Well, this is the start of a new series by me, Windangel! I was hit by inspiration last night
at about ten, and I got the first section posted today! Now that's pretty good. Don't worry
if the first bit makes no sense, it all gets explained a few paragraphs later. This one I hope
will turn out funny, but I'll just stick it in general for now. Later! ~Windangel
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Two people were waiting in one of the less conspicuous classrooms. One, the younger of
the two, was pacing up and down the room looking extremely ruffled and uneasy. The other,
a very tall, thin man, was sitting casually on a desk, a grin spreading across his thin face.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" the boy questioned for the tenth time in
ten minutes. "I mean, is it really safe for you? You are still..." he hesitated, searching for
a tactful word.
The man got up and stood in front of the anxious teenager, grasping his shoulders tightly.
"Dumbledore wouldn't have suggested it if there was a big chance of my getting caught."
he chuckled softly at the boy's stricken expression. "Don't worry about me, Harry."
"It's just..." Harry began sadly, emerald eyes boring into the man's grey-blue ones, "Sirius,
you're the closest thing to a family I have. If those Dementors get you..." he spat the last
words with distaste.
"Don't worry." Sirius repeated. "No-one's going to recognise me once I've taken the potion.
Personally, I reckon here's the best place for me to hide, anyway. I don't see a problem."
he smiled. Three years of reliative freedom had certainly changed him. He remembered
sadly what a mess he had been when he had first escaped. Thin as a shadow, matted hair,
filthy skin, gaunt face... Sirius shuddered at the thought. He knew he was still abnormally
skinny, and his face could do with some padding out, but it was a definate improvement.
And his freedom had gotten his sense of humour and mischief back. Now that was
something to be celebrated. Maybe he should put a stinkbomb under Snape's desk... he
grinned evilly to himself.
"What are you smiling about?" asked Harry in an amused tone.
"Hmm? Oh." Sirius snapped out of his daydream. "Nothing..." He quickly changed the
subject. "I wonder where Dumbledore and that git are?"
The door clicked open, and the headmaster, closely followed by the one and only Severus
'that git' Snape. Snape glared at Sirius, and slammed a small greenish bottle on a desk.
"Take ten mL's once every twenty-four hours." he ordered impatiently, before retreating to
a corner, as far as possible from Sirius as he could get.
"Well Sirius, you heard him," said Dumbledore good-naturedly, completely ignoring the
obvious tension between the two men.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Professor?" Harry stepped forward, still uneasy.
Dumbledore smiled at him his blue eyes twinkling, but it was Sirius who spoke.
"Harry," he said exasperatedly, "I hate not being around. Dementors are looking practically
everywhere for me in any case, so Hogwarts is the safest place for me. And it's my duty to
be here for you, what with Voldemort on the loose and everything..." Harry rolled his eyes at
this statement. Sirius picked up the bottle, uncorked it, and sniffed the contents. His nose
wrinkled up at the disgusting smell. "And besides, I'm looking forward to being sixteen
again." His face creased into a look of pure mischief.
Snape watched this little speech with impatience. Dumbledore wanted him here to watch
the effects of his potion, but he wished Black would get on with it. The Age-reversal potion
had taken him almost a week of careful brewing, and that ungrateful bastard hadn't even
said anything to him. He was beginning to wish he had gone with his initial instinct and
slipped some arsnic or something into it. "Just drink the damn potion." he snapped. "I
have better things to do than watch you remenisce."
"Like what? Hide in your dungeon away from everyone else, trying to develop a strong
enough shampoo that'll touch that mop you call your hair?" Sirius replied, still eyeing the
bottle suspiciously. He shrugged slightly, and measured ten mL's into a glass. Holding his
nose, and trying to completely ignore his sense of taste, Sirius gulped the potion. "Does
anyone have any tic-tacs? Or anything that TASTES?" he gagged. A vindictive smile spread
across Snape's face. There were things one could do to make the potion taste pleasant, but
Snape had simply chosen to ignore them. If he had to help Black, he would make it as
unpleasant as was possible.
A confused expression crossed Sirius' face. He lurched, and began to glow. First only weakly,
but it was quickly becoming stronger. Eventually, the entire room was flooded with blinding
light, and Harry, Dumbledore and Snape had to look away, covering their eyes. Then, as
quickly as it appeared, the light vanished. Harry peered through his fingers.
"Sirius?"
Through his only just adjusting eyes, Harry could make out a kneeling, panting figure in the
middle of the room.
"Ow."
The voice that spoke was recognisable as Sirius', but it lacked the familiar gravelly overture
of the older Sirius.
"Please tell me that won't happen every time I take the potion." he groaned.
"It won't if you take the new dose before the first one wears off." Snape replied, trying to
keep the disappointment out of his voice.
"Oh good." The sixteen year old Sirius scrambled to his feet. Even at that age, he had
retained most of his height, but that was about all that was the same. Only if you knew it
was him would you be able to tell who it really was. His shaggy black hair was cut to his
chin, with a few bangs falling across his face. Two sparkling blue-grey eyes shone out of his
handsome face; his overall appearance was healthier, happier. The deadened look from his
Azkaban imprisionment was gone; no shadows hung across his expression now. He grinned
cheekily.
A sudden explosion of noise echoed down the hallways, causing all heads in the small
classroom to look towards the door.
"I do believe the students have arrived." Dumbledore got up. "Harry, you better get down
to the feast. Your friends will be wondering where you are."
"What about..." Harry looked towards his sixteen year old godfather.
"Sirius needs to be sorted." Dumbledore replied, ushering Harry out of the room.
"I better be put in Gryffindor again." Sirius grumbled.
***
"Harry!" Hermione called happily when she saw him. She ran to catch up to her friend, Ron
following close behind.
"Why weren't you on the train?!" Ron demanded by way of a greeting. "We were worried
you missed it or something."
"Hey you guys." Harry smiled at his best friends. "I flooed here. Dumbledore wanted to
talk to me about some new 'arrangements' he's made for this year."
They both just looked blank. "What do you mean?" Asked Hermione.
"Snuffles." Harry said shortly, checking no-one was eavesdropping. "It's kind of hard to
explain." he sighed. "There's a new kid at school in our year. It's 'Snuffles'." Hermione's
mouth dropped open. Ron just looked confused.
"How..." Hermione stammered.
"Age-reversal potion." Harry whispered.
"Ah, yes, I've read about them." Hermione murmured knowingly.
Ron looked at his watch, swearing under his breath. "Guys, we better get to the feast,
they'll have already started..."
***
Ron pushed open the door to the Great Hall, looking cautiously into the well-lit room.
Thankfully, every eye was turned towards a girl with flyaway blond hair who had a large
tattered hat hanging over her eyes. The trio made their way towards their usual seats at
the Gryffindor table and sat down, just as the hat yelled, "HUFFLEPUFF!" The Hufflepuff
table cheered loudly.
Dumbledore stepped up to the podium, shooting sparks into the air for silence. The gaggle
of students reluctantly obliged. "Welcome, to all the new students. I hope you will enjoy
this year at Hogwarts as much as I will." He beamed around at the assembled students.
"But the sorting is not over yet." Ears pricked up at these words. "This year, we are
welcoming a new student into the sixth year. He is transferring from Australia, and I am
sure--" here he shot a warning look at Malfoy, "--that you will make him feel right at home.
"Sirius Praedator, if you will come out here, please..."
Sirius stepped out and stood just behind the headmaster. Harry noticed he was very pale.
He started to feel worried himself. What if Sirius was put in another house? What it he was
put in Slytherin? Harry absent-mindedly began chewing his nails, stretching up in his seat,
trying to get a better look over the heads of the crowd.
"Now, Mr. Praedator, if you'll just put on the hat..." Dumbledore looked amused. He gave
Sirius a light push in the right direction.
***
Sirius made his shaky way over to the stool. He grabbed the hat and jammed it on his head,
knuckles white over tightly clenched fists.
"Let's get one thing straight here." he thought as loudly as he could. "I've been here before,
but you probably know that, and I really did like your first choice. So it better be Gryffindor,
or something will happen, most likely involving you, a flamethrower, and Snape's office."
The hat seemed rather taken aback. "Just let me have a little nose around in here..." it
muttered. Sirius could almost feel its touch on his thoughts as it sifted through his
personality. "You've certainly changed... you're much more mature than last time. But
there's still that fierce loyalty and strength..." it paused a moment.
"If you're even considering putting me in Hufflepuff..."
"Yes, I think my first choice was a good one. Have fun in GRYFFINDOR!"
"Thankyou." Sirius murmured, before taking off the ragged hat and returning it to it's
previous position on the stool. Then he let out the breath that he had been holding in relief.
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Disclaimer: Everything remotely HP related belongs to the wonderful JKR, not me.
Remember, to read is human, to review, divine.
You want me to think of you as divine, don't you? Constructive criticism is welcome.
Flames will be given to Sirius to use on Snape.
Oh, and by the way, Sirius' 'last name', Praedator, is Latin for marauder. It's not just some random
name I produced out of thin air. ^_~