Chapter dedicated to Butler, my 100th reviewer!!
After the Dawn
Chapter Three: Moving
It had been a month since Harry Potter had defeated Voldemort and gone missing somewhere in London. The wizarding papers had been covered with it just about every day since.
But a month without any results? Black had not been sighted since he'd run away from the scene, the Ministry was in turmoil – the Minister had resigned, and Crouch's son had been arrested as a Death Eater.
The public was starting to think that not enough was being done to find their hero, or to catch Sirius Black, the arch-traitor.
Tucked away in Grimmauld Place, Sirius and Harry were relatively undisturbed by the goings on. The Ministry had not found Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, however. The house had been carefully hidden.
Kreacher had become completely devoted to Sirius's godson, something the older man was not completely able to understand. He'd seen Kreacher's devotion reach such heights for only one other person: His mother.
"Master Harry will be getting hungry," Kreacher turned up suddenly beside Sirius, making the man start.
"Don't sneak up on me, will you?" he asked wearily.
"Master Harry will be getting hungry," the house elf repeated.
Sirius looked over at the crib that was set up not far from him. Harry was sitting upright, his green eyes wide. Harry rarely cried, only when he woke up from nightmares, which Sirius assumed where of the night that Harry's parents died.
"Yes," Sirius agreed, walking over to the crib and lifting Harry gently out of it. "Kreacher, would you get his food?"
Harry had moved on from milk to alternating baby food and milk. "Foo? Foo, Oot?" Harry gurgled.
"Yes, Padfoot's got food for you," Sirius smiled gently at his godson. He would never do anything to harm this boy, and he wouldn't let them be separated either.
Kreacher appeared suddenly beside him with a bowl of baby food and a plastic spoon. "Shall Kreacher feed Master Harry?" the house elf asked, as he did every time it came to feeing Harry.
Sirius however, would not relinquish this task. "No, Kreacher. I'm his godfather, I should do it," he replied. Though he did not trust the house elf, he had begun to at least like it a little bit over the last weeks.
"Kreacher is sure Master Black knows what he is doing," the house elf said clearly, but Sirius heard him as he walked away, "Kreacher is also sure that Kreacher would do a better job …"
"What was that?" Sirius asked sharply. "Do you think you know more about children than I do?"
"Kreacher would not presume to think himself better than Master Black," Kreacher called back, then muttered audibly, "though Kreacher dreads to think what his mistress would say if she knew her traitor son was back in her house …"
Sirius sighed. "No point in telling Kreacher off, I suppose. He can't help it," he told Harry.
"Eacher!" Harry replied enthusiastically.
"Yes, Kreacher. Now say Padfoot!" Sirius teased his godson.
"Ad'oot!" Harry replied, and shrieked with laughter as Sirius tickled him. "Ad'oot! Ad'oot!"
"That's right, Padfoot. Can you say mum? Or dad?" Sirius always spoke to Harry about his parents. He didn't want his godson to believe that Sirius was his father.
***
Far away in Hogwarts, a very different scene was unfolding. Cornelius Fudge, the newly elected Minister of Magic, was standing in Headmaster Dumbledore's office, along with several of the Hogwarts teachers.
"Has there been any word?" Albus Dumbledore asked.
"There has been nothing," Fudge said, angrily. "And it is starting to reflect upon the ministry. Everyone thinks that little Harry Potter should have been found by now. They will turn against the Ministry if something isn't done soon!"
"Something like what?" Albus demanded, eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"We are going to have to come up with a body. It doesn't matter if it is Potter's or not, but really, if we haven't found him yet, we aren't going to!" Fudge replied.
"Cornelius, that would be a very deceitful move. What would the Ministry do if the boy turned up?" Albus asked.
"Admit that a blunder must have been made. Everyone will be too busy rejoicing to care that we'd made a mistake," Fudge replied promptly.
"Minister! Your attitude towards this is not a good one! You are giving up a search on a defenceless baby, who may be, as we speak, in the hands of a murderer!" Minerva McGonagall's voice was sharp.
"I cannot help that. The Ministry has other things to concern it, such as the location of other Death Eaters who remain at large!" Fudge snapped back.
"Why are you hear telling us about this?" Albus Dumbledore demanded, his blue eyes losing their twinkle completely, hardening in anger.
"Because you, Dumbledore, will know that something isn't right. I'm letting you now that I don't want you to go interfering with anything that the Ministry is doing! If you do, I'm afraid I'll have to take drastic measures," Fudge stated, then crammed his hat on his head and walked out.
Minerva and Severus turned to look at the headmaster. "Well, the Minister has spoken … But I will not give up hope just yet. We will keep searching, whenever we can. I have plenty of friends who will keep their ears open for news," Albus stated.
"You aren't going to go against the Ministers command?" Severus Snape asked, as he'd had some experience with the headmaster before this.
"No, not this time. Right now the magical world is coming out a period of great darkness, I must be here to guide the children through this. I cannot afford to lose the Ministry's cooperation at this point," Albus sighed. "Otherwise I wouldn't blink about it."
Minerva sighed too. She just hoped that Harry would be ok. He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't be, she thought firmly, as if her thoughts could keep him alive.
***
"Kreacher, you know that Harry and I won't be staying here forever, don't you?" Sirius asked the house elf. He wasn't sure why he was talking to it as if it were a human being … But he was.
"Kreacher will follow Master Harry anywhere!" the house replied, eyes narrowing.
"No, Kreacher. Harry and I will be leaving here soon, we'll be leaving the country. I order you to remain in the house, see to the cleaning, pay no attention to my mother and speak to no one at all about anything to do with myself, Harry, the Order of the Phoenix or any of that, is that clear?" Sirius replied, eyes flashing dangerous.
"It is clear, Master Black," Kreacher replied. "Kreacher must do all he can to help Master Harry," he added, voice low.
"Kreacher can help Master Harry by keeping his mouth shut and staying here. We'll be coming back sometime," Sirius said sharply.
"Then Kreacher will take care of the house, for Master Harry," Kreacher replied. "He will make sure that everything is ready for the Master's return."
Sirius somehow didn't think that the elf was referring to him as 'the master'. "Thank you," he said, as courteously as he could manage. "We'll be leaving very soon, as soon as Harry is ready to travel."
Kreacher spent the next two days moping around the house.
***
"Kreacher, we are going to leave before lunch today," Sirius stated. It was nearly a week after he'd informed the house elf that he and Harry would soon be leaving.
He was amazed to see that Kreacher actually looked upset at the thought. "Kreacher will take care of the house, for Master Harry," the house elf said, smiling into the sleeping Harry Potter's face. "Kreacher will make sure that no one hurts Master Harry when Master Harry returns."
Sirius resisted the urge to roll his eyes. At least the house elf wasn't grumbling about Sirius's way of doing things.
Sirius hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should say something more to the elf. But he shook it off – he didn't even like Kreacher. The house elf was merely useful to him.
By lunch time, he and Harry were gone. Sirius knew exactly where he was going: The Potter Mansion.
Mr. and Mrs. Potter, James's parents, had owned a house on an island. The island was unplotable, and was covered in more anti-Muggle charms than Hogwarts was. He and Harry would be safe there.
The Ministry would never find it, not unless one of the Potter family told them how to get there. Now there was only Harry left of that blood, so no one would be able to find it.
What about Pettigrew? He asked himself. James would have told Peter how to get there … Wouldn't he?
Then Sirius remembered: No, James hadn't told Peter how to get to the Potter Mansion. James had only ever told Sirius and Lily, of all his friends at Hogwarts.
Sirius knew that James's parents would not have told anyone how to get there either, except for Dumbledore, perhaps. The Headmaster of Hogwarts was a good man … But Sirius would have to find a way to make sure Dumbledore never found him …
"Ad'oot?" Harry gurgled as Sirius stepped towards the fire place. The boy was gripping Sirius's shirt tightly, and actually cried out when Sirius put the Floo Powder on the fire.
"Hush Harry, it's ok," Sirius whispered, wondering what was wrong with Harry, since the baby was normally so placid, taking everything in stride.
Then he realised. "It looks like Avada Kedavra …" he whispered aloud. But he had to get away from this house … had to get Harry away … What was he going to do?
"I'm sorry kid," he whispered, taking out his wand, Sirius performed a sleeping charm on Harry. He wasn't sure if this was a good idea, but he couldn't let Harry be scared.
"The Potter Mansion!" Sirius cried, stepping into the fire. Besides Harry, Sirius had very little to take with him – he had James's invisibility cloak, a broomstick and his motor cycle, all shrunken in his pockets.
He knew that mansion provided for those who came there. There were house-elves there, ones that weren't deranged like Kreacher was …
A moment later he stepped out of the spinning fire place, into a huge chamber that seemed to be composed entirely of marble.
The Potter's had been around for a long time, and so had this mansion. Sirius knew very well that the hall was made out of marble. When he looked to his left, he saw the front doors, and to his right was a staircase. There were several other doors leading off the entrance hall.
Sirius knew this place to be even more confusing than Hogwarts was, which was very close to impossible.
"What is Master Black doing here?" A voice squeaked beside him. Sirius looked down to a see a dirty looking house elf looking back at him.
"Master Black has brought Harry Potter to his home," Sirius replied, smiling at the elf. "I'm going to raise him here," he added.
The elf looked positively ecstatic. "We has a Potter to serve!" it squeaked in delight, and promptly vanished with a crack. Sirius woke Harry up with another spell.
"Excitable lot, house elves," he told his godson, who gurgled at him, Harry seemed to have forgotten his fear from before.
Then the air was filled with cracks, and seven house elves appeared. Sirius knew that the Potter's had always had a lot of house elves. They had the most of any non-public dwelling in Britain, from what he could remember.
Only places like Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic had more.
"Master Black has brought Master Harry Potter!" squeaked an elf. "But … We has been hearing bad things about Master Black," there was confusing in the elf's innocent squeaks.
"You have been hearing lies," Sirius replied gently, still cradling Harry. "I have been taking care of Harry until he was well enough to bring here."
"We has heard you is helping killing Master Harry's parents," another elf stated.
"Again, lies. I trusted their safety to one who betrayed them, and led to their destruction. So, in a way, I suppose it is my fault."
"Master Black didn't know," another elf stated. "It is not being Master Black's fault. We is happy that you has brought Master Harry Potter here. We is hearing tales about him to, Sir."
"That he defeated the dark lord?" Sirius asked.
"How is you guess, Sir?" the elf asked, sounding surprised.
"Because those tales are true. Has anyone been here, looking for Harry yet?" Sirius replied.
"Yes, Sir. Albus Dumbledore is coming here a week gone, Sir. He is saying that we should tell me if we is seeing Harry Potter Sir. Should we be sending Albus Dumbledore an owl, Sir?"
"No," Sirius replied. "Albus Dumbledore will try and take Harry away from here. He believes the lies that are being told about me. He thinks it was me that betrayed Lily and James."
"We is knowing you is not doing this, Sir. Why is Albus Dumbledore not knowing this also?" an elf asked him.
"Because Albus Dumbledore does not know what else to believe. We told none that we were changing from one protector to another. The wizarding world was to believe that it was me that was given the knowledge of Lily and James's location … We changed to another at the last moment, hoping that the Dark Lord would come after me, little knowing it was his servant that we had trusted," Sirius replied.
"We is believing you Sir. We is not going to tell anyone that you is here, or that Master Harry Potter is here either, Sir," the elves told him, speaking together perfectly.
"You have my thanks," Sirius replied, but the elves waved it off.
"We is only doing what Master would want, Sir," they told him.
"I need you to ready some rooms for us," Sirius told them. "And someone to bring Harry food, he likes …"
"We is knowing what Mater Harry Potter needs," an elf stated calmly, and the air was filled with cracks as the creatures went about their tasks.
"Well, that went along well," Sirius remarked to no one, as he walked around the Potter Mansion with Harry cradled in his arms.
***
Look, no cliffie! *points proudly to the end of the chapter* I'm getting better … I think. Ok, I'm going to have birthday breakfast (it's mum's bday) cya!
~WolfMoon~