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Remus spent several hours trying to inform Sirius of what he knew about plane travel and passing through customs and the knowledge and behaviour he would need to know to not attract the suspicions of the authorities and be allowed onto the plane.
"Planes depend heavily on their electrical systems, it is vital that you do not use magic at all while on the plane. Even the smallest spell cast in the wrong direction could bring down the plane and kill everyone onboard. As hard as it will be I think you need to pack your wand into your checked luggage or give it to me for the flight," Remus explained.
"But I cannot defend myself without it," Sirius protested. "What if they lose it."
"You should have no need to defend yourself on the plane and even if you need to you must not use magic anyway the results would be catastrophic if you breached the hull or the magic affected the plane's engines or controls, you could cause hundreds of deaths, including both of ours," Remus replied seriously. "Either you put your wand in your checked luggage or you give it to me to put in my carry-on bag. I'm more accustomed to not being able to use magic and can trust myself not to take unnecessary risks."
"I don't know if I can do this," Sirius fretted.
"Do you want me to book the train and boat tickets?" Remus asked.
Reminding him of the alternative seemed to steady Sirius and he shook his head, "We don't have time, who knows what's happening to Harry in a month. We are going to fly but I might need a calming draught or two."
'A couple of doses of Dreamless sleep might be more appropriate' Remus thought to himself. He knew that Sirius wouldn't take it willingly though, he wouldn't be comfortable being that vulnerable in front of people he didn't trust implicitly. Still he resolved to get a dose or two just in case he had to trick Sirius into drinking it.
"Could I travel in my animagus form?" Sirius suggested. Dogs weren't capable of the type of anxiety that humans were and it was the only time he was happy about other people being in charge of his movements and actions.
"I'm afraid you can't travel as a dog internationally, I don't know enough about the quarantine requirements to forge the paperwork and you could end up spending months in a cage when we got there if it isn't right," Remus replied.
Remus dragged Sirius out shopping forcing him to purchase a small nondescript muggle wardrobe. He vetoed most of Sirius initial choices as being inappropriate for a male his age, being either too young, to marginal or too obviously night clubbing gear or other things not appropriate to be worn during the day unless you were a pimp. Eventually after a long day of arguing and coaxing he managed to find three outfits that Sirius agreed to wear though he grumbled were boring. Outfits that wouldn't attract attention from the airport staff or fellow travellers. Sirius insisted on buying him new outfits as well stating that his current clothes also drew too much attention because they were too old and worn. He had a point and Remus allowed himself to be persuaded.
They made several trips on the subway, Remus claimed that the aeroplane would be much more comfortable but that Sirius had to get used to being surrounded by muggles in a place he could not use magic and they would be travelling to the airport by muggle trains so it would be better if he was at least familiar with this first leg of their journey so they wouldn't be stopped before even getting on the plane.
-o0o-
In the end Remus thought it might have been easier for him to lock Padfoot into his animagus form and have him transported in a cage that way except for the need to have proof of rabies vaccinations and the ten days he'd need to stay caged in quarantine on arrival. Even still by the time they landed Remus felt it might have been worth it. He ended up needing to give him two calming draughts just to get him through airport security and onto the plane gate a third to manage take-off followed by the dreamless sleep potion as soon as the seatbelt warning sign went off and he could recline his seat and then had to give him a second dreamless sleep within half an hour of him waking, with another two calming draughts to handle landing, disembarking and customs. They managed to get out of the airport without attracting too much attention, the staff merely believing that Sirius had overindulged in the free alcohol on offer on international flights. He then had to check his almost stoned best friend into the airport hotel and letting him sleep off the excess potions. Thank Merlin they'd paid extra to take a direct flight from London to Sydney and hadn't had to change planes though they had landed for refuelling at one stage.
-o0o-
While Sirius was sleeping Remus called Kessie and asked her if she felt she was closer to Harry.
"Yes Mr Remus, he bes closer, he bes that way," Kessie replied happily, pointing to him being in a southerly direction to them. "He bes sleeping and heathy."
This was no great surprise as their flight arrived in the middle of the Australian night and the direction meant they were at least in the right country and he wouldn't have to put Sirius on another plane. With Harry and Sirius both asleep Remus decided to go to bed himself and deal with everything in the morning. He hoped the boy didn't get seasick because he swore they would be returning home by boat.
Unsurprisingly, Sirius woke up before Remus. "Did you call Kissy? Could she tell you anything about Harry?" Sirius asked urgently, shaking his friend awake.
"Yes, she says he's still south of here. There is a magical school in Victoria so it's possible he's there but I'm not sure where the New South Wales school is so he could still be there too or he could be living completely in the muggle world.
"He really is here in Australia? You were right? We might find him today" Sirius said grinning hugely.
"Yes he's here, Kessie said he was feeling well and mostly content if a little sleepy and disgruntled which makes sense if he was woken up for school. I don't think he's much of a morning wizard,"
Remus replied. "But don't get your hopes up too high. Australia is a lot bigger than Great Britain. If he isn't at one of the magical schools it could still take weeks to locate him."
Sirius sprung out of bed and headed towards the door. "What are we waiting for? Let's go."
"The train south probably doesn't leave for hours, you have more than enough time to shower and clean up," Remus said calmly. "You don't want to find Harry only to have him run off in horror from two scruffy homeless looking wizards," he teased. "We need to get closer to be able to triangulate his position. Wait here and I'll go and ask for information on how to travel south and where to get us both some breakfast."
Sirius jumped up and hurried into the bathroom. The man that emerged nearly an hour later was clean and well-groomed though still a little too thin.
Deciding not to attempt an areophane even for a short trip again after Sirius' reaction last time, Remus asked the hotel reception for alternative muggle options to travel south. She recommended that they hire a car but also mentioned options for train travel either the express to Melbourne or the country rail lines south to Nowra and then catch busses if they needed to go further south or inland from there.
They ate in the restaurant then decided that before they left Sydney they needed more information about magical schools, shopping areas and travel options. Having no idea where the magical section of Sydney was, Remus assumed it would be in the middle of the city like Diagon Alley was in London. He followed the helpful receptionists directions to take the train into the city and hoped from the Central Station they would find some indication of how to find it the magical shopping area. In the end they hid in an Alley and asked Kessie if she knew where the magical shopping district was, she pointed in the direction of it but only wailed miserably at her failure when she couldn't tell them where the entrance was.
"Are you able to pop there and get directions on how to get there from the muggle world and come back and tell us?" Remus asked.
"Yes Sirs," Kessie said happily. She popped away and was back ten minutes later, with a piece of paper with the directions written on it.
The bar tender in the gateway pub, was happy to provide them with the basic information they needed. He had a quidditch brochure providing the dates and locations of the interschool competition with the addresses of each school and its apparition co-ordinates on them. "New South Wales Academy is close enough to apparate but the rest are too far for me. You can get portkeys to the games with the tickets from the department of magical sports at the ministry but I think for the east coast schools it's easier to travel the muggle way. It's certainly cheaper," the bartender told them.
Remus disagreed but when he checked the games fixture there were no games scheduled at either of the schools to the south of them for more than a week, and he doubted they could pass for a couple of prospective parents without a child so they decided that it would be a bad idea to apparate into the school without an appointment looking for a child they weren't related to and who will not recognise them when they found him. Unfortunately, that only left muggle transportation. Taking the maps and thanking the bartender they made their way back into the muggle world and to Central Station to wait for the next available train south.
"I've booked us tickets on the train heading to Wollongong, near the New South Wales Academy of Magic," Remus said, neither he nor Sirius had ever learned to drive, Sirius heavily enchanted flying motorcycle really didn't count when it came to having the skills to drive a normal car.
They had several hours before the train left so they went shopping to buy some genuine Australian muggle wear as the things they'd brought in London were far too thick and hot to wear in the Australian heat. They explored the magical shopping centre in Sydney and found more information on all the Australian schools before they boarded the train south to Wollongong. Remus had to admit he was impressed with the school brochures and curriculums and wondered how they stacked up against Hogwarts. Finding a deserted alley they called Kessie who shook her head when they asked if Harry was within ten kilometres, and indicated that Harry was still south of them, the New South Wales Academy of Magic was north of the city centre which ruled that out so they waited for the next train and travelled to the end of the line. Kessie confirmed that Harry was still south of them but they had to wait overnight before they could catch a bus south. After a poor night's sleep in a dingy hotel room over a noisy pub where Remus wouldn't let them cast any magic to fix the problems, they climbed on the bus heading down the coast. It was a pretty drive but Sirius found being in a bus for hour just as annoying as being on the plane, and not much less stressful so they only travelled about four hours before he dragged Remus off the bus. "There has to be a better way!" he insisted.
"We don't have coordinates to apparate to, we can't just blindly apparate south because the
coastline curves and we may end up in the middle of the ocean or having to obliviate dozens of innocent muggles. I honestly don't know of another way unless you want to walk or return to Sydney to buy a couple of brooms. It's only about another 450 kilometres to the south coast," Remus said sarcastically.
"Okay we'll get back on the bus," Sirius agreed sighing only to find that it had gone on. "How long until the next one?"
"There's not another one until the same time tomorrow so unless you want to start walking we should look for a place to stay," Remus replied tiredly.
Luckily, they were still near the coast and it wasn't the high season for tourists so finding a motel room wasn't difficult even if the desk clerk did look at them oddly when they didn't have a car. He did recommend several decent places to eat within walking distance though and checked them in willingly enough once they offered to pay cash in advance for the night's lodgings.
Sirius fumed at the delay and Remus reminded him that it had been his idea to get off the bus. After another poor night's sleep on a second rate mattress they were eager to get back on the bus and though he continued to grumble about the method of transportation he agreed to stay on it until they arrived at Bairnsdale where they could transfer to the train. They'd continued to call Kessie whenever they'd had a toilet break and been able to get enough privacy to erect a silencing charm and though she'd looked quite disgusted to be called into male public toilets was able to tell them that Harry was well and content and still grossly south of their current position until the next day when he started to indicate south west of them. Remus was able to stop Sirius from abandoning the bus by showing him that once they got to Victoria they would be travelling in a mostly westerly direction.
Once they got to Bairnsdale where there would be several trains per day to continue their journey, Remus was able to convince Sirius to stop to stretch their legs and for a decent meal and to book a motel room so they could rest for several hours and clean up a bit before continuing west. The werewolf was feeling travel sick from the movement of the bus and would have loved to stay the night before continuing but Sirius was now desperate to find Harry.
-o0o-
Harry and his friends were walking along the path from the school to the train station after afternoon Quidditch practice when Sirius and Remus finally caught up with them. There weren't many students around them at this time of day other than the team and some senior students that had stayed back to study.
"Harry!" Sirius cried running towards him. He stopped short as Harry and Hermione both pulled their wands and pointed them at him, their friends not understanding what was happening moved closer to the pair and also pulled out their wands but didn't point them at the two strangers. "Harry. I'm not going to hurt you," he said hurt. "I'm your godfather!"
"I don't have a godfather!" Harry said bluntly. He had read in old copies of 'The Daily Prophet' that Sirius Black was the godfather of the boy-who-lived and that he'd been in prison since his parents were killed but the papers had also reported Hagrid's testimony that the same Sirius Black had handed baby Potter over to him without any protest or even asking where Hagrid was going to take him.
Sirius looked gutted. "Harry, you do. I was your father's best friend and it was my honour to be asked to be your godfather," he protested.
"Sirius," calm down and step back and talk to Harry in a rational manner. You're frightening Harry and his friends."
"Sirius Black?" Harry asked, shocked.
"Yes Pup, I was your uncle Siri, sometimes you called me Pa'foo" Sirius said eagerly.
"Pa'foo, why on earth would I call you Pa'foo?" Harry asked confused and disbelieving.
"My animagus name is Padfoot, your Dad used to call me that a lot of the time," Sirius explained.
Hermione's eyes lit up and Harry nudged her in the ribs to stop her from asking about learning the animagus process.
"I don't remember you and nobody has ever told me about you," Harry said sceptically.
"They might have been reluctant to talk about Sirius because he was in prison," Remus said hesitantly.
"Or it might have had something to do with the fact that nobody ever bothered to tell me who my parents' friends were. They were all happy enough to dump me at the Dursleys and not even tell me I was a wizard until I turned eleven," Harry sniped. "And you are?"
"Remus Lupin, I was also a close friend of your father's, you used to call me Unca Mus or Unca Mooey," Remus said.
"And where have you been for the last twelve years Mr Lupin?" Harry asked, ignoring the pet names.
"I'm a werewolf Harry, I wasn't allowed to be near you. The wards at your Aunt and Uncles would've kept dark creatures like me out," Remus said quietly.
"They let that fat Walrus and his son abuse me so I think your overestimating the strength of the wards. In any case I'm sure they wouldn't have kept phone calls and letters out, and I spent seven hours a day outside the wards every school day from the age of five," Harry argued unimpressed.
Remus looked abashed but Sirius looked angry at having his friend talked to like that.
"Were all my parents' other friends werewolves, dark creatures or in jail as well?" Harry asked.
"No of course not, your parents were respectable people, some of their friends were killed during the war but there must still be some out there," Sirius said naively.
"Then perhaps you could explain to me why none of their friends bothered to check and see if I was being looked after?" Harry said cynically. "Why, if my parents were respectable people who were well liked and regarded, I was dumped on my mother's sister's doorstep in the middle of the night and forgotten?"
There was an awkward silence as neither man had a reasonable answer.
"How did you find Harry anyway?" Hermione asked, breaking it.
"And why were the two of you looking for me in the first place?" Harry added.
"Harry you are our pup, our family. Once I was freed from prison the first thing I did was to try to visit you. Then they told me you'd disappeared. I was devastated. I took an oath to love and protect James' son and to provide him a home if his parents weren't able to care for him," Sirius stated.
"That doesn't tell us how you found Harry," Hermione said before Harry could point out that the oath was worthless since the man clearly hadn't done any of those things for the last twelve years and he didn't need his help now thank you very much.
"We got a direction and just travelled along it until we ran into you," Sirius said.
"The point me spell only works over fairly short distances," Hermione said shaking her head certainly.
"That's true for witches and wizards but a house elf can locate their bonded family at a much greater distance," Remus said gently. "Kessie is a Potter family elf and while from Britain she could only tell us that Harry was not in the United Kingdom or Western Europe, she could tell us how Harry was at any given time."
"Remus used the times that Harry woke up and was sleeping to narrow down the time zones he was likely to be in. deciding you were more likely to be in an English speaking country we narrowed it down to most likely New Zealand or Australia and flew to Sydney. From there Kissy could tell us what direction you were in so we caught the train south. From Wollongong she continued to point us in this direction eliminating the New south Wales school so we headed for Melbourne on a muggle bus."
"And you used a map to triangulate once you knew the direction Harry was from Sydney and Melbourne," Hermione said enthusiastically.
Remus nodded weakly not wanting to admit that they'd been stopping each hour or so and asking Kessie to point them in Harry's direction. It would have been a lot easier and less stressful for them to have returned to Sydney once they'd ruled out the Wollongong school and caught the overnight express to Melbourne like Hermione had assumed they did and he didn't want Harry to know they'd been stupid about looking for him.
"Can anyone else find me like that?" Harry asked anxiously.
"Only someone on good enough terms with your family to remember the names of your house elves and have them answer your call," Remus replied.
"How many people are likely to be able to do that?" Hermione asked.
"We are two of your father's three best friends who would have been, the third actually betrayed James and Lily to Voldemort so the elves wouldn't trust him now, and there are possibly a couple of your mother's and grandparents' closest friends who would be close enough to know one of the elves names," Remus reassured him. "Your mother's friends are less likely, she didn't often use a house elf for anything she could do herself and her household charms were first rate."
"So, you could have found me easily enough while I was with the Dursleys? Why didn't you? Why didn't any of you look for me or visit me?" Harry asked staring at Remus directly. He had no memory of either man though he'd read in the papers that Sirius Black was his godfather. He knew from the newspapers that Sirius had been in prison since shortly after he'd been left at the Dursley's until just before he'd left them after blowing up his aunt. But he had no idea where Remus had been or why the man who claimed to be one of his father's closest friends hadn't tried to visit him.
"I was in prison," Sirius said quietly, unsure how much his godson knew.
"Yes, but surely you aren't the only one of my parents' friends that attended the funeral and claimed to care about my wellbeing," Harry said cynically. "Does my father have any living relatives? Why were you in prison? What did you do?"
"There are no close relatives on the Potter side but your grandmother was a Black so we're third cousins as is Narcissa Malfoy and Andromeda Tonks, and Bellatrix Lestrange, though she's in Azkaban for life. Narcissa has a son about your age," Sirius replied.
"Draco Malfoy. Well I must say I'm glad they never came looking for me. I doubt I'd have survived the encounter, his father tried to kill me last year," Harry said disgustedly.
Sirius paled. "If he never came looking for you how were you in a position that he almost killed you?" he asked in horror.
"He's a member of the school board of governors, he tried to cast a curse starting with the word Avada on me in the hallway outside the headmaster's office at Hogwarts. Dobby blew him back down the hall way and made him leave," Harry said. "I think that was the seventh time someone tried to kill me in that school. I'm not going back there, if that's why you came," Harry said defensively.
"He tried to kill you inside the school and nothing was done?" Sirius breathed in horror.
"Remember that Mum and Dad have legal custody, Harry. They can't take you anywhere," Hermione said supportively.
"We need to get going, we're going to miss the train," Harry said glad that this wasn't one of the days he'd had to drag Hermione out of the library at the last minute. They'd kept walking while they were talking to the two men who seemed content to walk along with them even though they'd just come from that direction but they needed to pick up the pace if they weren't to miss the train.
"Or we could go back into the school grounds and apparate home," Hermione said.
"You could, coach said I'm not cleared to apparate until tomorrow so I better get moving to the station. I hit my head in practice," Harry replied.
"Did you see the mediwitch?" Hermione asked concerned.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Harry replied.
"You're not fine! You'd be allowed to apparate if you were fine!" Hermione huffed.
"You aren't old enough to apparate," Remus commented.
"We are here, the Australian laws are different," Harry replied. "And I am fine Hermione but there are side affects of apparating after taking the concussion potion
"Students are taught to apparate at school and get a limited apparition license at thirteen, though there are limits on the distance they're allowed to travel and they cannot go anywhere unfamiliar or try to take someone with them until they're sixteen. The age difference is probably because there's not a floo network here and Australia is so huge to get around, and portkeys are so horribly expensive when used everyday," Hermione added helpfully. "The school saves a fortune by letting the students who live close enough apparate or catch muggle transport."
"That does make sense," Remus said mildly.
"What position do you play? Your father was a seeker," Sirius asked eagerly.
"Seeker," Harry replied.
"Do you play for your house team?" Sirius asked.
"Bunyip doesn't have houses, I play on the school team," Harry replied.
"It's a pity you couldn't play for Gryffindor like your father," Sirius said.
"Who said I was a Gryffindor?" Harry said wanting to break Sirius' idea that he was just like his father.
Hermione frowned at him as Sirius and Remus jaws both dropped.
"Of course, he was a Gryffindor," Hermione said rolling her eyes.
"I do look better in green than red though," Harry said superciliously.
"You had me going there. Great prank Harry!" Sirius said cheerfully.
"It goes to show though that you don't know anything about me. Why did you come looking for me now Mr Lupin?" Harry asked staring pointedly at the yellow eyed man. "Was it just because Sirius needed your help?"
Remus looked sad. "No Harry I wanted to find you. We were both worried about you," he said earnestly.
"Did you know my Aunt and Uncle?" Harry asked.
"I met them at your parents' wedding," Remus admitted.
"And did they strike you as the type of people who would treat a wizarding child well?" Harry asked bluntly.
"They weren't the most open minded or even tempered of people," Remus admitted vaguely, the sudden look of concern in his eyes spoke louder though. He had known that Lily's sister and her husband hated all things magical, especially James Potter and he knew Vernon Dursley had an explosive temper, and Petunia had a tendency to hold grudges, he just hadn't bothered to think about what that would mean for Harry.
"But you were never worried about me then, when I needed you? And now you are so worried about me in spite of the fact I have been legally fostered and child protection is now doing their duty and checking on my wellbeing, that you came halfway around the world?" Harry asked harshly before turning and striding into the station and onto the train. "I don't buy it."
Hermione managed to follow him but Sirius and Remus were motionless in shock for a moment and the train doors shut in their faces.
Harry slumped on the seat with his face in his hands and Hermione sat beside him rubbing his back comfortingly.
"Do you want me to ring Mum and Dad?" Hermione asked.
"You'd better, they'll be able to find us again as soon as the train stops," Harry replied.
"For what it's worth I think Sirius really just wants to know you're okay and get to know you," Hermione said.
"Yeah maybe, but I want your Mum and Dad there," Harry replied. "the idea of having a godfather's great and all but I don't know anything about him. And you know what we read about him in the newspaper, even if he didn't betray my parents there has to be a reason that everyone thought he did. They wouldn't have thrown him in prison unless they were sure, would they? I'm scared Hermione."
Hermione pulled coins out of her pocket and prepared to bolt off the train for the payphones to call her mother. The train always stopped a little longer at Warragul to let the westbound train pass so there would be time to make the call and get back on the train.
"Mum, I'm at Warragul so I can't chat can you meet us at Yarragon station. Harry's godfather's turned up. We managed to get on the train without him but he has a way of tracking Harry unless we're moving. Hurry please." Hermione rang off and bolted back towards the train leaping onto the carriage as it started to move. Harry hauled her in and saw Sirius Black and Remus Lupin run onto the platform as he shut the door.
"I hope she understood me I was speaking so fast," Hermione told him.
"She will, she's used to the way you ramble when you're excited. I just hope she gets there before Sirius," Harry replied.
"Sirius and Remus are using a house elf so they have to get somewhere they won't be seen before they call him or her and they don't know the area so they're apparating blind, hopefully that will slow them down," Hermione said.
"I wish I could call Dobby and find out more about the elf they're using. If Remus was telling the truth about it being mine, surely I can ask it to stop telling them where I am," Harry said.
"That's what we'll do, we'll ask Mum to drive us back to school where it's safe to use magic and call Dobby. He might know how to call your family's elves. You're right, they should obey your orders over Sirius" Hermione declared. "Even if they find us there they won't be able to do anything to us in front of the Headmaster."
A/N: Thank you to Bentears, starie78, Magic29, rowenasheir, mwinter1, jkarr, mooneysfate, crankypants16, Rori Potter, Firehedgehog, Snowball1982, digbygreen, aisa.32, Fallow54 (Guest), Guest, jabarber69, gabrieljuarezl, ObsessedWithHPFanFic, Melikalilly, Cassandra30, Snowdove30, Master of Dragons God, kimbarn30, T1962, DPinAK, yngoldfogee (Guest), Vampireking40, Harriverse, Ariadne Venegas, Necrogod, Fenchurch1, Bookwrym, fraewyn, Ironshot, Erimenthe, sunsethill, Snape is a shit (Guest), Locket1, Snape is a shit (Guest), Kitten6168, sympatheticassassin, Manga reader 125, Guest, , MikaToshino, lipasnape, bet7368, phoenix-rob, Mari Wollsch, blinddivinity, daisycb, shugokage, BadWolfJiggy, trekkifulron, Maxennce, god of all, The Ghostly Minion, wandamarie, kittyranma, angelscatie, charm13insomnia, joniskpelare, serialkeller, mooneysfate, Corala, cmfisher, Chuffers244, Jostanosm, WysteriaHysteria, Guest, Purplepachyderm, Kittens Kat, Sefera, Latarra, csheila and all those who followed and favourited for your support.