Azkaban Inmates

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter universe.

Sorry for any errors. Can't wait to read your thoughts

Year: 1984

I might have underestimated the difficulty of finding Ardan. Not long after we ate the wounded wild boar I told Sirius to hold onto me tightly. Then I Apparated us to a forest I was familiar with in London, on the outskirts of town. We really needed to at least get a malnourishment potion or something. The first thing we did when we arrived was throw up again. Afterward he was amazed that I managed to Apparate without a wand. He was even more amazed when I told him I don't need a wand to do any spell. Didn't even when I was learning in school.

"You get more and more fascinating, luv." I remember him saying.

I thought I would find him within four hours of being back here, tops. According to the newspaper he is living around this area. It took fifty hours to spot him though. I could barely think of anything else. My brain was in tunnel vision. I was obsessed. I didn't sleep. I spent the entire 50 hours searching except the one I lightly dozed.

Most of the time I spent debating on how to do it. Wait until a full moon, rip him to shreds, and make it seem like a werewolf did it? I tossed that idea aside the moment it entered my brain. How about I simply cast Adava Kedavra on him and be done with it? Every bone in my body wants him dead. I spent two and a half years in Azkaban stewing and five years before that wanting him dead too. Some people are simply unable to do such a dark spell, but I hate him more than enough.

Should I stupefy him and snap his neck? Stupefy him and rip him to shreds? Torture him like he did me and the triplets? I could bind him and make it painful. Making him suffer sounds good.

Yes every other time I tried killing him it didn't work, but that was because he slipped away and escaped. He thinks I am in Azkaban, the element of surprise is on my side. Now is he finally in my line of vision. Ardan is weaving in and out of alleyways heading somewhere. Unexpectedly he comes to a stop and looks at the sky in thought. What is he doing? I decided it did not matter. His senses aren't as heightened as mine, but because our father was a werewolf he does have keen senses. I stayed back and made sure to be extra quiet.

He was wearing plain black robes. Very suspicious considering what his normal entire is. His straight blonde hair framed his face, blue eyes were thoughtful, and thin lips pursed. As tempting as killing him slowly and painfully was, I really just wanted him GONE. I wanted to do it while nobody was around. While he doesn't know I am here.

I shift from my fox form to my full-human façade. My hand lifts to point straight at him. Adava Kedavra, I thought strongly and hatefully. Vivid green light shot from my fingertips, down the alley, and hit my unsuspecting older brother directly in the side. I really did miss the feeling of magic surging through my veins, warm and electric. Shifting in my Animagus form is a different feeling than actual spells.

Just like in my fantasy in Azkaban I walk over to his dead body with a widening smile. Then I start to laugh. He was truly and finally dead. My laugh turned hysterical. I sounded insane, probably looked it too.

After a moment I decided to get rid of the body. My brother will simply go missing and never be found. Incendio. Fire circled his body, flames licked at his flesh eagerly. When his whole body was burned to ash the flames vanished into thin air. I waved my hand and the ashes vanish as well.

Sirius helped me find him. He stayed awake, searching high and low with me. I wasn't very good company to be around during that fifty hour hunt. I was feeling very dark, obsessed, and vindictive. It showed in my action and words. Guilt twisted in my gut at the way I treated my Padfoot. When we finally spotted him, Sirius told me that this was something I needed to do alone. Isn't he sweet?

We agreed on where to meet up again and Sirius left. I was currently sitting down, leaning against a tree. Bark dug into me harshly. We agreed to meet in the same place I originally Apparated us to. That was where I was now. I sat in contemplative silence as I waited for Sirius. Hours passed and I drifted into an uneasy sleep. I work up later with a choked scream on my lips. Sirius jerked back, startled. I shook the horrible dream away and focused on him.

"I was just about to wake you. Sorry I was gone so long." Sirius's British voice was smooth now, no longer hoarse and cracked.

His teeth were clean and his beard long gone completely. Sirius was wearing deep sapphire blue robes that had black edges around the bottom, edges of the sleeves, and the edge of the hood he wasn't wearing. He was still skeleton thin and his hair, even though cut to reach his shoulders, was still filthy.

"I went to Knockturn Alley and got a wand for me." He continued. "Took a hell of a long time too. It was a complex and rather disturbing experience. A much darker process than Ollivander uses I'm sure. Then I got some clothes and some healing potions. I ordered the potions by owl. That took at least two and a half hours. I already took mine, revolting."

Sirius shuddered at the word revolting. I chuckled.

"I also got us some lotions, soaps, and shampoos with potions in them. They'll help with our hair and skin." He rambled cutely, talking with his hands. "I don't know about you but I feel awful. I cannot wait to finally bath and use all of it. Hopefully it will make me look less like a walking corpse. I don't want to frighten my poor godson. There's a muggle motel not far from here and I got us a room for a few nights. I'm not sure how long it will take to find Harry and I would love to finally sleep on a real bed again. Of course I'm not the best when it comes to the knowledge of muggles and the like, I'm sure I must have seemed quite the bumbling idiot. I did try my best though. Maybe I didn't do too horribly. Now that I think about it I should have worn muggle clothes. I did buy some for us."

"Sirius." I cut in softly, turquoise eyes amused. He stops talking with sheepish smile. His arms fell to his sides. "May I have the muggle clothes you picked out for me and the potions?"

There were many potions. I was glad to see one was for malnourishment. I took that one first. A grimace twists my features at the horrid taste. I reach for a different one, another for my health. The last one for now was for my teeth. It will help strengthen them again as well as whiten. I had to swish it around my mouth and keep it there for a few minutes before swallowing.

Then I twirled my finger to tell Sirius to turn around. I put on blue jeans, a black tank top, a red shirt over it, and a lovely black coat that buttoned. It had a cloth belt that wrapped around my middle and tied in the front. I had to shrink everything to make them fit my bony frame. My jeans tucked into black and red motorcycle boots. We both pulled our hoods up to cover our faces before leaving.

I showered first and the hot water felt marvelous. After I scrubbed myself clean with the soap and shampoo Sirius bought, I sat in the shower and let the water run over me a few minutes. The motel only had one bed. Which was more than fine with me. I've grown accustomed to sleeping with Sirius. Even if the room had two beds I would have slept on his anyway.

A bag was on the table and my clothes were folded on the chair for now. I was wearing boxers, fluffy pajama bottoms, and a black shirt that was oversized purposefully. Sirius recently got out of the shower and his wet ebony hair looked like curls again instead of a lumpy mess. We were sitting next to each other on the bed. The feeling of the comfortable mattress and leaning against the soft pillows and headboard was wonderful. It was one I missed. And think, tonight I will sleep with blankets again… lovely.

We were nibbling on some of the food Sirius also got. He left that out in his little speech. Perhaps he would have gotten there eventually if I hadn't interrupted. Now that we were alone I let myself relax into my true form. My tail was in my lap, claws ran through the soft fur. My vertically oriented pupils were focused on Sirius's face. Wide white ears stood straight and tall.

"I've been pulling you this way and that ever since we got out." I told him, thick Irish lilt smooth once more. "It's your turn now. What's the plan for tomorrow, Padfoot? Where do we start looking for young Harry?"

"I haven't decided for certain yet." He mused. "I was thinking we could discuss it over breakfast if you'd like. There is a small little place we can go to that I saw nearby. We shouldn't be seen too much in the wizarding world. That's why I stuck to Knockturn Alley and ordering by owl. Being seen by muggles isn't so bad. Much safer than showing our faces in wizarding communities. I withdrew plenty of money and transferred half into muggle money. Luckily you don't have to be physically in the bank to do that. All I had to do is prove I had access to the account. Easy breezy."

"I know how banks work." I say amusedly. "You realize I am grown pureblooded witch and not an eleven year old mudblood?"

"Muggleborn." He corrected. Damn, I slipped up again. Why is that habit so hard to break? "And yes obviously I know that."

"Do you? I'm not so sure." I teased straight-faced. He nudged me with a crooked smile.

"So would you like to go to breakfast with me tomorrow?" He looked at me out of the corner of his eye through those long black lashes. "We could…. even make it a date... if you'd like."

He asked the last part quietly, hesitantly. I was surprised, pleasantly so, but when I didn't reply immediately Sirius mistook my silence for an upcoming rejection and started rambling.

"It doesn't have to be a date if you don't want it to be. We're friends, right? We've been through so much together in the last couple years, physically and emotionally. You mean a lot to mean Riona. If you want us to be just friends that's perfectly fine. I don't want to make anything strange between us and -"

I interrupt by putting a single finger over his lips, making sure my claw didn't cut him. My other hand stilled on my tail. His pink lips were full again and no longer chapped. For the first time since Merlin knows when a smile stretched across my lips. It was small but genuine.

"I would love nothing more than to go on a date with you, Sirius. You mean a lot to me as well." I reply with a soft tone and a fluttering belly. For the first time since the triplets' death, it seems things are finally looking up. This has been such a marvelous day. I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.