Chapter 4 - The Warrior
The very next day Sirius was awoken by an aggressive knocking noise. He found himself still in the rocking chair, his back was sore from the awkward position he had been sitting in. He heard a whine from Bambi's crib and looked over to see that she was rubbing her eyes. Sirius was climbing out of the chair when the aggressive knocking started again, he rushed over to Bambi's crib, pulled her into his arms, much to her annoyance, and rushed downstairs to the front door. His mother's portrait was screaming insults again: "...back where you came from, dishonour on the entire family…" He pulled the curtains he had installed back over her portrait and she quieted.
Three silhouettes could be seen squeezed together on the doorstep of 12 Grimmauld Place. The arm holding Bambi squeezed slightly and Sirius crept forward and latched the door chain before opening the door as wide as the chain would go. He sighed in relief at the sight on the other side of the door. The wizened old face of Albus Dumbledore, Sirius' old headmaster stood closest to the opening and he smiled reassuringly at Sirius over his half-moon spectacles. Nest to him stood Remus, looking slightly intimidated to be stood next to the old wizard. Beside Remus was a man that Sirius did not recognise. He was dark skinned, with electric blue dreadlocked hair and piercing orange eyes. Sirius' first thought was that he was either a Metamorphmagus or very good at dying his hair and finding contacts for his eyes.
Sirius hesitated for a moment before opening the door, considering the possibility of someone using Polyjuice Potion to turn into these three wizards. But he quickly decided that was not a possibility as he doubted anyone could get close enough to Albus Dumbledore to take his hair. He closed the door once more, unlatched the chain and opened the door to let the three men inside. All three pairs of eyes landed on Bambi and Sirius suddenly felt Protective over her.
Dumbledore stepped inside first and put his hand out towards Sirius, Sirius reached forward and shook the hand awkwardly with his left hand, holding Bambi in his right, Sirius almost jumped when he spoke:
"Good morning Sirius, and hello Harriet." He said, smiling softly at Bambi, she suddenly hid her face in Sirius' shoulder, shy. "Ah, I have this effect on young people quite often. Might I trouble you for a drink Sirius? It has been quite a long journey here as we did not want to risk apparating directly onto the doorstep."
Sirius stood for a moment, awestruck, Albus Dumbledore was in his home, a celebrity in the wizarding world. After a moment he came back to his senses and turned around to lead the way to the kitchen:
"Of course Professor." Sirius answered, panickedly running through his head all of the drinks he had in the kitchen, he was unsure if it was appropriate to offer a man like Dumbledore a bottle of Butterbeer, especially this early in the morning. He heard the front door shut behind the last man and opened the dining room door, heading to his favoured seat at the head of the table, putting Harriet on his lap, not wanting to let go of her in this new strangers presence.
Once all four of the men (and little Harriet) were seated Sirius summoned four bottles of butterbeer and handed them to each of the men at the table. Dumbledore smiled joyfully at his bottle as he used his wand to remove the cap:
"It's been a long time since I have had a butterbeer, perhaps since my younger days. Thank you Sirius" He announced and Sirius nodded politely: "On another note, how rude of me that I have not introduced my travelling companions. Of course I think you are already well acquainted with Mister Lupin, many times you both were mentioned to me by Professor McGonagall along with your fellows. Some of the tricks you pulled were actually quite amusing but of course don't tell her that. I digress. My second companion is Mister Antoine Sheadley. He is an old associate of mine and has gracefully offer himself to serve as extra protection for young Harriet here. I am sure the two of you will have plenty of time to exchange formalities once I have left. I did consider your requests and I can assure you that Mister Sheadley is indeed under 40 years old and far from boring."
Sirius considered Sheadley for a moment, he seemed nice enough though he might have to bring up him perhaps changing the appearance for Harriet's sake. He nodded politely at Sheadley as Dumbledore introduced him. Once Dumbledore paused to pick up his butterbeer, Sirius took the chance to speak:
"What story will you tell the Ministry?"
This time Remus spoke:
"This morning an anonymous tip was left for the daily prophet revealing that Harriet is staying with distant relatives in Wales. That should keep both the Ministry and what is left of You Know Who's followers satisfied for a little while."
Sirius smiled at his friend in relief, he believed for the first time in several days that at last Bambi would be safe, at least for the meantime. At this point Sheadley spoke for the first time since arriving. Sirius was surprised by how intensely deep his voice was:
"I am honoured to protect Harriet Potter and I hope that we can be friends over time. I lost my daughter to Lord Voldemort and I intend to do all that I can to prevent him from rising again."
When he finished speaking Sirius could not help but to respect this man, he had an aura of strength and bravery and he felt sure that he would be capable of defending Harriet to the very best of his ability: a warrior.
Suddenly, from his lap Bambi started cooing annoyedly, she had been quite quiet leading up to this point, intimidated by the new people in the kitchen but now she felt that she was not getting enough attention from Sirius.
"Yes, okay Bambi, I know you're here. Lets get you some breakfast." Sirius told her, always seeming to know what was bothering her (except for the alarming incident the night before), suddenly he moved her into her high chair and excused himself for a moment. He walked across the room and stopped just before the cupboard containing the boiler and called out:
"Kreacher."
Suddenly the cupboard door slowly creaked open and the contents could be seen. The boiler took up about half of the cupboard and squeezed beside it was Kreacher, the house elf who looked up distastefully at Sirius. He had always been bitter towards Sirius since he had abandoned his mother and Kreacher's mistress; but of course as a house elf he was forced to do his masters bidding. He clumsily climbed out of his den which was full of moth eaten mouldy blankets and small trinkets previously owned by his mistress that he had stolen and stashed away.
"Yes master?" Kreacher croaked as he stood before Sirius, significantly shorter than Sirius. Kreacher was not a pleasant looking house elf with a bulbous snout-like nose, bloodshot eyes and his skin dropping in fatty folds over his body with white hair growing out of his bat like ears.
"Serve Harriet her breakfast and don't even think about spitting in her food again or I will take those horrible trinkets you stole from your den and burn them." Sirius ordered harshly, speaking in a low tone to avoid the other men from hearing what he was saying as he definitely did not want Dumbledore to think that Harriet was not eating appropriately.
Kreacher grunted and headed towards the pantry as Sirius returned to his seat beside Harriet's high chair. Dumbledore had now finished his butterbeer and studied Sirius carefully over his half-moon spectacles:
"I'm afraid that this is where I must leave you Sirius but if you should need anything please use your fireplace to speak with me, I have ensured that the fireplace in my office cannot be interfered with so it should be quite safe. In the meantime I have had some friends of mine protect your home with the best jinxes to ensure that the three of you cannot be found easily. I have also assigned myself as Secret Keeper to your home so I hope you feel reassured that to get to you anyone would have to go through me first." Dumbledore explained softly, he had a way of speaking that made Sirius feel calmed. "Farewell to the three of you, I hope to visit again soon to see how you are getting on."
With that Dumbledore rose from his seat and left the room, within a moment Sirius heard the front door shut and he sighed in relief.