A/N I'm so sorry for the late update, but I've just had the worst experience ever... Aside from a headache, I had more than enough time to write, but then... writer's block... I sat down and nothing would come, I just couldn't write... I hope it turned out okay though...

I think I've never received so many reviews before, it makes me really happy!

To volley07: Thank you for your high praises and your interesting idea! I hadn't thought of that, but when you mentioned it, I did try to look for a way to put that in. But it's a little impossible, because he lost his limbs when he was 11. While Ed actually turned out to be a year too young in my story (I don't know how that happened...), his birthday will come quite soon. Which would mean he would be turning 12 (They went into the chamber sometime after Christmas), which would surely be past the time he actually lost his limbs. But it's a great idea, I'm sorry I couldn't use it. But you could always write your own!

B/N Thank yous to all who congratulated me for the successfully passed entrance exam!

Disclaimer: Neither me nor my beta own anything related to Fullmetal Alchemist or Harry Potter.

"So what's your brilliant plan?" Sirius asked with a slightly more cheerful tone, as cheerful as one could get in Azkaban anyway.

Ed weighed his options before deciding to say: "I'll tell you when I've prepared some stuff."

"What? Why can't you tell me now?"

Ed sighed. "Because it all depends on whether or not I can free my hands. If I can't we'll just have to stay here until I can. When I can then we'll most likely get out of here quite soon after."

"Alright! How fast do you think you can get your hands free?"

"If the dementors decide to give us a break for a while then I would be able to concentrate better, which would enable me to get this done quicker. And of course, the sooner you keep quiet, the sooner I can start trying."

"Right, just shut up and hope the youngest prisoner ever can pull off an escape."

Ed rolled his eyes, not that it was visible to anyone at all though. Just as Ed was about to start his first attempt a strange gurgling and stuttering noise disturbed him.

"Y-Y-You h-h-have t-t-to t-t-take m-m-me w-w-with y-y-you!" It was the prisoner beside Ed's cell.

'Boy the dementors sure did a great job on him. But I can't take him along; we'd never have enough time. Besides, I'm not trying to break highly dangerous wizards out, especially those on this level of the prison.'

"Y-Y-You h-h-have t-t-to! O-O-Or e-e-else I-I-I'll t-t-tell t-t-the g-g-guards."

"Alright, go ahead." Ed challenged.

He cackled somewhat evilly and then started shouting: "G-G-Guards! G-G-Guards! S-S-Someone i-i-is a-a-attempting t-t-to b-b-break o-o-out!"

Ed lay down in the position he wanted his dummy to be in and then started counting the seconds 'till the guards made their way down there and assessed the situation. The man continued shouting, but it took the aurors a good five minutes before they came down.

"Alright, alright... SHUT UP!" One of them yelled.

Quickly the man shut up. The aurors walked slowly past each cell and peered into each one. The footsteps made their way down the corridor and then came back.

"Alright, who's the wise guy?" The same man called again.

"I-I-It's me!"

They walked over to his cell and looked at him. "You again? Weren't you the guy causing trouble just yesterday? Come on guys, false alarm."

"W-W-Wait! No. It's true! I swear!" He shouted now suddenly gathering his courage. "The kid in the cell beside mine, he's plotting to get out of here! Just yesterday he asked how the barriers work!"

A howl of laughter exploded from the corridor. "You seriously expect us to believe that a child barely through his second school year would pull off something none of you old wizards have ever done? Ridiculous! Moreover, look his probably barely still sane."

Ed heard the footsteps approach his cell.

"Yo! Short stuff! You still alive?"

It took a lot of willpower on Ed's part not to lash out at the idiot. He felt perfectly fine, since the dementors hadn't visited him since his last spiritual trip back to Amestris. After quite a bit of delay, he let out a noncommittal sound from his throat, just in case they decided to come in and check if he was alive.

The guards started laughing again. "You really think this brat could whip up an escape plan? The only one I'd really suspect of escaping is Black here, but he's already been a good boy for nearly twelve years now, I'm sure he'll behave for a little longer. After all, I doubt he'll hold on much longer."

The footsteps were moving away, but the prisoner shouted again. "Wait! I swear! The two of them were plotting together! They're both trying to escape!"

There was a short moment of silence in which all the footsteps stopped.

"What d'you think guys? He's pretty nuts, ain't he? And the dementors are hungry aren't they? Well, let's just give him to them, before he thinks of escaping."

There were some agreeing sounds and the footsteps faded back up the stairs. At first the man still tried to shout at them to come back, but then he quieted.

"This is all your fault..." He said after a while.

"How so? You have only yourself to blame. It was entirely your decision to spill the beans." Sirius said.

Ed didn't say anything.

Now that the men were gone, he did feel quite bad for leaving the other prisoner to his fate. The man started sobbing as the air cooled down rapidly. Ed sat back up and his eyes followed one silhouetted figure gliding slowly and menacingly past his window. Someone was going to die here, in the cell next to his. And the worst thing was, somewhere in his mind he knew something like that could have happened.

His brain was screaming at him. 'You shouldn't have challenged him like that! You should have just told him you'd take him along! You should have told him what you thought could happen! It's partly your fault he's dying now!'

The man started screaming at the sight of his executioner, but the screams died down into what sounded like gasps of air accompanied by a rattling sort of breath. Instantly it became much colder at the same time that the scream died down. Ed shivered where he sat. He tried to think of something else, but his mind kept tossing wild imaginations of what might have happened in the cell beside his own. It seemed forever until the rattling in the air dissipated and the temperature rose just slightly. A creaking could be heard and then moments later, the dementor got a hold of the dead man and hovered with him in a tight grip back up the stairs. Everything seemed to go up the stairs.

'I'll have to change that...' Ed thought meekly trying to get his thoughts back to saving his own hide. 'Right, concentrate. I need to get my magic into my arms and then I have to warp it so that its properties turn to dispelling. Okay, calm down. First push the magic into the arms.' Ed closed his eyes and tried summoning his magic. But it was much harder actually trying to do it than thinking it. 'Damn, it would be so much easier with an array... An array guides energy, a wand guides magic. I need the magic in my arms... But my magic is being drained away in this place... Think, Ed! What can you do?'

After many hours of not getting anywhere, he was too tired to continued and lay down to rest. When he woke up, to his dismay everything was still as it was when he fell asleep. He quickly gobbled down his mush and then sat upright against the wall and closed his eyes and tried to focus again. He willed his magic to move, but it just didn't want to.

'Damn it's not working. Do I really need a circle?' He closed his eyes and tried once more, but he was interrupted.

'Ed!' It was none other than Al.

'Al, what're you doing here? What if the dementors can somehow get to you?!'

'Don't worry, brother. If they come, I'll go back. But I came to ask you if you need any help.'

'Yeah, I probably do need help. It's just not working. I don't know if it's because I don't have enough magic left in me or if I just can't control it well enough to use it without some physical energy conductor.'

'Maybe I can help? I mean, father was a wizard and you're a wizard and I'm here now. Maybe I have magic too? If I do have magic, I could probably give you some. Since I'm in you in the moment and it would explain why I can use the magical gate.'

'That's true.' Ed replied. 'So what do you think you have to do?' Ed then felt something tingle in his arms. 'What was that?!'

'It worked?' Al asked.

'Yeah, it must have.'

'Alright.'

For a few moments nothing happened. Then suddenly Ed felt a jolt, making him sit bolt upright.

'Al! What are you doing!?'

'Charging you.'

'Why does it give off so much power?' Ed asked.

'I think you could imagine it sort of like a battery. Could you try again now?'

Ed focused his energy and tried moving it where he wanted it to go. This time it worked, he felt it coursing into his arms. Now, he shifted his center of attention to the purpose of the magic.

'Finite Incantatem.' And just like that, Ed could move his hands again.

'Great! You can move again!' Al cheered from inside his head.

"Black! We're getting out of here! You don't mind cutting your hair do you?" Ed whispered.

"What?! No, of course not! But what's the plan?!"

"I'll explain on the way."

Ed quickly stood up, put his hands together and transmuted the stone wall into a figure with his shape and size. His hands touched again, this time it was the pillows turn. Quick as a flash, it turned into the exact same clothes he was wearing. And next came his hair. With another light clap of his hands, they came off and then with another, they stuck to the rock dummy. Yet another light clap made a tunnel appear from his cell to Sirius' cell.

"WOAH!" Black exclaimed.

"Ssssshhhhhhhh!" Ed hissed at him from his own cell.

"Right, sorry."

He then transmuted his thick and heavy wooden door leaving only a thin strip standing and making the rest more compact. That way it would look like the door was still there and they had some wood to support them. He also shaped it like his old traveling suitcase so he could carry it over to the over cell more easily. Ed quickly jumped into the tunnel and crossed over to Sirius' cell. He had vaguely glimpsed the man when he just arrived at Azkaban, but he was too preoccupied and tired to really look at him. So for the first time, he got a good look at the man. Sirius had shoulder length tangled up black hair. He was quite tall and way too thin, his many years in Azkaban had made sure of that. But nevertheless he had a big goofy grin on his face that did not fail to show his yellow teeth.

"So, how're we getting out of here?" He asked.

"Just a moment." Ed replied, passing over the wooden block and placing his hands together again. He quickly repeated the things he had already done in his cell, this time making a replica of Sirius. After the hair was stuck, he did the same to Sirius' door as he had done to his own and gave the block to Sirius as well.

"W-What are you doing? What kind of magic is that and what's this stuff for?"

"Later." Ed said. One transmutation later and the door opened with ease. "Get a candle."

"Right."

After some quick thinking he clapped his hands lightly and placed it on the wall.

"There, that should cause enough commotion on the upper floor."

Right on cue some prisoners a few floors above theirs started screaming so loudly that they could be heard loud and clear all the way down here. Another few claps and the tunnel closed and a large hole opened up in the floor. This one was big enough for both of them to get into.

"Get down. And take the wood with you." Ed told him, before locking the door to Black's cell again.

The good thing about alchemy was that it wasn't magic and the dementors did not steal alchemical energy. Ed quickly followed Black down into the tunnel and sealed it back up. He took the wood and changed its shape to resemble a raft.

"Here's the plan. I'm going to make a tunnel and we're going to swim, alright? It'll probably take a while before they notice that we've escaped. When we've crossed the barrier, you apparate us, got it?"

Black quickly nodded and took the raft, apparently understanding what they would be using it for. Ed clapped his hands and touched one of the walls. A bright blue light flashed and the hole turned into a tunnel. He didn't make the tunnel too long though, in case the water flooded in and they had to swim an extremely long way before they reached the surface. Each time they reached the end, he closed up the path they had just walked. It didn't take long until they reached the water which crashed into the tunnel with great force. Ed quickly transmutated two bars at the side of the walls so they could hold on to them until the water stopped coming in, because it would only push them back. Both escapees took deep breaths just before the tunnel filled up completely with water. It was difficult for Ed to swim because his right arm was still broken and it still hurt. Luckily Sirius saw him struggling and quickly swam over to him and held out the wooden plank, which was a great help pulling them up to the surface while Sirius and Ed continued pushing away from the prison. Ed was nearly out of breath when they reached the surface. He climbed on top of the large plank and took deep breaths before he could get a good look around himself. As it was, they were swimming further away from the prison and from shore. He looked over at Sirius... A dog. He blinked at the creature, whose claws were dug deeply into the wood. It paddled diligently with its legs, making their make-shift raft move.

"Sirius?" the teen asked.

The dog nodded.

Ed then sat on the edge and paddled with his legs. It would have been difficult to get into the water and help, because he couldn't hold on as well as the dog with only one hand. Ed had no idea how long they were doing that, but Azkaban looked only half its original size when small black dots started floating out of it.

"Shit! They're chasing us!"

Both of them paddled harder.

The dots were still for a moment and then they started getting closer and closer. Ed could now make out their shapes clearly.

'Damn it!'

Just when he thought they were surely done for, the black dog jumped up onto the raft and then an arm pulled him up. He felt some kind of cramping sensation and the whole scenery changed entirely. Gone were the cold sea, the gray thunder clouds and the threatening prison in the distance with its hellish cloaked guards.

Now he suddenly found himself in a forest. Birds were chirping away happily, a river was flowing and the sun was shining down through the loose layer of leaves and branches overhead. Ed heard a soft thud and quickly turned around to see that Sirius had collapsed on the ground.

"Sirius!" He called and quickly ran over to him.

"I'm fine..." He managed to say between deep breaths. "Just exhausted from using so much magic. You probably know, but dementors suck out your magic..."

"Yeah, I realized."

'You managed to escape! Hooray! You did it Ed!' Al yelled from within his head.

Ed was kind of startled, because he had completely forgotten his brother was there. 'Yeah, I did. All thanks to you.' "Hold on a moment. I'll get some water." Ed told Sirius who laid down on his back, still taking deep breaths.

Ed walked over to the river and transmuted a rock into a cup and scooped up some water. After drinking a few cups, he scooped another one and brought it back to where Sirius was now sitting upright.

"Thanks, kiddo."

"How many times do I have to tell you I'm not a kid!" He said with gritted teeth.

Sirius gave off a bark like laugh before downing the contents of the rock cup in one huge gulp. "So, how is it that you look like you're thirteen at most and yet claim you're eighteen? And why are you so young when your father has already died of old age?"

Ed thought for a while what he could say, then decided to tell him simply: "Time-travel."

"What? That's it?"

"No, actually there's a long story behind it, but can we please talk about it some other time? Where are we anyway?"

"Oh, outside some muggle village I was in once. I forgot what it was called, but they don't come in here often. They think the forest is cursed or something. So, what are you planning to do now?"

"I need some way to prove that Dumbledore is evil. And then I need to somehow get the wizarding world to believe me." Ed replied.

"That's quite an ambitious goal, considering you just broke out of prison."

"Nobody said it was going to be easy."

"Hmm... You know what? Count me in. I need to get back at him too. Killing James and Lily... That was just too much."

"Could you tell me what actually caused you to go to Azkaban?"

"Yeah, sure if you think it'll help us. Let's see... Where to start... Well, after 12 years with lots of time to think, I can safely tell you that I wasn't in a very good state for calm behavior. If you know that I switched sides, you probably know that Voldemort confronted me before he was able to reach the Potters' house. Because it was under the Fidelius charm he wouldn't have been able to find it, had nothing happened to my friends. But as it turned out, James must have already been killed, that's why he was able to enter the house and save Harry. I'm at least grateful to him for that. When I arrived at the Potters' house the next day the whole place was destroyed. I had no idea what happened there, but I was certain of one thing. Peter Pettigrew, our friend, had betrayed us. I heard Harry crying so I quickly rushed to him, but Hagrid was there already. I told him I'd take care of Harry, but he insisted he was under orders from Dumbledore to take him to his relatives' house. Like I said before, I guess I had too many thoughts of revenge in my head to register whose orders it was to take Harry away. If I had listened more carefully, then I certainly wouldn't have let him take Harry there."

Sirius sighed.

"Alright, back to the story. It was probably around then, that it occurred to me that the one who attacked was most likely Dumbledore. But as distracted as I was, I still didn't realize who had asked Hagrid to take Harry. So, I offered Hagrid my bike, told him he could keep it. I thought that if I was going to hunt down Dumbledore and Peter then I'd surely be put into Azkaban. So, I figured I wouldn't need it anymore, because no one would believe me that Dumbledore was actually the evil one. So the next day I searched for Peter. It didn't take me long to find him, but he was on a crowded muggle street. He must have anticipated me, because he whipped around really quickly and started accusing me of betraying our friends. Before I could react, he had blown up the whole street. And here, another one of my glorious examples of not being able to think out of the box: I just saw the explosion, a few pieces of Peter and some torn robes along with the corpses of around a dozen muggles. I thought he'd killed himself; it sure had looked that way. Now that I think about it, it would have been totally unreasonable for him to commit suicide. He didn't have a reason to and I do not doubt that he got away."

Ed was puzzled. "How would he have managed to escape, though? I sure don't see a way."

Sirius laughed his bark laugh again. "Of course no normal wizard could have escaped, but he is nicknamed Wormtail for a reason. You see, all three of us became Animagi during our school days."

"What!? How!?" Ed interrupted.

"Hold your horses, kid! Do you want me to finish explaining or not? His Animagus form is a rat. He probably fled into the sewers during the explosion. Damn that ratboy! I need to get my revenge on him too. Right, I'm done now. What was that you wanted to know?"

"How? How did you become Animagi? I thought, people needed to make an extremely difficult potion and go through a lot of training to get it right!"

"Well, yeah. The training is tough, no kidding. But the potion, well, there was a way around it."

"What really? How?"

"Hmmm.... I'll tell you that if you tell me how you managed to Time-Travel, I'm sure you don't have a timeturner, those things are pretty darned rare."

"What in the world is a timeturner? Argh, never mind, we don't have time for this! We can't stay here. The dementors will probably chase us."

"Right you are. So, where are we headed?"

"I don't know, I only thought up to the part where we escape."

"How about laying low first since we don't have a plan? If we could get out of this country and wait 'till the people start to forget about us then I'd be much easier to do whatever we plan on doing."

"What! We don't have so much time! What if Dumble-"

"What? You don't agree? I thought it was a good plan! Besides, I need a wand and I'm sure you would agree that I'd be good to get our hair grown back."

Ed suddenly felt embarrassed as he noticed that Sirius was almost completely bald, and so was he, most likely. "Alright, alright, you win... So? Where do you think we should go?"

"Hmm... How about Germany? Or France?"

"It's your idea, so you decide. Where are we getting a new wand from? Do you know anyone?"

"There was one guy who was quite good... Wait, I forgot his name... I think it was Gregorovitch, but I think he retired."

"Okay, and where can we find this Gregorovitch?"

"I think he lives in Germany. Should we get going?"

"Yeah, but first we need some normal looking clothes."

"And just how are we going to do that? We'll be reported no doubt. Besides, if I hide as a dog, no one will realize and we wouldn't need to get new clothes."

"Right, but don't forget that you're the only Animagus here. Even then, it's not like you're going to stay like that all the time are you?"

"Ehh, right. So what are you going to do?"

"It's simple; just help me gather some leaves and maybe some branches."

"What?! You're not going to use magic are you? What if the ministry finds us?"

"Don't worry, they can't detect my magic. I have a device to counter that."

"Right, figures, you seem to have everything we would ever need. Anyway, I don't see the point in that. But whatever you say, you're the genius with the crazy wandless magic."

Both of them started gathering fallen leaves to one spot. With a touch of his hands the pile of leaves turned into two brown muggle long sleeved shirts and two pants of which the one pair was bigger than the second. Ed then quickly changed into the new clothes.

"I just can't figure out how you're doing it." Sirius remarked now staring at the shirt.

"I could explain it to you, but by the time I'm done, the dementors would have found us and put us back into Azkaban, and I'm not looking forward to that."

Ed then transmuted the branches they had collected into a suitcase and put the second set of clothes in it.

"Are we all set to go now?"

"Nearly, I'm thinking of what we should do to the prison clothes."

"Can't you like, wash out the colors or something? Then we could still use them."

"Good idea."

"We'll have to go by foot for a while, that last apparition cost me quite a lot of my magic, and you will probably understand that I didn't have a lot to begin with."

"Yeah, I figured as much, what with you passing out."

"Hey! That wouldn't have happen to me during normal circumstances! I swear!"

Ed snorted at that comment, feeling much more cheerful now. They walked over to the river, where Sirius drank more water and Ed dunked the shirt in the water further downstream. He put his hands together and touched the shirt. In an instant the black stripes faded and the river carried away the black substance. Ed changed shirts again and repeated the process with his brown shirt.

"What did you do that for?" Sirius asked.

"It looks stupid to be wearing a brown shirt and brown pants." Ed answered simply, huffing.

"Could you do it with mine too, in that case? I really don't understand muggle fashion all that well."

Ed nodded and took out Sirius' brown shirt and did the same, then packed it back into his wooden suitcase. Sirius then transformed into a dog again and shed his clothes, indicating that Ed should do the same and pack them away as well. Ed noted that he had almost no fur, and deduced that his human state must have quite a bit influence on how his animal form would look like. He sighed and repeated the process once more.

'Since when did alchemy become a tool to change the colors of your clothes?' He asked himself.

'Well, I can't say for sure brother. But you can't deny that it's really useful for things like this, no matter how uncommon these kinds of situations are. I think it should almost be time for me to wake up again. I'll see you later, brother. Take care of yourself and please be cautious. I don't want you to get caught again.'

'Right, thanks for all your help Al. Take care of yourself too.'

Sirius the dog tugged at his shirt, urging him to follow. After some quick thinking though, Ed decided to make himself a hat as well, to better hide his rather uncommon golden eyes. Sirius waited impatiently even though it didn't take long and even barked a few times.

"Alright, alright. I'm coming."

Ed followed the huge black dog through the forest along the river, which provided water for them whenever they stopped briefly to take a break. It was rather chilly with nothing more than make-shift clothing, but it was better than before in the prisoner garments. Sirius didn't seem to feel any of the cold Ed was feeling however despite his loss of fur. Instead he seemed almost happy to be up and about again. Every once in a while Sirius would stop and sniff the air and other objects around him, as if he had never seen them before. Ed had to smile, it felt so... surreal. Two high security prisoners escaping from Azkaban and then walking around as if they didn't have a care in the world, just like two little children exploring the forest for the first time. But in a way he could understand it. He wasn't quite sure how long he'd been there. While he was there it felt like such a long time, but now that he wasn't there and started reflecting on his horrible time there, it didn't feel quite as long anymore. It felt so good to breath in fresh air again instead of the murky damp air the prison had offered. It felt so good to see natural light instead of the flickering dim lights of the candles. It felt so good to walk around, instead of sitting around all day. And most of all, it felt so good to feel the warmth of the sun rays, even though it was still winter and still quite cold, instead of the freezing chill the dementors had forced upon them. The sky had turned a deep shade of red by the time they reached the end of the forest and it was rapidly getting darker.

"Sirius, I think we should stop here."

Ed was exhausted from all of the day's events and he couldn't deny that they had walked extremely slowly. On top of that they hadn't eaten anything since some time before their escape. However Sirius looked like he still wanted to continue on.

"We can't. We need to rest and eat." Ed remarked walking a ways back into the forest.

The black dog watched him for a bit, but then finally gave in and followed him back. Ed got to work with setting up a trap to get some catch some wild animals. He heard something akin to laughing and turned around to see the dog there rolling around on its back.

"I don't suppose you have a better idea?"

The dog then got onto its feet and sniffed the ground and set off. Ed shook his head and headed over to the river to see if there were any fish. By the time it was dark, Ed had caught a few fish, collected wood and made a campfire where it wouldn't be seen easily from outside of the forest. The trap did not catch anything, but Sirius found him a little later with a hare in his snout. Sirius dropped it near the fire where the fish were roasting and then pushed it closer to Ed.

"You're not trying to prove that you don't have a need to change back to your human from, are you?"

But the dog nodded and further pushed the hare to Ed. Ed just shook his head and put the hare to roast as well. They shared the fish and the hare, which was more than either of them had eaten in quite some time, and then stopped to get some sleep. Despite waking up at dawn, Ed felt it was the best sleep he'd had in a long time, and stretched contentedly. Sirius was up as well and he ran in a circle chasing his tail.

'Maybe, he's just a little mad after staying in that place for so many years.' Ed thought to himself.

They set off again soon after and arrived at a small town near noon. Since they didn't have any money the only thing they could do there was verify that they were walking in the right direction.

"Hey, mister! Which way is south?" Ed asked.

The man eyed him skeptically. "Are you a traveler? Don't get many these days. South's in that direction. Where're you heading to?"

"Oh, nowhere in particular, just out to see the world."

"Really? You seem pretty young."

Ed grinded his teeth at that, but the man didn't seem to notice.

"Well, in any case, you had best be careful and watch yourself. I heard from the news on the telly that some prisoners have broken out of some jail. I forgot if they mentioned the names. Anyway, they said that they're armed and that they would attack people."

"Right, thanks for the advice." 'So, they've even informed the muggles? They must think it's quite serious. We'll probably have to hide for a long time.'

Sirius was probably thinking the same thing, because he looked at him with what could count as a worried expression and then walked faster. The sooner they got out of here, the better.

"Oh child, are you travelling all by yourself?"

Both of them turned to see a grandma.

"No, I'm not; I'm travelling with, uh... My dog."

The old woman laughed. "Would you like to take some bread with you? You look like you haven't really eaten well recently."

"No, really, I couldn't impose on you, ma'am."

"Don't be silly! We have too much anyway, wait here..."

Ed wanted to protest, but the old lady had vanished into her house and then a few moments later had come back out with a bag of bread.

"Here, this is for you."

"Th-Thanks..."

"Don't mention it." She smiled friendly at him and he returned a shy smile, but then Sirius started pushing him with his head. Ed waved good-bye to the lady and then quickly followed Sirius who as a result of having to wait there for a while was going even faster than before. Ed almost had to run to keep up with him. When Ed thought he couldn't run anymore, Sirius suddenly halted and sat down.

"What? Finally giving me a rest?"

Sirius nodded and then started pushing his nose against the suitcase, in which Ed had stored the bread.

"Oh? So you're just hungry? Figures, you don't care about me at all."

Sirius nodded again, but he seemed to smile at the same time. Ed wondered if he was going crazy, up 'till now he had always thought that animals couldn't smile. He sat down and took a few deep breaths before he opened up the suitcase and took out a loaf of bread. He broke it in half, gave one to Sirius and ate the other half himself. Sirius didn't leave him a lot of time to eat though, since he quickly chomped down his half and then started running in circles and barking impatiently again. After Ed stubbornly refused to hurry up, since he was so tired, Sirius started bumping him with his head.

"You're a horrible slave driver, you know that?"

But Sirius didn't stop, so he didn't really have a choice but to get up and start walking again. Luckily, the big black dog didn't insist on running anymore. Near nightfall they approached another forest, which was quite convenient, since they would be more protected and harder to find in a forest than out in the open. They also managed to locate a stream. Ed decided to make some stone flasks which would serve as water bottles, since he figured they wouldn't find water all the time. To close them he transmuted some wood into cork. Sirius had gone hunting again, while he collected water.

And then something most unexpected happened...