By Admiral Albia
A/n; Well, I know that this idea's been done before, but the main part isn't Sirius getting freed here.. it's what happens afterwards... and I can practically guarantee that that bit's original. As you may have guessed, Sirius has a choice between living free... or dying. But Harry and co. have to make it for him...
Disclaimer; I own nothing except the pets and the word Cargen. Happy? Oh yes, and I also own this **** painting... "It's boring, it's boring..." The word Puffskein belongs to J.K. Rowling too; it's in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them which was released in the UK for Comic Relief. I don't know about other countries, sorry.
Changing;
[][][] means the POV is changing; probably from Sirius in the first
person to third person or vice-versa.
/\/\/\ means the scene or time is changing...
Chapter 4; Yet another problem...
"Any luck yet?" Otto asked, even as he grabbed another
book. "Anyone?"
"There's plenty of cures, but no causes!" Fred said
angrily. "And these animals aren't helping, either. Shoo! Go away!" Binary
looked at him, then put her nose in the air and walked sedately over
to Otto, who laughed.
"They understand English... George?"
"Fred."
"Fred, sorry. And they want to help, that's why
they keep nosing around. Remember, Sirius is a Cargen. Once animals have
been around him for any length of time, they get clever... and these three
are his oldest and dearest. I think it's happening to Buckbeak, too, though
it's early days yet. It's OK, Binary, you can help me." He petted the unicorn
affectionately.
"There's nothing there, Ron, I've looked..."
"Oh, OK. Where's Harry? He should be helping with
this..."
"Harry and Remus have gone on a very special mission,"
Dumbledore said from the doorway. "Rest assured, they are going to help
immensely, provided they get back in time."
"This is ridiculous, Albus, there's nothing here!"
Professor McGonagall called wearily from the Restricted Section. "We don't
teach the students to make people fatally ill, it's Dark magic!"
"Durmstrang'd be onto a winner, then," Otto muttered,
picking out yet another book.
"Pardon?"
"Oh, nothing... I was just thinking, though, Durmstrang
students learn the Dark Arts, rather than just defence. Their library must
be full of this stuff..."
"Very true," Dumbledore murmured, stroking his beard
gently. "Very true indeed... Miss Granger?" Hermione jumped.
"Yes, Professor?"
"I believe you visited Viktor Krum this summer?"
Ron snorted.
"Well, yes..."
"Then could you possibly owl him and ask if he knows
of any curses such as this? I will write to Karkaroff - ah, the paper!"
He spread it open. "Oh, my..."
"What?"
"The Death Eaters have broken Azkaban open."
"WHAT?" Came the simultaneous yell. Tkaa hissed
venomously.
"I believe you all heard me." Otto looked at Tkaa,
Bria and Binary.
"Right, who's going to tell Sirius?" They stared
at him. "All of us? OK, let's go."
"Otto-"
"Yes, Albus?"
"Do not tell him."
"What? Why not?"
"It would only worry him more, the last thing we
need. You would do better to owl Remus and warn him."
"But... if Azkaban's open, then..."
"I know what you are thinking. I believe, however,
that Sirius has survived his whole life pretending he has no parents. A
while longer would do him no harm."
"He doesn't have any parents. They're dead..."
"No, they are not. I suspect that you, being on
the outskirts of their group, were never told the truth. Sirius' parents
are alive." A/n; This is a bit repetitive, sorry. I'll try harder...>
"He told me they were dead."
"He tells everyone that. However, the fact remains
that they are not and Sirius knows it. Now would not be a good time to
bring the subject up, though."
"So let me get this straight. You don't want
me to tell Sirius that Voldemort is now stronger than ever, just to forewarn
him, because he lied when he told us all his parents were dead?"
"That is the gist of what I was saying, yes."
"O-o-o-K. That makes no sense at all, but OK. I'll
owl Remus."
"I'm fine," I said tiredly. "I'm fatally ill and completely exhausted, but I'm fine." He grinned, showing his long, vampire canines.
"You're still Sirius, though. Visitor for you." Binary trotted in.
"Hiya, Binary."
Hello. Have you had any more visions?
"No, no more hallucinations, thank God." Otto rolled his eyes.
"And suddenly I'm nonexistent. Oh well, at least you're sitting up."
"He insisted," Poppy said from her seat.
"Ah. I'm not surprised. Sirius?"
"Mm?"
"Why did you tell all of us your parents were dead?"
"Because they are," I said.
"Dumbledore doesn't think so."
"They're dead to me."
You tell him, buster. That was Tkaa, slithering in under the door. Any more visions?
"They're hallucinations, and no."
They're visions and well you know it, he retorted, curling up in my lap.
"Well, whatever they are, I haven't had any." Otto groaned.
"Sirius. Why. Didn't. You. Tell. Us. Your. Parents. Were. Alive?"
"Because I don't want them to be," I said shortly. "I don't want them to be alive and I don't want them near me, all right? Oh, and punch Dumbledore in the nose for me."
Charming, Binary commented. I stuck my tongue out at her.
It sounds perfectly reasonable to me, Tkaa said.
"Thanks, Tkaa."
"I'll just leave you alone with the animals, then, shall I?" Otto said brightly, heading for the door. "Someone really ought to warn Harry about this, you know. Hmm, I'll ask Remus to when I owl him." The moment the door shut behind him, the delirium started again. I didn't know how I was able to control it - maybe it wasn't even me - but I was certainly glad it'd stayed away, even for a while.
Foster home 18. A nice house, big garden. After
six years, that at least had been arranged. I took out the letter and skimmed
it again. Two children, a boy my age and a three-year-old girl. I still
wasn't sure about the surname, it looked rather like `Poodle` but I was
sure that couldn't be right. My social worker, Gladys, knocked and I did
my best to hide behind her until she told me off for being silly. "It's
not like this is all new to you, is it, Sirius?" She was right. It wasn't,
and that was what made it worse. The door opened and a faint smell of baking
drifted out. Not that anyone else would be able to smell it from here.
"Ah, Mrs. Potter." Gladys said. I stared at the
name on the paper. Potter... yes, it could be. That squiggly bit could
be two t's, when you looked closely... "This is Sirius Black, your new
charge. And... ah... this is Bria and this is Tkaa..."
"He's not poisonous," I said quickly. She smiled.
"I'm sure he's not. Won't you come in? Kids!"
Two children appeared, both with the untidy black hair which I later learned
was something of a family trademark. The boy was wearing glasses and I
was scrutinized once again, for what felt like the millionth time in my
life, that careful looking up and down that seemed to say, `you're new
here`...
"James, help Sirius upstairs with his things,
would you? Sirius, this is James and that's Alyssa." The girl smiled; the
boy didn't.
"Come on," he said shortly, and started up the
stairs.
"Don't bother. I don't much like the look of you and I think you know it. What the hell is that little red thing, anyway?" Bria chirped.
"She's a dragon and her name's Bria... hello, who's that?"
"Oh, that's just Alyssa's Puffskein. It has the run of the house, and - hey! What are you doing?"
"If I can't be friends with you I may as well be friends with your sister's pet. It's not my fault, they just like me."
"Hmph. Well, OK. But Alyssa'll want it back, you know."
"Why don't you like me, anyway?"
"Well, let's put it this way; you've just walked into my life. I've never met you before, I didn't even know your name until you appeared here. And my parents keep telling me how wonderful it'll be for me to have company, and how I've got to be nice to you. And I don't want company, I'm happy with Furnun who's my pet. So don't even think about following me around whingeing about your life, OK?"
"All right, I won't."
"Good. The bathroom is this way... or why don't you just ask the flipping Puffskein?"
"Um, Sirius... I was wondering. Do you know what you've got? Nobody thought this was much of an idea, but we're all stuck in the library."
"I'm not sure," I said slowly. "I know who's doing it, though. It's Voldemort."
"How do you know?"
"I keep having... hallucinations. Things that happened in my past. Only sometimes they're not. Sometimes they're like the ones Harry has... which sounds stupid, but it's true. Except that I'm visible in them, and Voldemort's talking to me. He wants me back on his side." I looked at Ron's horrified face. "My parents are Death Eaters, OK? They're in Azkaban, they went there when I was three. Before that, though, I was destined to become Voldemort's pet Cargen. He actually gave me Tkaa."
And that's the only reason I like the aforementioned Dark Lord, Tkaa added.
"So... You-Know-Who's cursed you because you don't want to be a Death Eater?" I nodded. "Oh. That explains a lot."
"He's trying to get me to become one. He can't use Imperius on me, because I wouldn't be able to do the Cargen magic he wants me for and in any case I can throw it off. I have to do this voluntarily, and I have absolutely no intention whatsoever of that."
"Ah. Well, thanks, Sirius. That helps a bit..."
"Any time. But Ron?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't tell anyone about my parents, OK? As far as I'm concerned they're dead. I haven't seen them since I was three and I'd kind of like it to stay that way."
"Dumbledore knows."
"Dumbledore knows everything."
"OK, I won't tell them."
A/n; Well, it may not seem like it, but this is a very important chapter. Or maybe you noticed. Incidentally, I have absolutely no idea what happened to Alyssa in later life; she hangs around until James graduates, then vanishes. At least according to my imagination...
Review pleeeeeease! Constructive criticism appreciated, flames wil be used to light the fire.
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