Alex rode hard across the meadow. He was going to find out once and for all what was going on with Harry. If anyone could tell him that, it would be the Scottish lady Harry had been talking to earlier. What had Harry called her? Professor Mc-something. Alex thought back as he rode. Just as his horse jumped the gate at the edge of the meadow it came to him - Professor McGonagall.
He left his horse with some friends that had a field behind their house, declining their offer of a drink and headed across the square to the woman's house. He knocked three times on the door.
"Excuse me ma'am, but are you Professor McGonagall?" Alex asked when the door opened.
"That would be me, yes. You're the man who was with Harry the other day aren't you?"
"Yes ma'am. Alex Brown." He held out his hand.
Minerva shook it warmly. "Minerva McGonagall" she said. "Won't you come in Mr Brown?"
She led him into a small sitting room. "Would you care for tea?" she asked him.
"Tha' would be pleasant ma'am thankyou."
When they were seated with a tea tray between them, Minerva asked "so what can I do for you Mr Brown?"
"Please, the name's Alex. I'm a country farmer an' I've never got by with all this Mr and sir stuff. Never really 'eard it until Harry came t'me either."
"If you insist. What brings you here?"
"Harry." The reply was short and sharp. "He said you were 'is Head of House and you knew 'im. Is that true?"
"I am his Head of House at school and I do know him, yes. I knew his parents too. They were in the same house as him."
"Do you know him away from school then?"
"Not as much as I might like, I must confess."
"But you know where 'e lives and who 'e lives with?"
"Yes. I was there when he was placed at his aunt and uncle's house after his parents were murdered." Minerva took a sip of her tea as she remembered that night.
"I see. You put him there but never checked to see if 'e was alright afterwards?"
"What are you leading up to Mr Brown?" Minerva could feel the tension in the air mounting.
"Harry is unwanted by his family!" Alex practically yelled. "He is neglected, starved, overworked and possibly beaten for all I know! By those who were supposed t'care for 'im. Those who, by yer own words, Professor, you left him with!" Alex got up and started pacing the room, breathing heavily. "He said his relatives were upset when 'e came back every summer, that they'd like it if 'e killed himself during th' term and maybe it would just be better t'let Sirius Black finish him off, cos then 'e wouldn' be a burden any more. Just this morning 'e said that 'e'd got a permission slip signed because 'e'd left a letter with it saying tha' he could get killed if 'e was allowed to go. He cycles on a main road, withou' a helmet, every day of th' week, whatever the weather to my farm and works there all day, unpai', from early morning until night. I even heard 'im mutter to 'imself once that he'd better cycle fast if 'e didn't want to sleep in the shed again! And even then 'e still rejects my offer to stay every night. He's got no lights on his bike an' he doesn't care. Tell me Professor, what out o' that makes you think his life is good?"
Minerva knew that things weren't right with the Dursleys', but having an angry farmer yell at her was something she never wished to repeat.
"Mr Br-Alex" she corrected on seeing his glare. Seeing Minerva McGonagall off put by a glare was a sight to behold, if anyone had been around to witness it (but since there wasn't Minerva would deny it with her last breath). "I know Harry has been through some tough things. But there are people I know who would do him harm. He is safest with his family."
"They are not Harry's family!" Alex snapped back. "They are his relatives, as he always refers to them. He looks on the school year starting as a good thing! No thirteen year old child should be wanting the summer holidays to end!"
"I shall go and make some more tea" Minerva announced. And add Calming Draught into it as well, she added mentally.
When she returned, Alex had calmed a little but was still agitated.
"Here" she handed him a cup. "Let's sit and discuss this. I can see you care very much about Harry. Anger is not going to help him."
Minerva felt the effect of the Calming Draught on herself and hoped the effect would be the same on a muggle. She wasn't disappointed.
"My apologies ma'am" he said. "I should not have yelled at you. I am just so angry to see this little boy go through so much and you so near, but yet so far."
Minerva inclined her head. "What is your relationship with Harry?" she asked.
"Relationship?"
"You are his boss aren't you?"
"Yes, but I'm also the only person who seems to give a damn about 'im! I worry about him."
"I can see that. When he gets back to school, I will ensure he gets a thorough medical check-up and the necessary treatment. I will also contact people to try and change his living arrangements."
"You'd better succeed" Alex growled. "Or else I'll go to Social Services myself."
xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Harry and Alex had had lunch together after their cross country session that morning. Harry didn't want to intrude but Alex had insisted. After lunch, Alex had asked Harry if he would mind holding the farm until he got back. He said he would only be a few hours.
Harry had spent a very pleasant afternoon so far. He had washed and groomed the remaining three horses until they shone, combed out their manes and tails and coated their hooves in hoof oil. They looked spectacular. Harry wished that Alex could be there to see it. Compared to two months ago when he started, Harry had become an extremely able farmhand. With Alex's force feeding and the enjoyable work, he had put on some muscle and had more of a healthy glow.
He had just finished grooming Lenny, the big chestnut gelding, when he spotted a break in the wire fence that separated two of the fields.
"Better fix that" he thought.
He turned out the horses, making sure their field fence was secure first and then headed over to the broken fence. The post had come out of the ground and the wire got all twisted around itself, causing one great tangle.
"Gonna need a mallet and some wire cutters there I think. And a bit of extra wire if there is any" he muttered to himself.
When he returned, tools and wire in hand, he couldn't find the broken part. He looked all around but could see no damage anywhere. These fields backed onto a small wood of pine trees and Harry suddenly spun round to face them, wand in hand. He had heard a noise in there, that he was sure no woodland dwelling creature would make. It was a crack of breaking twigs and what sounded like a muffled expletive. Then he heard footsteps and... a woof?
Harry relaxed. It was just some dog walker having taken a wrong turn somewhere. He stowed his wand and turned back towards the stables, meaning to clear out the feed barn - a job he'd been saving for when he had nothing better to do. He had taken just one step when he heard the bark again, closer this time, but dismissed it as the dog being off the lead and being close to the field. It could probably smell other animals, the sheep, goats, horses or perhaps just rabbits in the wood. He carried on walking but the dog carried on barking.
Half way across the field, Harry realised the dog must be following him for the barking to not have decreased in volume. He turned, and sure enough there was the largest black dog Harry had ever seen. Its back came up to Harry's waist and its head to Harry's shoulder! Harry wondered if he could put a saddle on it and ride it it was that huge.
"Heya boy" Harry said softly to the dog, glad to hear that its barking had stopped as soon as Harry had turned around.
The dog allowed Harry to stroke him and ruffle his hair, even going so far as to lie down for a belly rub.
"What's your name, hey? A big, gentle dog like you must belong to someone."
The dog shook its head and Harry could hear something jangle. He tried to get through the long matted hair around the dog's neck but found it was too tightly knotted to deal with with his fingers.
"I'll just go get you a comb and then we'll have you back to looking smart. Whoever you do belong to, I don't think much to his grooming of you!"
Harry heard what he could only describe as a chuckle come from the dog. He shook his head at his imagination and took off at a sprint towards the farmyard. He returned just a few minutes later with a brush, a comb and some detangling cream. He worked quickly and efficiently on the dog, treating it as he did the horses' manes and soon the hair was tangle free. Harry found a studded collar around the dog's neck with a brass tag that read Padfoot.
"Padfoot" Harry murmured. "Padfoot. Where have I heard that before?"
The dog started whining and barking just then and running back towards the wood. When he got a few paces in front, he stopped and looked back at Harry. When the boy didn't move, Padfoot ran back to Harry, barked and ran off again, only to wait a few paces away.
"You want me to come with you?" Harry asked the dog.
Padfoot barked once and ran into the wood. Harry followed, curious but wary. Why would a dog want him to follow it? How was this dog so intelligent? It seemed to understand everything he said.
When safely amongst the trees and unseen from the field, the dog reared up and turned into a man. Harry's wand was trained on him.
"You're a wizard?" Harry asked. "You're like McGonagall, she can turn into a cat."
"Indeed I'm a wizard Harry. How else did that fence fix itself?"
Harry smiled slightly but did not lower his wand. "Who are you?" he asked.
"The most wanted man in Britain, a convicted murderer, a prison escapee and your godfather" the man replied. "Sirius Black. It's good to meet you at last Harry. You were a toddler last time I saw you."
Harry was shocked. This man, according to McGonagall, wanted to kill him and was the most wanted man in the entire Wizarding World. Yet here he was, in a wood on a muggle farm, telling Harry it was good to see him. It just didn't fit.
"Can you get on with it?" Harry asked, lowering his wand.
"Get on with what?" Now Sirius was confused.
"Well you want to kill me don't you? That's what McGonagall says."
Sirius sighed deeply. "No Harry I do not want to kill you. I did not kill your parents either. We switched Secret Keepers last minute. It was Peter who betrayed your parents to Voldemort, like the rat he is. Never me. I would have died before I did anything like that."
"What what what? Come again? I know Voldemort killed my parents but couldn't kill me. What has that got to do with you?"
"Where have you grown up Harry? What would you classify as home?" Sirius asked suddenly.
"Hogwarts is home" Harry replied. "But until I was eleven I lived with Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. Now I only have to sleep there during summer." Harry smiled widely at the last sentence.
"Albus-Bloody-Dumbledore" Sirius growled. "Harry, listen to me. At school I was great friends with your dad. We had a group of four of us called the Marauders. When it became obvious that your parents were being targeted by Voldemort, they went into hiding using a very complicated spell. The Fidelius charm locks the location of a person inside the body of another. Only that person can tell the location of the one hiding. This person is called the Secret Keeper. Even if another person knows the location, they cannot tell anyone else of it. Do you understand?"
"Yes. Anyone may know the location, if told by the Secret Keeper, but noone but the Secret Keeper can tell anyone else."
"I was going to be Secret Keeper for your parents. I loved James like a brother" Sirius continued. "At the last minute we changed it. We agreed I was the too obvious choice and Voldemort could try all he wanted to get the location from me, but if I wasn't Secret Keeper, he would never succeed. So he picked little weedy Wormtail to do it. And the little rat was the betrayer. As soon as he could he told his master everything he wanted to know. There was nothing I could do. I'm so sorry Harry."
Harry patted Sirius on the arm. "You did what you thought was best. What happened next?"
"When James and Lily were killed, I ran after Peter. I cornered him in a square and was about to stun him when he yelled "Sirius! James and Lily! How could you!" He then blasted the square, killing twelve muggles, transformed into a rat and ran into the gutter. Noone knew that we had swapped Secret Keepers. Only James, Lily, Peter and myself. We didn't even tell our fourth Marauder, Remus. I was arrested and sent to Azkaban without trial where I stayed for twelve years before finally managing to break out and swim to shore." Sirius took a deep breath and looked Harry in the eye. "I am your Godfather Harry. Your parents asked me to take care of you if anything happened to them. I'm not proud of what I did the night they died, in my anger I forgot about the most important thing to both James and Lily - you."
"I've lived through eleven years of hell because of that error Sirius" Harry replied. "Eleven years where I could have had a happy childhood instead of being the Dursleys' personal house elf." Bitterness was pouring through Harry's words.
"I know Harry. If I thought going back in time eleven years would fix this, I would. But time is a fickle thing to mess with and eleven years has a lot of potential to get very messed up, very quickly." He smiled sympathetically. "However, I can give you a home now if you'll let me. I'm the most wanted man in Britain, so I'd have to clear my name first, but after that, once I've found the rat-"
"What does this rat look like?" Harry interrupted.
"Fat and brown with two toes missing. Here I've got a picture." Sirius pulled out a Daily Prophet front page.
"Scabbers?" Harry asked. "You're telling me that Ron's pet is actually a man and he killed my parents?"
"Scabbers? Ron? Come again Harry?"
"That's Ron Weasley, one of my best friends in Hogwarts and he has a pet rat called Scabbers. He got him when his brother got an owl for becoming prefect."
"How long had this brother had the rat?" Sirius asked.
Harry thought. "Ron got it beginning of first year, he said and said that Percy had had it for ten years he thought. So that would make it twelve years ago that the rat first turned up..." Harry trailed off in thought. "I'm going shopping in Diagon Alley next week with them for new supplies for next year. Can you wait until then?"
"I've waited twelve years, another week isn't going to harm!"
"Great. I'll see what I can do. I'll bring food and leave it here for you, Alex is always trying to feed me. If you wanted to kill me, I'd be dead by now, so I'd like to see what happens next. Come up to the yard and I'll give you a bath. Have to be as a dog though, someone might see if you just step out!" Harry stuck out his tongue.
"Right you are there Pronglet! Can't be seen harbouring criminals now can you?!"
Sirius changed into his animagus form and the two headed back up to the yard together.