Icarus
Chapter 7
Flying Beneath The Sun
x
His way out of the house was, predictably, found where he'd have least expected it. Of course, it didn't occur to him to even attempt that particular route, not until ten days of house arrest had dragged by.
Sirius had been making his way from the kitchen to the hallway, when he'd heard the successive 'thump-thump-thump' of someone taking a tumble down the stairs.
Unsurprisingly, Black was laid out at the bottom of the staircase, limbs crumpled in beneath his body from where he'd attempted to catch himself. Walburga had snapped to alertness, snarling and screaming. But Sirius had been a little more interested in the reason Black had tripped down the stairs.
Quite obviously from the gleam to the wood, the stairs had been hit with a polishing charm, just as Black had been making his way down the stairs in his socks. He didn't need to hear the cackle to know the source.
Kreacher had 'cleaned' the stairs just in time to try and injure his master. The creepy little bugger.
Scowling, Sirius had scanned the landings, even going so far as to dart up the stairs in hopes of catching the little bastard while Black once again engaged in a tug of war with Walburga's curtains. He'd been led on a merry chase throughout the house, but eventually, he'd managed to corner Kreacher in one of the dusty, unused bedrooms.
They had both frozen in place when Sirius had slammed the door shut, staring at each other.
Chest heaving, Sirius had known that Kreacher could pop away the second he wanted to, but the little bugger was curious. He wanted to know why Master's bastard son had chased him down instead of just calling him, that much was obvious.
Hands clenched into fists, Sirius took a deep breath before slowly letting it escape between his lips.
"You could get me out of the house, couldn't you." Sirius watched Kreacher's wrinkled brow dropped over his eyes, no doubt trying to figure out just what Master's bastard son was plotting. Which was fine by Sirius. He knew how to spin this now, knew how to get just what he wanted.
All thanks to Black.
"Black wants to keep me in this house, but I want to go out for the day. He hasn't ordered you to keep me here, has he?"
There was another moment of stillness, as Kreacher eyed his muggle clothes in a new, disgusted light.
No."
"And it'd really piss Black off if I got out for the day, even though he's got a tracking charm on the flowers," Sirius gestured to the flower crown on his head. He could see the exact moment that Kreacher caught on to what he was doing, because with a flick of his fingers, the flower crown didn't feel like it was stuck to his skull any longer.
Sirius didn't even get a moment to celebrate though, because the little bastard snapped his fingers again and then, suddenly, he was on his rear on the pavement outside.
Grumbling, Sirius straightened up, pulling his wand out and summoning up the Knight Bus. It wouldn't be long until they noticed he was missing, and like hell he was going to be sticking around for them to come and find him. Shooting up the steps of the bus, Sirius dug a galleon from his hip pouch and slammed it into the conductors hands.
"Little Whinging, Surrey."
.
Nothing appeared to have changed since his last visit. It was still as monotone, as muggle, as could be. And it was still as blisteringly hot.
Grimacing, Sirius adjusted the collar of his shirt, rolling his shoulders and feeling infinitely glad he'd put on the 'swimming' shorts he'd bought from the muggle shops. They came to rest just at his knees, an obnoxiously bright red with white flower patterns across them. Thrown on a pair of 'flip-flops' -god he loved that name, what a name for footwear- and a white shirt, and he was ready for the summer heat. If Harry was, well, he'd soon find out.
It took him a bit longer to get to Privet Drive, given that the Knight Bus had dropped him off in the centre of town. Regardless, he made it while the sun was still climbing into the sky, and honestly, it couldn't be much earlier than ten O'clock.
Walking down the street, Sirius paused by the house number eleven, offering to help the middle-aged woman carry her grocery shopping from the car to the house. A lot of it looked quite heavy, and the poor women did have a pot on her arm. She did look suspicious at first, but had thanked him profoundly once he was done. With her hair a soft chestnut brown and her eyes a calm blue, she seemed just like any regular witch, only, you know, she was actually a muggle.
"Thank you very much for your help…"
"Sirius. Parents were big astronomy fans. Means I've got ample opportunity for puns though." He grinned, accepting the bar of chocolate the woman insisted on giving him in exchange for helping.
"Have your family moved to Surrey, Sirius?"
"Nope," popping the 'p' of the word, Sirius rocked back on his heels, a pleased smile spreading across his face, "I'm here to see my friend Harry. She lives here. We go to the same boarding school in Scotland." Or well, they would be.
Offering the nice woman of Number Eleven a wave, Sirius strolled down the drive, making his way over to Number Four without any hassle whatsoever. He could feel the eyes of the woman on him, but he had no idea why, so went about ignoring it.
Bounding up to the front door of Number Four, the teen took a moment to brush a strand of hair back from his face before enthusiastically drumming his fist against the wood of the door. There was a loud swear from the other side -clearly he'd startled someone- before the door swung open and Sirius came face to face with the fattest muggle he'd seen yet.
And that moustache.
Sirius felt his lips curl in disgust at the awful facial hair, before forcefully shaking his head to rid himself of the expression before it gave too much away.
"Here for Dudley are we?" The man grunted, and Sirius found himself trying not to laugh once again, because hey, this was the second time it was assumed he was here for the muggle boy.
"Nope. I'm here to take Harry out."
There was a moment of still silence, before the quick, almost feather light thumps against carpet could be heard and Harry's face appeared behind her uncle.
Who was slowly turning red. And shouting at him.
"Now you listen here! We don't want any of your kind here! Go-"
The business end of Sirius' wand stopped the rant midway through. Harry's aunt, who'd appeared in the hallway when the uncle started shouting, let out a terrified squeak.
Instead of addressing the duo though, Sirius just turned to Harry and grinned.
"Go get something on to go swimming in, we're off to the beach."
.
No doubt whoever was on Harry watching duty would be following them. Or informing the Order Sirius had managed to slip free of Grimmauld Place again. But right now, Sirius didn't care at all.
Harry had changed quickly, and was now sporting a bikini top, denim shorts and flip-flops not unlike his own. A bag rested on her lap, which she held close to her chest. Unsurprising with the way that the Knight Bus moved. If she let go of that, it'd probably knock out three people before either of them could get hold of it again.
"So, surprise?" Sirius finally offered, grinning at the girl who just smiled back, shaking her head in blatant disbelief.
"A little warning would have been nice."
"Yeah well, an opportunity presented itself, and it was a 'now or never' kind of moment."
Harry's mouth quirked up at the corners, coming dangerously close to splitting the healing scab on her lower lip. She'd clearly been biting the lip, it was the same thing Evans did.
Had done.
Will do, when he gets back.
James, on the other hand, liked running his hand through his hair. If Sirius himself had any nervous habits, he was, at this moment in time, unaware of them.
"So, where are we going?" Harry asked, going to press her face against the window glass, but clearly thinking better of it.
Not a second to late, because the bus took a sharp turn that almost slammed her head into the side. Sirius himself almost ended up tumbling right out of his seat, squawking as he did so.
"To the sunniest beach in Britain. No idea which one it is though," Sirius explained when the bus finally levelled out.
Harry chuckled as he cautiously adjusted his position from one of safety to comfort, hands still with a white knuckled grip on the upholstery.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, the Knight Bus twisting across England at insane rates, dropping off all the witches and wizards that had boarded before them.
"So… What kind of natural disaster do you think you'd be?"
Harry's head snapped around to look at him, eyebrow raised in disbelief.
"What?"
"Yeah, come on, think about it."
Digging his elbow into Harry's ribs, Sirius offered her a cocky grin, wiggling his eyebrows about until the brunette let out a begrudging laugh. The roll of her eyes was fond though.
"A hurricane," Harry finally murmured, running her fingers across her eyes and offering him a nervous smile. Well, it wasn't exactly the kind of question you get asked every day.
Still, there wasn't any wrong kind of answer. He could kind of see the girl as a hurricane though, what with all the mayhem going on around her right now. Yet, she was quiet in comparison, the calm eye of the storm. A lull in activity around her, though things would pick up, like high speed winds.
"You?"
"Tsunami."
"Not a volcano?"
That'd been his first thought too. But, when they weren't erupting, volcanoes were so quiet, they didn't really do much. Sure, it was a big, fiery explosion, but it didn't happen often really.
A tsunami on the other hand-
"Yep, the sea's always moving, there's always some waves and some motion going on, but when it comes to the big tsunami, there's the slightest warning when the water draws out, a short chance to get away, but then, bam! Big wave washing over everything and sweeping up everything in its path."
Snickering to himself, Sirius cocked his head to a side, taking in Harry's curiously amused face.
"That or a plague of locus."
"What?"
"Yep. So absurd that I catch your attention, hold it, annoy the hell out of you, and I'm damn hard to get rid of."
Harry laughed, a delighted smile on her face and Sirius grinned back, tugging on a strand of long black hair and then swearing violently when the Knight Bus swerved and sent the both of them rolling into the isle.
He was going to get his arse kicked by every last member of Dumbledore's stupid Order when he got back. But right now, untangling his limbs from the knot he'd been tied into with Harry, groaning over the pain in his nose and laughing at Harry's scowl, was the happiest he'd been since stumbling into this nightmare.
Any bollocking he got was going to be worth it really.
Apologies that this is short, but I felt it was time to throw a chapter out, even if it was just like, the little side story between two major points.
Tsume
xxx
