HARRY POTTER AND THE PRINCES OF HOGWARTS
A/N: I AM SO SORRY! I know, I haven't uploaded in a month and that is CRAZY! But, this is the last time I will be late, I think. the wave of exams that hit me and had me bound to a chair and studying, unable to write a decent chapter for you all, has receded, and I will now be continuing normally, meaning about one chapter every week or every two weeks. Also, holidays are coming up so I will have so much free time to write for you! Please forgive me and enjoy your well-deserved chapter 3
Disclaimer: This story is written for fun and profit and I make no claim to rights and ownership of Harry Potter.
Chapter 9: Sirius, Albus, Draco, and Harry
There was a strange man on the streets.
His hair was in disorder, his teeth bloodied, his face dirty and scratched. A crazed look resided permanently in his eyes and wherever he turned, he had a weapon raised, his posture stiff and ready, as if there was a danger waiting for him everywhere. The clothes he wore were torn and they hung loosely around his skinny shape as if he hadn't eaten a long time.
In short, Sirius Black had gone crazy.
It had been three full years since Harry had disappeared and no matter where he looked, there was no sign of him. Not even a strand of hair, a dirty sock, a piece of paper he'd written on. It's as if he'd just disappeared in thin air. But that couldn't be.
Where was he?
After he'd found the note, he'd been confused. There were a million still unanswered questions that swam around in his head, but the only person that could answer them was Harry. And Harry was gone. At first, he'd been sure it was a prank, but after searching the house and its premises multiple times, he had started to get worried. So he decided to go to Draco- after all, maybe he knew something.
It had gone terribly.
Sirius had barged in there, stressed, frightened and sad, and Draco's decision to tell the truth hadn't helped. At all. Draco had tried to explain everything, his motives, his regret, but halfway through, Sirius had howled in rage and attacked him in his Animagus form, scratching and biting, trying to keep his tears at bay. Draco had rolled to the side and avoided him, running around the room, fumbling for his wand. He hadn't wanted to hurt Sirius badly, so he limited his jinxes mostly to stunners and such.
At one point, Lucius had come running in to the sound of curses being fired to the overwhelming scene of a man who had essentially become a friend attacking his son. He'd been furious, and the air had crackled around him as he drew his wand and tied dog-Sirius, before turning him back into a human, then punching him square in the jaw, breathing heavily. Sirius had turned unconscious from the pain and only woke up hours later bound on a hard wooden chair in Lucius's chambers.
Draco had been so shaken that he had locked himself into his room. Lucius had kicked him out, for sensible reasons, and when Sirius landed on the streets with his bags and nowhere to go, he had realized he hadn't thought this out completely. Or not all. He'd caught the Knight Bus to London, before paying Gringotts a visit. There, he found a house in the city that had been left to him. For the time being, Sirius had decided to move there.
It was a grotesque, dirty place, but Sirius didn't care. His heart seemed to have this huge hole inside, unbearable, unmendable by anyone but Harry. Some days, he couldn't even bring himself to get out of bed. He just lay there, thinking about nothing and everything, about the things that might have been had Harry not disappeared. Every day, he tried to convince himself that it would get better, that Harry would come back to him, and yet, every day, he felt his hope draining out of him.
That was until he couldn't stand it anymore. The loss was too much to handle. He'd gotten up, and out the door, his appetite still not returned. He walked the streets, searching hopelessly, and when he grew tired, he changed into a dog and slept on the streets. Days meshed into weeks and still no sign of him.
He'd searched every corner in London, sneaked into Hogwarts to see if he'd maybe taken up refuge there, even the Muggle quarters. He was just running on some water from the drains and scraps of meat and bread, but it would just have to suffice.
It needed to. For Harry's sake.
Dog-Sirius got up from his position on the pavement at a quiet, abandoned train station and pushed himself to run to the next small town of Muggles. He made himself believe that he would find Harry, made himself keep gripping onto the small piece of hope that still lingered in his heart, but even though his brain was fuzzy and exhausted, he knew that Harry wouldn't be there.
But where? Where could he be?
Sirius collapsed, too tired to move, too hungry, and too parched to make himself get to his feet.
Was this how it ended?
Sirius didn't care. At least he had tried.
I love you, Harry. Please know that I have tried.
The exhaustion was terrible, but he let himself be taken by it anyway.
Dumbledore was sipping his tea. He was sitting on his chair in his office, the tea tray that had been brought by the elves in front of him, on his desk. On the other side of said desk, the Potters sat. He listened, or pretended to, as Lily and James were just squandering with one another at the moment. Adrian sat in the middle, laughing with his parents.
They visited often, and he would even join them for a few holidays if he had the time. He enjoyed watching Adrian laugh, grow and train, shining in the spotlight. By now, everyone knew of him, the boy who survived an Unforgivable, who saved both his twin and himself, the Boy Who Lived. Of course, the public had been told that his brother had died anyway, from some lie a reporter made up. He hadn't known better until he found him six years later in Diagon Alley.
He was alive. How? He didn't know. Harry wouldn't- refused- to tell them the truth. Dumbledore had his guesses, but each one seemed more unlikely than the next. When they'd sent Harry off to Petunia, he shouldn't have stayed there so long, but the first time they visited, there was nobody home, so they apparated back to Hogwarts. They tried a second time, and this time, they were told Harry was sick and not to see anyone. Albus had suggested Healers, but Petunia's walrus of a husband had waltzed in and bellowed that there was not going to be more wizards coming to his house.
And after that, Dumbledore didn't know. He'd needed to go to France, oversee the yearly dueling Championship held in Paris, and when he returned, he'd just assumed they would take care of it without him. How wrong he'd been. But as he tried to go visit him alone, Petunia had refused him entry to her house again.
The three of them looked so happy. Too happy. Did Adrian even know that Harry was alive? Had they told him? Or had they purposely forgotten to? One way or another, Adrian would find out when school started and Harry showed up.
Albus could only hope that Harry did show up. But he would.
Hopefully.
Draco was dreaming again.
Dreaming of him, of Harry. They were flying on their brooms, both faces lit up by smiles. He had the quaffle, but then he saw Sirius coming from his right, so he swerved up before he could collide with him. The air rushed past his ears, adrenaline coursed through his veins. Final point. If he made this, his team would win. If not, everything was lost. Well, actually, only the game was lost, but Quidditch was not a joking matter with Draco and Harry.
Talking of the devil, Harry had flown his broom up to follow Dracos and was now the only obstacle between him and the hoops. Harry smirked, and Draco conquered it with his infamous Malfoy-sneer. Draco leaned forward and accelerated, speeding up. He passed Harry, but Potter was right on his tail a second later, which would have been impossible for any other player, but Harry was just that good at Quidditch. Now they were side by side, racing to the hoops, Harry trying to arrive there before Drake so he could defend it. They were missing lots of players, one of them the Keeper, so Harry had taken that role as well.
He was close now, but just before he reached the three hoops, he was gripped by something dark and ugly. It overtook him, swallowed his senses, emptied his mind of thoughts. He was a puppet now, one of many in this puppet show. Every limb felt heavy, his muscles and bones too tired to move his eyelids too heavy to keep open. He wanted to look back, scream for help; his brother would know what to do, he would help him.
But would he? The dark presence laughed, so high that Dracos mind felt ready to burst.
He tried to fight, to get rid of it, but it wouldn't leave. Venom started to drip from his mouth as fangs grew. Draco snarled. The monster had overtaken him; there was nothing left of Draco.
His head turned to face Harry, 180 degrees. His bones creaked and cracked but it just laughed again.
Black eyes met green. "Leave, Harry, leave and never come back."
Draco watched as the words hit Harry as hard as any punch would. A single tear left his eye before green light exploded from Draco's wand and hit him squarely in the chest. Draco didn't know where it had come from, as he usually left it back on the ground, but all he was aware of was that it was now gripped tightly in his hand, pointing at Harry's heart. Draco watched as his eyes rolled back and he went numb on his broom. And then, he fell. He fell to his doom, and Draco was too shocked to move, too horrified to do anything. He watched Harry fall over and over again, die right in front of his eyes, his own words booming in his head, echoing and never leaving as he had begged Harry to.
Leave and never come back. Leave and never come back. Leave and never come back.
In his bed, Draco tossed and turned, gasping for air as his lungs begged for more. But he was used to it. He'd had this dream for the past three years and nothing could help. Draco could only hope to see Harry again, to apologize. But as he looked on from above onto his dead brother-in-arms' body, Draco doubted that would ever happen.
For all he knew, Harry was dead, and he was the monster who killed him.
Everyone was crying.
Harry had his face buried in his hands. Rick sobbed, his head resting in his arms. Ro and Helga wept, leaning on one another for support. Salazar's eyes were red and brimmed with teardrops, threatening to spill. Tears rolled down Merlin's face freely as he paced the room.
Harry was leaving.
Thank you all for reading, and for those who left a review, I will answer them now.
geekymom (apr. 9 and Jun 6 'Wonderful Chapter!')
Well, thank you, I'm glad you liked it.
thunderofdeath97 (apr. 13 'who is evelyn? I don't remember her')
Lucius' wife. After the conflict- aka the divorce- with Narcissa, he met Evelyn and they married.
Guest (jun 10 'If lily gives Harry to petunia I am going to ***ing lose it. Yes I swore. Lily isn't even checking if Harry is magical what the bloody hell')
Oh well. Lily sometimes forgets she has two sons. She thinks that Adrian needs more protection, needs to be loved before he faces the fate that has been cast upon him. Why Harry can't be loved just as much, I don't know. I guess she might tell us in future chapters, so keep your ears open.
Guest (jun 10 'when will the next chapter be out I want to see lily yell at Dumbledore for telling her harry was a squib')
That will definitely happen, I really love scenes that include yelling. I can't tell you in which chapter exactly, but sometime soon :)
Guest (jun 10 'Hope this isn't a bit of dream, By a bit I mean I hope he doesn't wake up in privet drive without the things he got from the founders. also lily just jumped to the conclusion that Dumbledore was right what mom does that without even looking into it at all?')
We will hear what she has to say in her future shouting match with one Albus Dumbledore, but about the dream, looks like you'll find out in the next chapter, when *spoiler alert* he arrived back in privet drive ;)
Guest (jun 14 'when does this story normally update? hope it doesn't take five years to complete)
I tried to update every Sunday but that failed because the exams had me so busy, so now I try to update once every one or two weeks. There will be another chapter out by the end of the week though.
Guest (jun 16 'i rly want to know what happens- when will this story continue? next chapter can you put the specific time and date if possible pls')
I don't usually put a specific time and place because one, I like to keep that open and for the readers to imagine it before I mention it in the next chapter. Plus, with all this going to the Founders time, there's no place and time needed, in my opinion, but I will definitely try to include that in future chapters.
Guest (jul 5 '...')
... (Don't know what to respond to three dots.)
Ssundee fan (jul 19 'when will this story update? I've been waiting for over a month')
Yes, I know, and I am so sorry. But I have updated now :)
A/N: That was chapter 9, ladies and gentlemen! Was it worth the wait or was it worth the wait? If it wasn't, then I will try to win you back, loyal reader, with more good news. A chapter, to make up for all that time you had to wait, will go up Friday! Anyway, I hoped you liked it and once again, my most sincere apologies for the massive delay.
See ya soon and stay safe,
~Meghan B.
