Tattered Innocence

Child of the new Dawn

Disclaimer: don't own don't sue

A/N Happy New Year! Here's the first chappie of 2005!

This chapter is dedicated to all the victims of the tsunami, our payers are with them.


Chapter 7

A large fork of white lightning lit up the night sky as the torrent of rain continued to pour down. The rain pounded onto the roof and filled the gutters, the sound dimmed only by the occasional bout of thunder as the storm approached. Another flash of lightning illuminated little Harry's room, a complete contrast from that morning, and shone on the five-year-old twisted up within the cover trapped within a nightmare.

Harry saw tall dark shadows with long black bodies and white faces with no mouths. They roamed a flaming city, shooting emerald green light, which burned Harry's eyes and made his forehead ache, at the people fleeing them. Their darkness was spreading through the flaming city and a man appeared, huge and towering, over the little city his arms spread wide, long pale fingers stretched out to squeeze the life out of the place Harry now recognized as the town he so rarely got to explore. Large flaming red serpentine eyes opened and a rather high pitched voice whispered "I found you Potter…"

Harry awoke with a gasp, covered in a cold sweat, and winced as another flash of lightning lit up his room. He struggled to untangle himself from his covers franticly, and ran out of the room as the following crack of thunder soon followed. He hurried to Sirius' room and trembled as there was a second crack of thunder. He stood up on tip-toe, turned the knob of the door and flung himself into the room towards the bed.

Sirius, who had been awake listening to the storm and thinking about what Dumbledore had said, jumped as his door was suddenly thrown open and little Harry came flying into his room.

"Harry?" Sirius lifted the trembling child onto his bed and let him snuggle into his chest, face buried into the column of his throat. "What's wrong? Did the storm scare you?"

"Bad dream." Harry answered in a muffled voice lifting his tear-streaked face up to look as his godfather.

"I'm sorry pup. What was the dream about?" Sirius asked gently wiping the tears off Harry's face with his thumb.

Harry sniffed, "T-there was t-these black shadow people. A-and they were shooting this b-bright green light at people and the village was on fire! T-then this man with r-red eyes came and he said he f-found me." Harry gave a great sniff, "That's when I woke up. It was scary." He buried his face back into Sirius and Sirius vaguely began to rub his back soothingly as his thoughts going a thousand miles an hour. Oh god… Harry was dreaming about Him… Voldemort had found him….

He stood up suddenly, surprising Harry who looked up at him in confusion. He grabbed one of the blankets on his bed and pulled it off with one movement. He wrapped Harry up and scooped him up into his arms.

"Siri?" Harry's childish voice came from the small cocoon Sirius had made for him.

Sirius kissed the top of Harry's head and whispered softly, "Its okay Harry, we're going to wake up Moony."

Not willing to put Harry down or out of his sight for any moment, Sirius simply pounded on Remus' door until it was suddenly pulled open. "Sirius do you have a fetish with pounding on my door, or do you just feel the urge from time to time?" Remus asked in annoyance, rubbing his eyes.

"We need to talk Remus." Sirius said gruffly, unconsciously tightening his grip on Harry. Remus frowned and looked over at the bundle in Sirius' arms. "What happened?" He asked, reaching over to wipe a stray tear off Harry's face.

"Come on," Sirius said stepping back and jerking his head toward the stairs, "Let's go downstairs."

Remus placed a cup of hot chocolate in front of Harry after freeing him from the blanket so now it simply was draped over him. He had not said a word after Harry's description of the dream and Sirius dark meaningful looks toward him. He placed his tea cup on the table and rubbed his temples slowly for a moment.

With a sigh he looked up into Sirius' pale blue eyes and said softly, "Do you think it was a premonition?"

"How else could a dream like that get into Harry's head?" Sirius growled glaring into his full cup.

Harry's large green eyes were following the conversation like a tennis match and asked, "What's a premonition?"

"Something that's going to happen, but hasn't happened yet." Remus explained still looking at Sirius.

"Oh… So Padfoot thinks the bad man will come?" Harry asked taking another sip of his drink.

"Sirius are you sure you're not just over-reacting because of what Dumbledore said?" Remus asked warily.

Sirius was on his feet immediately, "I am NOT just over-reacting Remus! How else could Harry have seen him like that?" His hands clenched at his sides before falling back limply, "We have to go Remus. Let's just take Harry and go… anywhere. I refuse to just sit here and wait for Voldemort and his lackeys to find us."

"Sirius…" Remus just looked at his friend for a long moment, and then sighed, "Alright. We'll leave soon, but firecall Dumbledore and tell him what's going on. Then… we'll figure something out."

Sirius nodded and took a long draft of tea. Harry yawned and looked up at Remus, "The storm stopped Moony."

Remus listened for a moment then smiled down at the child, "So it did." He glanced up at the clock on the wall, it was well past midnight, "Come on Harry, you should get some sleep."

Remus scooped up Harry from his chair and wrapped the blanket loosely around him, "Moony?" Harry asked as Remus sat down on the couch with Harry in his lap; Sirius had knelt down by the fire.

"Yes pup." Remus said as he brushed Harry's messy hair out of his face.

"Are we moving?"

"I think so Harry." Remus sighed.

"Why?" Harry asked shifting so he could look up at Remus, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Because," Remus said wondering how to word it to the five-year-old, "we think you would be safer somewhere else. I've taken you to a few places, it would be just like that only for longer."

Harry yawned and snuggled into Remus' warmth, "Could we come back?"

"Maybe, now get some sleep puppy, its very late." Remus said softly laying Harry gently down onto the couch and covering him up.

He was asleep within a few seconds and Remus moved to kneel down beside Sirius who had managed to contact Dumbledore.

"And he said the man with red eyes told him that he had found him. Harry doesn't know anything about how Voldemort looks, how could he have know otherwise."

Dumbledore's face was pensive for a moment and he did not speak. "A connection was forged between young Harry and Voldemort the night he received his scar. It is possible that through this connection Harry might have received emotions or thoughts from Voldemort himself and they appeared to him in the form of a nightmare."

"So will Voldemort be able to do the same to Harry?" Sirius asked worriedly.

Dumbledore sighed, "As a child Harry's mind is much too fragile to break into, but as he matures the threat will become more eminent." He turned his gaze to Remus, "What do you make of it Remus?"

"We never gave Harry a vivid description of what Voldemort looked like or what his voice sounded like. I doubt Harry could just dream something like that. But I don't like the thought of Voldemort having an influence on Harry's dreams." He paused for a moment glancing back at Harry as he shifted in his sleep, then asked, "Should we leave Ireland now?"

Dumbledore opened his mouth to speak but before he said a word a loud siren went off inside the house.

"Damn." Sirius swore and grabbed the chest atop the mantle to pull it down onto the floor. Remus got up and went over to Harry who had woken up with a start.

"Remus, grab Harry, we need to leave now. The wards have been broken." He looked up into Remus' eyes, "They found us."

The door burst open with a burst of light and three Deatheaters entered the room. Remus pulled Harry down onto the floor as Sirius shouted "Stupify!" brandishing his wand.

Pulling out his own wand he grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him towards the kitchen, shielding him from the spells that rocketed towards them. A sudden silver light streaked across the room, illuminating it for a brief moment, as a crack like a gunshot rang throughout the room and the house shook, causing Harry to whimper and Remus to tighten his grip on the boy.

Remus and Harry could see Sirius' silhouette turned toward a new figure standing in front of the fire. The dust and smoke from the brawl settled and Remus could hear Dumbledore's voice speaking rapidly to Sirius. Looking down, Remus hugged Harry gently and lifted the small boy against his hip. He walked over toward Sirius and Dumbledore stepping over the bodies of the Deatheaters.

"Moony," Harry whispered suddenly, "It's the shadow people!"

"Hush now pup." Remus said softly, gently brushing Harry's hair.

The two men turned toward Remus and Harry as they reached them, both looking angry and worried.

Dumbledore nodded his head briefly toward Remus before continuing, "The order has been contacted and more members are arriving. The city is overrun with deatheaters; all those who can are helping. I want you to-"

CRASH!

The window exploded, covering them with a rain of broken glass and wood fragments. Harry cried out in fear as Remus tried to shield him from the falling debris. Placing Harry down behind him, Remus joined Sirius and Dumbledore in sending a stream of curses and jinxes toward the intruders.

Over the din, Sirius heard something crack behind him and out of the corner of his eye he saw a shape approach from behind them, turning quickly he stunned the deatheater, and with one look at Harry's terrified face knelt and scooped Harry up.

"Remus!" Sirius yelled over the sound of spells and the destruction of the buildings around them, "We have to get Harry out of here!"

Dumbledore twisted his wand in a complicated movement and the deatheaters closest to the house were suddenly thrown back as if struck by an invisible force. "Go out the back and apparate as close to Hogwarts as you possibly can. Tell Minerva of the situation. Hurry."

Sirius nodded to him and, followed by Remus, headed out toward the back of the house and entered the kitchen. Neither expected the sudden jet of red light that flung them backward into the wall. Sirius was seeing stars when he felt Harry being ripped from him. Struggling, he used a coat hanger to pull himself upright; Sirius rubbed the back of his head and looked around for Harry's captor, "Harry!"

There was a burst of white light from down the hall. Using the wall for support, Sirius hurried as fast as he could toward the study. He jumped when he saw the deatheater, but was even more surprised to find that Lucius Malfoy, his mask had fallen off, was unconscious and covered in the books that had fallen from one of the three bookcases that lined the wall of Moony's study. "Harry?" Sirius called out. A soft whimper responded and Sirius made his way into the far corner where the bookshelves did not meet. Harry was curled up there, his knees brought up to his chest, face very pale, and eyes unfocused.

"Harry? Its okay, Harry, I'm here." Sirius soothed, "Come on Harry, we have to get out of here." Harry sniffed and looked up at Sirius' face, before slowly letting go of his knees and slowly reaching out to Sirius. "I didn't mean to, Padfoot, he was just so scary…"

"Shhh, pup it's going to be all right. I'm not upset with you. Come on, let's get out of here." Harry stood shakily and walked over to Sirius, "That's my boy." Sirius murmured softly into Harry's hair as Harry wrapped his arms around Sirius' neck.

Sirius picked Harry up, wincing as the moment was too fast, as the pain in his head was kind enough to inform him. "Sirius? Is Harry alright?" Remus called down the hall, holding a clean dish towel to head. He had hit his head off the corner of a shelf when they had been thrown backward and opted to stop the bleeding before tearing off to find Sirius.

Not bothering to answer, Sirius headed toward Remus frowning as he saw the bloodied dish towel, "Alright Moony?"

"Peachy." Remus said curtly, as another window shattered upstairs.

"We is to be going right now!" a squeaky voice sounded suddenly, as Aideen appeared with a large bag, "Is masters Harry and Remus being alright?"

The shouting grew louder, "Not now Aideen, come on we have to go." Sirius said looking back down the hall, as the lights flickered on and off, finally dieing into pitch black.

"Hold on tight Harry." Sirius whispered to Harry as he pulled out his wand and apparated along with Remus and Aideen. Harry normally kept his eyes clenched tightly, but this time he kept them open to see whirling colors all blurring together faster and faster as cold air whipped his hair around wildly, when it all stopped.

Harry blinked a few times and looked around in the confines of Sirius' arms. They were at the edge a forest. Harry had never seen trees so high; they creaked in a menacing way but Sirius was already moving away from the forest. Harry turned to see a huge stone castle across a large lake.

"This is Hogwarts, Harry." Remus said softly.

"Ah, Mr. Black and Mr. Lupin, I've been expecting you." A no-nonsense voice came crisply from the entrance, "Come inside and get warmed up."


A/N a little longer than usual. Reviews, comments, criticism are welcome. Thanks hope you liked it! Dawn

Thanks to: cool, A Teenage Werewolf, Sasinak, rosiegirl, anethakitty- lol again with all the questions.

Talriga- thanks for your review. I always appreciate a review that criticizes a bit and goes into detail. The whole point of this fic is to try out different styles of writing and see what flows and works best. Thanks for all those titles I have read and gone to many of those sites already but you gave me some things to look for. Thanks again and I hope you continue to read my fic.

Headmaster Cromwell: Thank you for both taking an interest in my fic and also inviting me to join Salem. I have looked over the site and I must say I am impressed with the detail put into it. I haven't decided to enroll as a character yet, but I will think about it. Thanks again.