Minister, I was wondering…"
"Yes Harry?" Fudge said turning around to face him.
"Um, do you think you could talk to Dumbledore, you know, about letting me keep my dog with me? I would feel a lot safer with him around me."
"Uh, sure thing Harry, I'll see what I can do."
As fudge turned to leave Harry had another thought. "Er- Minister? Can I ask you something else?"
"Sure."
"Well, third years at Hogwarts are allowed to visit Hogsmeade, but my aunt and uncle didn't sign the permission form. D'you think you could-?"
Fudge looked uncomfortable.
"Ah," he said. "No, no, I'm very sorry, Harry, but as I'm not your parent or guardian-"
"But you're the Minister of Magic," Said Harry eagerly. "If you could give me permission-"
"No, I'm sorry Harry, but rules are rules. Perhaps you'll be able to visit Hogsmeade next year. In fact I think it's best if you don't… yes… well, I'll be off. Enjoy your stay, Harry." Fudge replied. And with a smile and a shake of the hand, Fudge left. Tom now moved forward, beaming at Harry.
"If you'll follow me, Mr. Potter," he said, "I've already taken your things up…"
Harry followed Tom up a handsome wooden staircase to a door with a brass number eleven on it, witch Tom unlocked and opened for him.
Inside was a very comfortable-looking bed, some highly polished oak furniture, a cheerfully crackling fire, a rather large red dog bed next it, and perched on top of the wardrobe-
"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed.
The snowy owl flew down to Harry's arm and nipped him happily.
"Very smart owl you got there. Arrived about five minutes after you. If there is anything you need, Mr. Potter, don't hesitate to ask." Tom said flashing Harry a toothless grin. He gave another bow and left.
As soon as he was sure Tom was gone, Snuffles transformed into Sirius.
"Wow, not a bad place." Sirius said looking around. Then he caught a glimpse of Harry, and saw how down he looked.
"Hey Harry, what's up?" he asked.
"It's just, I wanted to go to Hogsmeade with my friends, but know it looks like I won't be able to." He said, sighing deeply.
"Buck-up Harry." Sirius said with a mischievous glint in his eyes, "There are more ways then one in and out of the castle."
Harry looked up at his newly found godfather with a look of uncertainty, curiosity, and excitement showing evident on his face and eyes. "Really?"
"Sure! But we will worry about that when we get there, right know you look dead on your feet, you should try and get some sleep."
"Okay." Harry yawned, then turned his head to the extremely inviting bed, and then noticed something. "Were are you going to sleep, there is only one bed?"
"My beds right there," He replied pointing to the red dog bed by the fire.
Harry looked at him and then shook his head. "No, no, you take the bed, I don't mind sleeping on the floor. I've slept in worse places before." Witch was the truth, he remembered back, just before his first year sleeping on the dirt covered hard floor. "I'll be fine."
"No Harry. I won't let you sleep on the floor. And besides, when I'm in Padfoot form, I can sleep on almost anything."
"Are you sure Sirius, I really don't mind if you-"
"No, and don't argue with your godfather." Sirius said trying to be serious, but the smirk that was slowly crawling across his face gave all illusion of that away.
"Right, well I'm going to go put my pajamas on… Are you thirsty, you could go drink out of the toilet before I go in there if you want." Harry said in all seriousness, but the glint in his eye gave him away, much like his godfather, as he searched his trunk for his pjs.
"No thanks I'm no…" Then it finally hit Sirius what his godson, Harry, had just said to him. "Hey!" He exclaimed, and then threw a pillow at Harry's head. Harry dodged the pillow, stuck his tongue out at Sirius, and then ducked into the bathroom before the second pillow that had been lobbed at him could hit him.
Harry changed and brushed his teeth, when he came back out the first thing that hit was… a pillow. Straight in the face, knocking his glasses askew. He then heard a deep laugh coming from the bed; he could barely make out a tall thin form doubled over in laughter. When he put his glasses back on straight, he glared at Sirius, whom was sticking his tongue out at Harry and blowing a raspberry. Harry tried to keep a scowl on his face, but he couldn't help but smirk.
"Alright, I'll give that one, just because I'm too tired to fight back. But that's the last one." Harry said jokingly.
Sirius put on a look of mock astonishment. "You would really do that to your own godfather? How could you?"
Harry thought for a moment and then said, "Yes. And for the second question, there are a lot of things I could do."
"Those were rhetorical questions, Harry." Sirius said.
"Oh, well, I was going to give you a heads-up on what I was going to do, but now…" Harry said as he laid down in bed and blew-out the candles.
"But Harry…"
"Night Sirius."
"But Harry… Come on Harry tell me…" Sirius waited for an answer, but when he didn't get one, he gave up. "'Night Harry… my godson." He said, then turned into padfoot and laid down on the doggie bed. 'Godson' he thought to himself, 'Harry is my Godson, and now I'm here with him.' If a dog could smile, Padfoot was sure his face would have split in two.
Back in the bed Harry laid there, thinking about the last two word Sirius just said 'my godson… my godfather. Mine.' He thought to himself. All his life he wanted someone who cared for him, someone to take him away from the Dursleys. He knew his trust in Sirius came very fast, not knowing this person who, changed from a giant black dog to a tall man right before his eyes. But he guessed it was because of that; because he wanted someone who would care for him, worry about him when he did something dangerous, it was that that made him so trusting of this stranger. And so far, he decided, it was a good decision. He fell asleep with the biggest smile he had ever had in his entire life. 'Yeah,' his last conscious thought was, 'It was a very good decision.'
TBC…
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Disclaimer: Anything you recognize, I don't own, anything you don't, I do.
AN: So did you like this? I hope you did, I was up late writing it. It's almost 2 am here. I seem to get my best ideas during the night. Hmm… Well anyway, if you liked it please review it and tell me what you think. And Please only constructive critism. Nothing like 'I hate it' or 'that's was so dumb and unbelievable' if that's what you think, then stop reading it. But the good reviews make me happy, and the happier I am the quicker the next chapter will be up. So send in those good reviews. I'm going to wait till morning to post this *cough* noon *cough* Okay so maybe not morning, but definitely by noon. *glares at subconscious person sitting on shoulder twittling thumbs and whistling* And one more thing, I Need A Beta Reader! So if you're interested, say so in you're review, or e-mail me at sb_girl500@yahoo.com but I can't make any promises on my e-mail, it's getting kinda full. Damn yahoo groups. Oh well, you win some you lose some. Now that I have written this long author's note, me and my subconscious *cough* subconscious and I *Cough* Uhmm… as I was, I'm going to feed my subconscious to my already over-weight cat, *EEEPP* *Evil Smirk* and then I'm heading off to bed. So until next time. ~Later Dayz~
