Shift

Eight—Pursuit


(December 4, 1987)

The rain was painfully pelting the people on the London streets as Sirius struggled forward. Although Harry was quite light, it was awkward and difficult to run quickly with the boy in his arms, and Sirius found himself wishing that he had chosen to carry the child on his back instead. He listened for his pursuer behind him, straining to hear the man's footsteps over the patter of the rain. Thanks to his animagus form, his hearing was better than most and he estimated that the man was a good twenty-five to thirty feet away from him, but gaining steadily. Devlin was hot on his tail, barking and growling, but it didn't matter. Sirius wasn't as fast as he could be because of Harry's weight. The only other sounds Sirius could hear were his own heavy breathing, Harry's quick "Left" or "Right" or "Keep going straight," and the sound of feet splashing into puddles.

He couldn't go on like this for much longer. Carrying Harry wasn't as easy as it had been a few moments ago. He could hardly see through the heavy rain, and he was soaking wet and shivering, as Harry had been a moment ago. His legs ached from running, and his side hurt badly. After all, he hadn't had anywhere to run in six years—being in a jail cell had hardly helped his endurance. But he looked down at his little godson and was surprised to see Harry looking back at him, with fear in his brilliant emerald eyes.

He had to get Harry away.

If the child was caught, Dumbledore would give him a pat on the head, send him back to the Dursleys, and tell him to be a good little boy and not to run away again.

Whatever the Dursleys did to him, Sirius thought, putting on an extra spurt of speed, they won't do it again.

The group rounded a corner, and Sirius nearly bumped into a someone—he couldn't see who. "Sorry," he panted over his shoulder as he raced on with a new passion. He dodged a few children who were splashing in mud puddles, thinking quickly. There wasn't a way out of this. Even if they made it to the library where Harry said he lived, the Auror would be following them the whole way. Sirius' mind raced, trying to find another solution. Something. Anything. He could transform into a dog, but that would be leaving Harry behind.

There was no way out. There was nothing they could do. Sirius racked his brain, the Auror getting closer all the while, but he just kept confirming his despairing thoughts.

"Sirius," a voice said softly. Sirius looked down to see his godson looking up determinedly at him. "Do you trust me?"

Sirius' eyebrows shot up. "Of course," he wheezed, crossing a street, "Why…do you…have any ideas?"

"You know a way out, don't you? You've gotten this far without being seen. You have a way of getting away quickly, haven't you?"

"Yes," Sirius said awkwardly, not knowing how to explain his animagus form without getting into a long discussion about how magic was real.

"Use it."

"Can't," Sirius puffed heavily, "it's…a disguise, only for me. Won't…abandon you."

"I have one too. A disguise sort of…thing. Please, Sirius, put me down and get away."

"No," Sirius said firmly, "Won't—leave you."

"You said you trusted me," Harry argued with a hint of anger and desperation in his voice. "Prove it."

"No."

"Sirius, please. Do you want to get caught? I have a way of getting away too, but it only works on me." Harry paused, and then added what he knew would be the magic words, "It's almost like I can do…magic."

Sirius looked down at his godson calculatingly, shocked. Could Harry really perform magic? There was always, of course, accidental magic, but no one had ever really been able to use it when they wanted to. It came in short, uncontrolled bursts. What if Sirius transformed and then Harry was caught? He couldn't risk it.

"There's no other way!" Harry said desperately as the man grew closer. The boy could see over Sirius' shoulder that the man was close. Almost too close. He nudged the man gently to make sure his godfather was looking at him. "Please, trust me."

Sirius was still thinking rapidly, trying to find another solution, anything…nothing came. And…if Harry tried…whatever he was going to do, and it didn't work, there was a very good chance that their pursuer would chase Sirius anyway—after all, Sirius was the alleged dangerous murderer, and Harry was only a child. It was all they had. Sirius gave in. "Alright," he sighed quietly.

"See that alleyway up ahead? Turn down it and keep running; it's really narrow and it parts in different ways. We'll be sure to lose him."

"You'd better be right." Sirius growled softly as he turned suddenly and ran down the alley.


Kingsley was debating whether or not to use spells—after all, it was muggle London and despite the rain, people were racing by on cars, bikes, and on foot, so he'd have to perform a million memory charms—when Black turned abruptly and began sprinting down an alleyway. Shacklebolt grinned. He was in luck—no one would be able to see his spells down there. This chase was as good as over as far as he was concerned.

But when he turned into the alley, all he saw was…

…nothing.

There was absolutely nothing there.

A few feet ahead, however, the alley parted. Straight, right, or left. He cursed and stood there for a moment, that blasted dog gaining on him every second, and went left.

He hurried away, trying to get as far out of range of those gleaming white teeth as he possibly could. Another fork. This time he went right.

After about five more rights and seven more lefts, he found himself on a street that was nowhere near where he started. Black and Potter were nowhere in sight.


As Kingsley Shacklebolt stood on a sidewalk cursing and kicking a trashcan, Sirius was running forward along a sidewalk with Harry not far in front of him. He was exhilarated, and as he strutted along—or as close to strutting as he could get in his dog form—all he could think over and over again was, My godson's an animagus! My godson's an animagus!

And so he was.

He was a fox, a small fox with beautiful black, silky fur that stretched from his nose almost to the end of his tail; the tip was white. He had long, pointed ears and the same emerald green eyes, although they were now slit like a cat's and had apparently come in handy in the dark alleyway, as Harry had navigated with ease and gotten them out of there in a few moments.

How on earth had Harry done it? He'd broken all records for the youngest animagus, that was for sure. If Sirius had been in human form, he would have grinned. Then again, he is a Marauder's son. And a fox almost seemed to fit his godson: small, silent, and smart. In any case, he and Harry had escaped, (no matter how strangely) and from the sound of things, Harry's dog was following close behind them.

They reached the old library not too long afterwards. It was an old, run-down building as Sirius had expected it to be, with the words GREYBROOK LIBRARY engraved on the doors. They didn't go in the front way, however, in favor of a side window. It had been left ajar, just enough for Harry to slide in with his fox form. His godson hopped into the room, transformed, and opened the window all the way, allowing Sirius to jump in, with Devlin not too far behind. Sirius transformed and shook the rainwater out of his hair. Harry took off the bulky jacket, and Devlin shook violently, spraying water all over everything. "Dev," Harry moaned, "I'm already cold enough as it is."

Sirius could have sworn he saw the dog grin mischievously.

Harry handed the jacket back to Sirius, saying, "Thank you". Sirius nodded and looked around. The library was very small as far as libraries went. There were no lights except for the little light that came through the window. Shadows were all over the walls, and the bookshelves looked rather ominous and spooky in the inky darkness. Harry must have figured out what Sirius was thinking, because he said, "You get used to it after a while."

Sirius turned back to Harry, who was sitting down on a shabby mattress. "You," Sirius began, "You're an—"

"—animagus?" Harry asked. "No, I'm not. But you are, aren't you?"

Sirius nodded. "Yeah, I—" He stopped, staring at his godson, who wore a lopsided grin—almost a smirk—on his face. "How do you know about magic? I thought I'd have to go through the whole thing with you!"

The child simply smiled. "I just do, I'll tell you how later. But you must have escaped from Azkaban like that! I can't believe I didn't figure out how earlier, with the black dog that stopped in the middle of the street to stare at me." Harry shook his head, "That was brilliant of you." he said earnestly, "Figuring how to get out, I mean. It must have been easy to slip past the guards as a dog. And I knew you were magical after you started shaking that picture of Devlin and me."

Sirius smiled. "I've got a godson who's smarter than I am."

Harry blushed.

"Anyway," Sirius said, eyeing his tiny godson. "Back to you. If you're not an animagus, what are you?"

Harry looked away, shrugging slightly.

"What?" Sirius asked, his smile fading quickly. "What's wrong?"

"Promise…I mean, I'm not very normal, and…you won't get angry with me?" he asked quietly, still looking away from his godfather.

"Of course not!" Sirius exclaimed at once, unable to fathom being angry with his newly-found godson. "Harry, whatever it is, it's fine with me, I swear it."

Harry just nodded, as though he didn't quite believe the older man. "Sit down," he said, and Sirius sat down next to him on the mattress, watching him. "Well, I'm not an animagus, and I'm not a metamorphagus either, if that's what you're thinking—I'm pretty sure they can only turn into other people—no, it took me a really long time to figure out what I am. There hasn't been one since Merlin's time, or maybe even earlier than that, so I guess you can tell that we're rare."

"But what are you?" Sirius said, inwardly smiling at how good his godson was at trying to evade a question.

Harry raised his shoulders a little, facing Sirius almost determinedly. "A shapeshifter."

Sirius' eyebrows rose, and for a second, he expected Harry to say that he was only joking. "You're really…?"

His godson nodded.

"No way," Sirius breathed. "I thought they were just legends, or…you know, tall tales that kids tell each other when they're bored. Or the kind of story your parents would tell you before you went to sleep!"

"Like a fairy tale, only for wizards?"

"A fairy tale?" Sirius blinked. "People tell stories about fairies? They must be rather boring."

"Never mind," Harry said, hiding a smile. "I guess it's a muggle thing."

"But I can imagine how it took you so long to figure out what you were. I didn't even know shapeshifters really existed, and as far as I know there aren't any books about them."

"Right. That's what made learning to be one so difficult. I couldn't exactly get lessons if I was the only one alive. But I learned from…" Harry hesitated, and Sirius saw him glance away again. "…certain people." The animagus cocked his head thoughtfully, but he didn't interrupt.

"It's really hard," he continued, and then he was silent for moment. Sirius kept the silence, watching Harry look down at his hands. Then, "When you're an animagus, you keep your own mind. But…but when you're a shapeshifter, the animal's mind and instincts come with the package. Especially the first time. It's like…like…" he struggled to find a description that fit. "Like having someone else in your head, telling you to do stuff, I suppose…but once you shift into the animal again and again, you get better at controlling it. I'm best at being a fox, I think. It's the one I use the most…" He stopped again, gathering his thoughts. "I've tried loads of muggle animals like cats and dogs…a couple of fish and birds…a frog and some mice. Muggle pets like that. I guess it's a lot easier to turn into an animal if it's right in front of you, so turning into Devlin was the one of the first things I tried. But I can turn into snakes and lizards, too, and bugs and squirrels and stuff like that as well. It's usually only hard the first few times, because you have to keep your instincts in check, but after that it gets easier." He was still looking at his hands as he finished.

Sirius stared at Harry, in complete awe. "Harry," he breathed, "this is amazing."

Harry looked up. "You don't think I'm…strange?"

"Of course not!"

The child was silent for a moment, and then he spoke softly, almost in a whisper, "You don't think I'm a freak?...I mean, I don't know why you…"

Sirius looked horrified, and he wrapped his arms around his tiny godson, stopping the child in mid-sentence. He felt Harry stiffen for the second time that day, and decided that Harry would have to get used to being hugged and comforted often from now on. "Never," he murmured, feeling Harry gradually relax in his arms. "You hardly even know me, but I know you. You're my godson, Harry, and I'll never, ever, ever think you're a freak."

Harry was quiet for a long time, and then he leaned into Sirius's embrace, looking fairly amused. "What if I grew another arm or something?"

Sirius smiled. "Even if you grew another limb." He was silent for a moment, and had the opportunity to glance at Devlin, who was still staring at him warily. Sirius stretched his hand out slowly to scratch the dog's head, but Devlin bared his teeth slightly and the animagus drew his hand back. "Odd," he said to Harry. "I'm usually a dog person."

Harry just smiled. "Dev just takes a while to get used to new people. Once he starts to see you a lot…er, I mean, if you stay a while…he'll start to like you more."

The animagus watched as Harry looked away, towards the window.

"Anyway, Harry," Sirius said suddenly, "I was thinking that…well, after the whole thing with that Auror chasing me, I don't think it's safe here."

Harry nodded. "Okay."

"So…I know of a safe place. It's kind of far, but I think it'll be okay."

"Right." Harry said softly, dully. "When are you leaving?"

Sirius looked closely at Harry's face. "I was rather hoping…you'd come as well?" His godson's head shot up quickly, and Sirius continued, "Even though I'm on the run I…had hoped that you would, er…at least, that you would consider coming with me. I don't have much to offer, and I'm not sure we'll always be safe," he added quickly, "but I want to protect you and raise you like your parents wanted…I…will you think about it?" he asked softly.

"I will. Come with you, I mean." Harry said shyly. He heard a snort from Devlin, who was laying on the mattress. Harry shot him a look.

Sirius let out a sigh of relief he hadn't realized he'd been holding. His godson smiled up at him—a Lily smile, a soft one—with her eyes and James's hair. Harry was coming to live with him. And they were safe, at least for the time being. Sirius felt a sense of determination unlike one he had ever felt before, a determination that would not let him rest until Harry was protected.

He didn't realize that he was staring until Harry looked away shyly. Sirius cleared his throat. "Great. Anyway, it's actually your house we're going to. The Potter Safehouse. Some of your relatives built it in case a Potter was ever in trouble. And the house is just that: safe. It's unplottable, with unbreachable wards. It's even safer than my old house."

"Sounds great," Harry said, looking back at him with the same Lily smile. "When are we leaving?"

"As soon as possible."

"Okay. Tomorrow it is, then."


A/N: You have no idea how hard it was to write this chapter—I feel like I revised it a million times! I think this final result is the best revision so far, though it's far from being perfect…oh well, though, I gave it my best shot! And now you guys finally know Harry's secret!

But in other, much more important news—THE LAST BOOK IS COMING! Yay! I feel like I've been waiting for it my whole life! And the sad thing is, I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself when I'm done reading it—I've been reading it for…what, nine years? What else can I read? What else is there to be obsessed with? My life will be pointless after Harry Potter: ) Anyway, it's quite exciting/terrifying to know that by the time the next chapter is up, we can know exactly what happens with Harry and the final battle. So, all I can say is good luck to Harry, good luck getting the seventh book, and happy reading to everyone!

Anyway, I am always eternally grateful to my reviewers, especially because I made it to ONE HUNDRED REVIEWS! Cheers loudly and frightens her poor, clueless five-year-old cousin Thank you guys so, so much! You make my day! Goes off to reassure said cousin that she is not, in fact, insane

Okay, I was luckily able to get this chapter out semi-soon, but the next one might not be out for a while depending on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—if I've got my nose buried in there too long, the next chapter may not be out for a bit! Steps away from Black Panther-Lover who keeps tapping foot impatiently

Thanks again to everyone, and please review!

moonfyre

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