Disclaimer: Uh no, still not owned by me.


The Innocents' Revenge


A/N - Surprise! It's actually not really super late this time. Hope you enjoy it.


Chapter Eight

Ginny couldn't help but sigh as she once again walked down an unfamiliar street, a large grim like dog by her side, heading for an alley where they might apparate to the next location.

It was almost dark. They had been searching all of the places they thought Harry might go to, but none of them revealed any sign that Harry had been there recently.

Looking up at the sky, Ginny thought that might be in his bird form still. It made the most sense to her, and Sirius agreed, she knew. They had spoken of it in the privacy of their last destination. Still, they had to keep searching, just in case.

"We should probably head back," Ginny muttered, entering an alley and going toward the back and around the corner, where nobody would be able to spot her.

As they left the view of the muggles, Padfoot transformed with a slight 'pop', turning back into his human form.

He didn't answer her for a long moment, but then he nodded silently, and held out an arm.

Ginny silently reminded herself to have him teach her how to apparate at the next possible time. Relying on others to take her everywhere was getting annoying.

Only a few moments later, they arrived at Grimmauld Place.

"Any sign of him?" Remus asked as they entered the kitchen. He and Dora were sitting close together at the table, and both had a steaming cup of cocoa in front of them.

"None," Sirius replied, taking a seat.

Dora looked frustrated. "Where could he have gone? It's not like he didn't have someplace to go, orneeded to hide, like before. He could have come here,"

Sirius shook his head. "I may not know why he isn't here, but I do know that he will, in time, make his way back here. He'll miss human company, after a while," he replied.

"Perhaps, but how long will that take?" Remus asked.

Sirius could only shrug.

Remus and Dora exchanged a glance, and the conversation died.

Ginny settled down at the table then S at the end of it, away from whe others sat.

"Maybe he thinks he won't be welcome here?" she suggested after a long while.

"Why wouldn't he be?" Sirius asked, his brow furrowing in confusion.

"Well, think about it. He was a deatheater, before he left, and to the wizarding world, he is seen as the betrayer. Perhaps he thinks the Order won't accept him back, and since we're staying at Headquarters, he isn't willing to come here," she expanded on her previous comment.

Sirius looked thoughtful. "Then, how do we let him know he can come here?"

There was no answer for that. The only way was for Harry to seek them out, and that seemed like an unreasonable thing to wait for. They were all impatient to see him again.


"Do you think we should wait for Harry to be found?" Dora asked.

The soon to be married couple were still in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, though Sirius and Ginny had retired to their rooms.

"Wait for what?" Remus replied, looking up. He clearly had been buried in his thoughts.

"The wedding,"

"It's already planned. We can't very well change the date, again," Remus pointed out.

"We could, though. Every person we invited we speak to regularly. It wouldn't be too difficult to inform them all,"

Remus frowned. "You're sure you want Harry to be there?"

"You don't want Harry there?" Dora returned.

"Of course I do. It's just; I want the old Harry there. The one who enjoyed spending time with Sirius. The one who fell in love with Ginny. The one who hadn't yet murdered under Voldemort's orders.

"This new Harry just isn't the same. He didn't even recognise you, if you recall. Perhaps…perhaps it's better to go on with the wedding without him," Remus replied, looking slightly guilty.

Dora looked troubled. "It's true that he didn't recognise me, but that was while he was still in prison. He's probably better now. And that old Harry…he's still there, deep down,"

"You don't know that. You heard what Sirius said. Azkaban changes people. Permanently. We have no way of knowing just what Harry knows or thinks anymore,"

"Okay. How about, we delay the wedding just a week. Give him time to return if he wants. Then is he hasn't, we can go on without him," Dora suggested.

Remus nodded. "That sounds reasonable,"

He stood from the table, and took Dora and his empty cocoa cups over to the sink, to be washed later.


In his mind, Harry cursed once again as he flapped his wings to gain altitude. Hunting, he found, was not that easy, even with his raptor eyes and quick reflexes.

He hadn't thought it would be too difficult. He had, after all, been a brilliant seeker, and how much different could hunting little animals be?

Apparently very different.

All he had managed to catch, in the past two hours, was a measly rabbit, which he had gobbled down instantly, hungry as he was. The raw meat, though not horrible due to his animal mindset, felt weird going down, and Harry couldn't help but cringe.

Perhaps a bird lifestyle wasn't the best way for him to live.


"You don't think he'd go live with the muggles, do you?" Hermione asked. She was technically supposed to be at Hogwarts, but Dumbledore had allowed her to stay a few days longer, due to Harry going missing. Luna and Neville, on the other hand, had returned to Hogwarts. Their absence would be more noticed than Hermione's. Her head girl duties had her disappearing during classes and at odd times during the day.

Ginny and Sirius exchanged a glance.

"It's always possible, I suppose," Sirius replied, frowning.

"Especially since the Ministry hasn't announced that he has escaped. The muggles aren't even looking for him," Ginny added, looking thoughtful.

"We're sure the Ministry actually hasn't caught him, right? And we just haven't heard any news of it?" Hermione asked then.

"Moody would have informed us of that," Sirius reassured her.

Hermione frowned, but then nodded.

Ginny got up from the table and headed into the other room, not feeling like discussing this any longer.

Sirius silently got up and left the room too, leaving Hermione alone. She stared at the maps of Britain that were spread out on the table. Red X's covered them in every place Sirius, Ginny, or another person had searched for Harry. So far, he seemed to be at none of them.

This worried Hermione extremely. She knew Harry knew how to handle sticky situations - his first five years at Hogwarts were proof enough of that - and he had encountered enough things to know how to handle himself if a dangerous situation ever came up, but she still didn't know what to think.

It was as if Harry had simply dropped off the face of the planet.


Harry crept quietly through the darkened town, heading toward a store near the outer edge. Hunting had turned into a disaster when he had nearly been killed by an even bigger bird than he was, and he had quickly retreated, heading for the nearest town for something to eat.

Yet, he couldn't actually just walk in and buy something. He couldn't know who was out looking for him. Surely the Ministry, at the very least, but most likely other people as well.

The store doors were locked, but Harry had already assumed that they would be. He looked around, surreptitiously, and seeing no one, picked the lock with a pin that he had found earlier and had been storing for such an occasion.

With a 'click' the door opened and Harry entered, glad there was no alarm on the door.

Not daring to turn on the lights, Harry walked through the store, staying out of the view of the windows, just in case, and walked to the bakery section. His grabbed several loaves of bread put them in a bag he had acquired, and then headed to the canned goods. From there he stole several cans of fruit and vegetables, and a tool to open them with.

Finally, he crept back out of the store, locking the building back up, and walked away, hoping to look casual.

Feeling a slight guilt as he glanced backwards, he sighed. He had completed worse crimes, of course, but stealing like this, in the middle of the night, seemed more wrong than anything he had done in any other circumstances, though he wasn't sure why.

Reaching the edge of town, Harry set the bag of food down, turned into a bird, then picked the bag back up in his talons and gained air until he was soaring above the village.

It didn't take long for him to reach his hiding place, in a large tree. An abandoned nest from some bird, larger than Harry, suited him perfectly as a place to stay for a while, until he figured out what to do.

Dropping the bag, Harry changed back into his human self and then instantly started digging through the bag, eager for the meal.


"What do you think?" Dora asked, posing in front of a mirror.

Ginny shrugged, but Andromeda started gushing over how beautiful her daughter was.

They were trying to find a wedding dress quickly, since the date was only a few days away.

"Ginny?"

"It's fine," Ginny promptly replied to Dora's inquiry.

Dora sighed, her good mood dropping. "Ginny, this was supposed to take your mind off of other things. Pay attention, will you?" she scolded lightly.

Ginny gave her a half smile. "I'm okay. Really," she assured.

Dora studied her for another moment, then turned back to the mirror. "I don't know which one I like better, this one or the first,"

"Well, the first looks slightly more flattering, but I like the touch of colour that this one has," Andromeda stated her opinion.

Ginny once again tuned them out. Though she knew this day was important to Dora, she couldn't find it in herself to be excited. Not when Harry was going to miss it.


A/N - Next chapter : Dora and Remus' wedding, and Harry finds his place in the world.

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