A.N. Thank you for reviewing!!!!!!! The second chapter of Harry Potter and the Torch of Darkness is up (for those of you who didn't know)… This chapter is actually quite humorous… I hope you enjoy it!

Malena

The Dursley's car rolled up to the driveway of Number four, Privet Drive. Harry had his forehead pressed against the window, trying to get closer to the world outside of the car. Dudley was poking him repeatedly in the arm and shoulder, occasionally punching him when he got bored. Harry practically bolted out of the car when it came to a stop. Vernon had been rambling on and on about how grateful Harry should be that they picked him up and didn't leave him standing at the station.

"I wish he had," Harry muttered to himself. "Maybe I would have gone home with the Weasleys…" He pulled his baggage from the trunk of the car and was forced to lug it up to his room while the Dursleys ignored him. He set Hedwig's cage on his desk and opened it for her. She flew to the window and hooted until Harry opened it for her.

He didn't want to leave his room, his sanctuary. The one place that the Dursleys didn't like to go because they never knew what they would find. He was getting hungry, and the snacks that they had had on the train seemed like ages ago…

He walked quietly down the stairs, and he heard Dudley belch loudly from the kitchen.
"That's my Dudley!" Petunia exclaimed. Harry rolled his eyes and started toward the kitchen door. Just as he put his hand on the doorknob, there was a loud knock from the front door.

"Get that, boy!" Vernon barked. Harry turned and went to the front door, but jumped back when it was blown out of the wall. A wizard in dark purple robes walked in and grabbed Harry before he could do anything.

"Harry Potter," the wizard growled. "You are under arrest."

"WHAT?!" Harry exclaimed. "Wh-why?"

"For the murder of Cedric Diggory…"

"Free at last! Free at last!" Sirius yelled as he practically jumped down the stairs at the Ministry of Magic.

"Jeez! Sirius slow down!" Remus said as he jogged after him down the stairs. "We're all happy you're free! Well, except for maybe Snape…And Malfoy. No, I don't think Malfoy's happy at all."

"I don't have to deal with their crap anymore! I can retaliate!" Sirius said, a huge grin spreading across his face.
"Not today," Remus said, frowning slightly. "Remember, Fudge said that you had to remain in disguise until tomorrow, when they actually print that you've been set free."

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, waving his hand in a dismissive way. Then he skipped down the rest of the stairs.

"SIRIUS! GET BACK UP HERE AND PUT ON YOUR CLOAK!" Remus yelled down the stairs. Sirius grinned.

"Yes, mom."

Remus scowled and grabbed Sirius by the hair and dragged him over to a fireplace.

"I could have danced all night! I could have danced all night!" Sirius was singing, while straining to get away from Remus.

"Just… go!" Remus said, throwing some Floo Powder into the fireplace.

"-And still have danced some more-Remus Lupin's home," he added as he stepped into the emerald flames. Remus laughed slightly and followed Sirius into the fireplace.

~*~

There was a knock on the door at the Burrow. Hermione, who had been quietly reading a schoolbook, looked up as Mrs. Weasley walked to the door.

"Remus?" She gasped when she opened the door. "Wh-what is-"

"Hullo Molly," Remus said. He had a wide smile on his face, unlike one that Hermione and Ron had ever seen before. "We just had to stop by to tell you that-"

"YOUNG AND SWEET, ONLY 17!"

"What on earth was th-"

"Sirius," Remus said simply.

"What?" Ron exclaimed. "Why is Sirius singing at the top of his lungs and-" Ron stopped and peeked out the window- "Frolicking around?"

"You mean you haven't heard?" Remus asked. "I would have thought that the Daily Prophet would have printed about the trial by now…"

"We've been having trouble with our newspaper delivery lately," Ron said. "Wait. What trial?"

Remus grinned. "Well, you see Sirius is now a-"

"YOU ARE THE DANCING QUEEN! FEEL THE BEAT OF THE TAMBORINE!"

"Let me guess," Fred said, coming into the kitchen. "He's a dancing queen?"

Remus laughed, and didn't bother asking about how he knew about Sirius.

"No, he was set free."

"WHAT?" Hermione and Ron exclaimed.

"Yep! And that's why he's-"

"THE DANCING QUEEN!"

"Ah… can you explain why he's singing ABBA?" Hermione asked. Ron looked confused.

"Er… well, I have a Muggle car, and on the way over here Sirius amused himself by playing with the radio stations…"

"What about Harry?" Ron asked urgently. "When is his trial?"

"We don't know yet. The Minister said it would be soon… but we don't really trust him. We're pushing for one starting tomorrow or the day after."

"Oh thank goodness," Mrs. Weasley said. She looked near to tears. "You two must stay for dinner."

"That's a very nice offer Molly," Remus said. "But we can't right now, we really must go… Maybe when Harry gets out of Azkaban."

Mrs. Weasley smiled warmly and said, "Well, if you must go, you must. See you soon Remus. Er… Goodbye Sirius."

"TOMORROW! TOMORROW! I LOVE YA' TOMORROW!" Sirius had switched songs.

"Goodbye!" Remus gave one last smile and disappeared, and Sirius followed seconds after him.

~*~

He could tell that they were there. He could feel the Dementor's presence. He could see the blurry outlines of them. He had removed his glasses, for they were getting dirty and it didn't seem necessary to wear them anymore. He just wanted it all to end. All of the dreams, all of the visions… all of the pain. He just wanted it to go away. His scar was stinging constantly. He was spread out on the "cot" in his room, which resembled a few pieces of plywood with a blanket spread over it. It didn't matter if he was curled in his corner. The Dementors would still take all of the good thoughts away from him no matter where he tried to hide. Not that he had any good thoughts anymore.

"If I don't die here, Voldemort's going to kill me anyway…" He thought bitterly. "Either way I'm going to die. What's the point of trying to survive?" Those thoughts kept swimming around in his head, infecting his already distressed thoughts.

"I'm going to die… I'm going to die… I want to die…"

~*~

"This is looking pretty good," Sirius said, dropping his paintbrush into the can of paint.

"It's very… green," Remus commented, looking around the room that still stank of wet paint. The walls were emerald green.

"It'll go with his eyes," Sirius said.

"Ah yes. Every boy's dream is to have walls that match his eye color," Remus said, his lip curving into a smile.

"Well, Harry will like it."

"I'm sure he will," Remus sighed. Then his eyes got wide and he smacked his hand to his forehead.

"What?"

"I forgot something."

"What? Did you forget to put on clean boxers again?"

Remus rolled his eyes.

"No, prat! We need to get Harry's stuff!"

"Oh… OH!" Sirius said, realization setting on him. "We need to get his trunk!"

"Yeah… but how?" Remus asked. "Should we just go ask his aunt and uncle for it?"

"I suppose…" Sirius said, running a hand through his hair and smearing paint all over the dark strands. "From the way that Harry has described them they don't exactly seem like they would welcome two unknown wizards into their house."

"True…" Remus trailed off. "Well, let's give it a try anyway."

"All right. Let's go tomorrow."

~*~

The next day…

Petunia Dursley's ears perked up as she heard the doorbell ring.

"I wonder who that could be," she wondered aloud. "Dudley, did you invite a friend over?"

Dudley shook his head and his chins wobbled. She wiped her hands on her apron and went to answer the door.

"Hel-ARGH!" She screamed and slammed the door shut. "AHHH!"

"What is it Petunia?" Vernon yelled.

"It's-It's-" She went off into a fit of hysterics.

Vernon pulled open the door.

"Hi," Sirius said. "Lovely weather we're having."

Vernon yelled out too, and slammed the door shut.

"Odd family," Remus said. "I can see why Harry didn't like it here. People screaming all the time…"

Sirius pounded on the door again and said, "We're just here to pick up Harry's things!"

There was more yelling from inside.

"LEAVE US ALONE! DON'T COME NEAR MY FAMILY! I'M WARNING YOU!"
"Er…"
"WE AREN'T GOING TO HURT YOUR FAMILY!" Sirius called back. "WE JUST WANT HARRY'S TRUNK! OH! AND THE BIRDCAGE WOULD BE NICE TOO!"

There was silence in the house now.
Remus took out his wand and whispered, "Alohamora."

The door opened easily, and the two of them stepped inside.

"Er… Hello?" Remus said timidly. "Listen, we're just going to go upstairs and get Harry's things right now… is that okay?"

There was some muffled sounds and someone's voice saying, "If they can't hear us they won't know we're still here."

Sirius rolled his eyes and walked up the stairs.

He found a crowded bedroom at the end of the hall. He knew it was Harry's old bedroom, because it looked exactly like he had described it. Broken toys were scattered everywhere, and the only place that looked semi-neat was a bookshelf. A birdcage was sitting on the shelf, and the trunk was sitting at the end of the bed. Everything was covered by a thin layer of dust. Sirius sighed and shrunk the birdcage and the trunk before sticking them in his pocket.

"MMMOPPHH!" Sirius jumped at a loud noise that was coming from the kitchen.

"SIRIUS! LET'S GO!" Remus bellowed. Sirius clambered down the stairs and followed a very ruffled looking Remus out the front door.

"What was that sound?" Sirius asked as they walked down the street.

"Dudley."

"Jeez, I didn't know that Dudley sounded so much like an Elk."

"A moose, to be precise."

Sirius stared at his friend.

"You turned him into a moose?"

"Yep. A very fat moose," Remus said, blushing. "Couldn't help it. He said something about Harry."

"What'd he say?" Remus waved the question away.

"Come on, we're outside the Apparation barrier."

Sirius and Remus Disapparated back to Remus' house to get ready for when Harry could come home.

~*~

Three days later…

"HE'S FREE! HE'S FREE!" Sirius said, jumping around Remus' house. Remus was grinning and laughing at Sirius' antics. "THEY'RE SETTING HIM FREE!"

"Did you see the look on Lucius Malfoy's face when they read the verdict?" Remus said gleefully. "He looked like he was about to faint!"

"I could sing again!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Please don't." Sirius punched him hard in the shoulder.

"And we get to pick up Harry in less than an hour!" Sirius exclaimed. "LESS THAN AN HOUR!" Remus was laughing his head off now.

"And that jackass Pettigrew is getting life in prison," Sirius said, frowning suddenly. "I'm glad. I hate to wish that on anybody, but he deserves it for what he did to Harry and his family."

Remus stopped laughing and glanced at Sirius. Sirius' face had become harder and his black eyes were glittering in an odd way.

"Come on, Sirius," Remus said. "Don't think about that at a time like this. We should be celebrating! Harry's coming home!" Sirius nodded, and smiled weakly.

"We should get ready then," Remus said. "We still have to meet the doctor that will be coming with us to Azkaban."

Remus saw Sirius pale slightly.

"What if Harry's sick?" Sirius asked suddenly. "What if he's hurt?"

"That's what the doctor's for," Remus said. "He'll be fine."

"No, you don't understand," Sirius said fiercely. "I've never explained to you exactly what Azkaban does to you! It practically kills you from the inside out! First your mind goes and then you can get sick and-"

"Sirius," Remus said firmly. "We'd better go. Come on." Sirius still had a slightly angry look on his face, but he nodded and followed Remus out the door.

~*~

"Is this the place?" Asked the Dr. Martin, the doctor who was assigned to go with them to Azkaban. They were standing before a small dock that had a man standing on the end of it. When they stepped onto the dock he turned around and looked at them.

"Sirius Black? Remus Lupin?" He said in a gravelly voice.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry… you're too late."