Disclaimer: all characters belong to J K Rowling and Warner brothers.
a/n Story dedicated to Moppet Poppet, Cheating Death's 500th reviewer!
There are a lot of overlapping time frames in this story, especially in the slowly crawly parts. Last chapter, the second scene took place simultaneously as the first, and in this chapter, it picks up about five minutes after. It's a draft, I wasn't really planning to post this today.
Was suppose to be studying, but then remembered it was MercS and Tilly's birthday today. Happy birthday!! I hope you enjoy this post!
Of Western Stars
By neutral
Chapter twenty-two - of invisible men
Remus scanned the empty hotel room with mounting unease. In his agitation, he nearly tripped over the helm of the invisibility cloak as he made this way through the room.
Could Sirius have ran again? Could he have taken Harry and just left? Or was he entirely misled? What if something happened?
Those questions played like a broken record in his mind. He was sure in two hours time, he would be insane.
But all the signs said that Sirius was merely outside with the child. There was money hidden in duffle bag, laundered clothes folded neatly on the table, warm soup in the coffee machine. Sirius had substituted that as a stove, and Remus noticed several packages of powder lying to one side. Curious, he held it up to the light.
Protein it said simply, followed by a list of ingredients that made no sense to his mind.
Remus slowly placed it back on the counter, returning to his position beside the window. He frowned thoughtfully. The lady had been truthful when she said that Sirius was taking care of James' son. The signs had said that Harry received medical care from muggle doctors. He seemed alive and well, but…
The soft platter of water against the window echoed through the room listlessly. He peeled back a corner of the curtain, watching the overshadowed sky and the moist earth that stretched beneath it. It must have started to rain seconds ago, and by the sight of the sky, it was threatening to be an overnight downpour.
A shadow behind the glass suddenly swam into his vision through fractured glass; Remus took an involuntary step back.
The bay windows slid open with a sudden lurch, and a figure burst inside. For a moment, Remus almost didn't recognize the man. His hair was long, combed neatly and tied in a low ponytail, moist and glossy from the dewdrops of rain. He was unhealthily thin, even under the thin cotton blanket. He had a small bundle in his arms that he was obviously trying to shade from the rain, hutched over the form protectively.
Remus could feel his hands shaking violently; he forcefully kept his gaze unwavering. Sirius changed so much the past five years; he lost the mischievous gleam in his eyes, the energy that he lit the room by just being there. Sirius' usually pale blue eyes were overshadowed with gray, there was a shadow in his face that spoke of pain, but at the same time, relief? It made no sense…
Remus had prepared to curse him on the spot, but then, seeing how cruel the years had been on him, Remus didn't seem to be able to. Those childhood memories were holding him back. Even if Sirius had betrayed them, he had still been his friend once.
Sirius pushed the door shut with the edge of his shoe, and instantly made his way to the bed. It took Remus a moment to register the slight form of James' son, nested securely in the murderer's arms. Remus' throat constricted even further at the brief glimpse of the child. Harry seemed to have lost the little weight he had; the paleness in his skin was disturbing.
"Did you get wet?" Sirius asked, prodding him lightly on the hand.
Harry blinked groggily, shaking his head before leaning against his godfather again.
Sirius smiled, "Go to sleep. You look tired."
"Only a little," Harry admitted reluctantly, but he rubbed his eyes with a hand as if trying to stay awake. There was a fragility in his tone, like those who had suffered a degenerative illness and found themselves physically and mentally drained. But at the same time, the child sounded oddly blithe, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Harry was obviously much more than a little tired, but Sirius seemed well acquainted with his character. He sighed and shook his head, "Don't try to push yourself. The doctor says you're not recovering as fast as you should."
Remus hand tightened in its fist.
Sirius placed the child gently on the bed, carefully removing the makeshift coat before tucking him under the covers. The blankets were unusually thick on Harry's bed, stacked with multiple layers that cushioned the surface. Harry sank against it like a limp puppet the moment he was laid down, burying himself in the bleached folds. His thinness was frightening, but Remus couldn't decide whether it was from the Dursleys or from Sirius.
"Is it cold in here? Should I turn up the heat?" Sirius softly asked.
Harry shook his head again, nestling deeper in the covers.
Sirius smiled widely, lightly ruffling the boy's hair. Retrieving a small mug, he poured a steaming, creamy liquid from the coffee cooker, no longer used for coffee, and brought it to the bedside.
"Well, you should take some antibiotics. The doctor will kill me once he finds out it you were out in the rain," Sirius said quietly. "Here, drink something warm before you sleep. You won't feel so dehydrated."
He lifted Harry with infinite care, almost as if handling fragile glass, and leaned him against his shoulder. Harry made a small noise of assent, sluggishly stirring. He didn't flinch, didn't pull away; the child even nestled closer against his godfather and rested his head against his chest. Remus stiffened in shock, unsure whether it was Harry's weariness that took away his shyness, or the trust that Sirius managed to gain.
He did care for Harry, he had to. There was no way to falsify the parental affection Sirius had for the child. It just wasn't possible.
Sirius' eyes would soften as he watched Harry with a sort of concern that Remus only saw shades of during his years at Hogwarts. And Harry was far more at ease than Remus could ever remember. He seemed less haunted and less afraid, more like his age.
"What about you?" Harry asked suddenly, looking up at his godfather past heavily laden eyes.
Sirius stilled; he seemed unsettled by the focus somehow, avoiding Harry's eyes and distractedly wringing out the edges of the blanket.
"Don't worry about me. You just worry about getting better," Sirius said, giving Harry a rather forced smile. He simply set the mug at the desk, and eased the child back against the pillows.
Harry blinked, giving Sirius an odd, searching look, and a heavy gloom passed over his eyes. He sank back against the pillow. There was something bothering him that he was hesitant to voice; his emerald eyes spoke far louder than his words.
"What is it?" Sirius asked, smoothing out the child's hair. He seemed well acquainted with Harry's character, and read his facial expressions with expert skill.
"What's going to happen afterwards? Am I going to go back to the Dursleys?" Harry asked almost fearfully.
Remus' stomach clenched and plummeted at the sight. The expression on the child's face made him wonder just how much that question haunted him.
"Of course not!" Sirius stood up with a jerk, voice harsher than before. He sounded bitterly angry, but made an obvious effort to suppress an outburst. "I'm not letting you go back there. In a few weeks, I'm going to book us tickets to America, and you're going to live with me."
"Really?" Harry's face lit up in excitement. He examined Sirius expression, trying to discern the truthfulness of those words.
Sirius grinned, ruffling his hair slightly. "Where would you like to go? Do you want to choose a place?"
Harry broke into a shy smile. Remus stared in surprise; through the short week he spent with the boy, he had never seen the child display any signs of happiness or relief. The extent of Harry's attachment to Sirius stretched deeper than Remus ever imagined. If he was told the truth, he would reject it outright. Remus paled; to take the one person Harry had grown to trust away would hurt him more than any beating ever would. He would never trust again.
Sirius moved from his position at the bed, smoothing out the sheet, and arranging it more snugly around the child. "If you're tired, sleep. I'll wake you later, okay?" Sirius said, giving the child's hand a comforting squeeze before tucking his arm under the covers.
Remus backed away, unsure of what to think or do. To see Sirius so defensive and protective of the child was something he wasn't prepared for. It was suddenly hard to imagine Sirius guilty. But could Sirius be lying? Could he…?
Sirius lingered at the edge of the bed even after pulling the sheets securely around him, watching the child with a sort of sadness, and even regret. Tentatively, he reached out and smoothed the child's windswept hair.
It was impossible to discern Harry's expression from his position beside the window, but Remus noted Sirius' with mounting confusion. Sirius looked truly concerned, with a demeanor that was fooling even him. Even for his blatant betrayal five years ago, Remus found his hatred and bitterness faltering.
He took a few hesitant steps towards the door, torn between leaving the pair or contacting Dumbledore. He knew he had a task to fulfill, but the idea of abandoning the child to a murderer, however kind he seemed, was still caustic. Remus lingered at the side of the bed, fingering the wand in the depths of his pocket.
"Will you finish the story?" Harry abruptly asked, eagerness audible in his childish voice.
Remus had paused right above the doorknob. He turned back jerkily, apprehensive about the stories Sirius was telling the child. If the traitor was truly turning Harry to the dark, he had to be stopped immediately.
"You're never going to rest until I do," Sirius said with a resigned sigh. He ruffled the child's hair fondly, a familiar grin tracing his features.
Harry's eyes brightened in excitement, but clouded by a film of weariness.
"Well, that night was our first real venture into the Forbidden Forest in our animagus forms," Sirius slowly began, drawing up a chair to the bedside and resting his arms on the edge of the bed. "And we still didn't know the place very well. We were too dense to think about exploring and testing out our forms on a long term basis, so things didn't exactly go… that well…"
Remus froze, blood draining from his face. A mixture of shock, anger, and disbelief was stirring in a torrent in his mind. Sirius was telling Harry their childhood experiences, the memories he discarded the moment he turned to the dark. How could he? He never had the right!
But as he listened to Sirius' account of their first full moon in the forest, he began to notice that they were not fabricated. Everything he was telling the child was true, although somehow, all the events that involved Peter dropped out of the narration. Perhaps it was the event at the street that made Sirius bitter, seeing how it was Peter who tracked him down. Remus inwardly frowned.
"… wandered into some odd place in the forest with human sized spiders. We got chased for a whole hour; your dad kept getting his antlers caught in the branches…"
The wave of fury struck so violently that Remus had to catch onto the edge of the divan to steady himself. To hear Sirius speaking of James, the friend he betrayed, and to James' son, was just too much. Remus gritted his teeth, withdrawing the wand from the depths of his pocket, hand forcibly steady as he pointed it at the back of Sirius' head.
Harry's eyes widened with an emotion akin to terror. He made a move to sit up, but Sirius placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.
"What is it?" Sirius asked quickly.
Harry didn't answer at first, his eyes darting through the room wildly. But when he saw nothing out of place, he hesitated.
"I… I don't know," Harry admitted slowly. "I thought there was something…"
Harry jerked up, entire body stiffening. The expression dropped like lead from his face, and he stared past Sirius at a patch of deceptively empty space. Remus froze when the child fixed a piercing gaze on him.
"Moony?" Harry whispered.
*
Ack, cliffy yet again. Humm… I wonder if Nick is like MercS or Tilly. *looks for a closet*
Well, things are progressing. Remus technically was suppose to wait until Dumbledore gets there with backup, but kind of lost patience and tracked them down by himself. Then Harry blew his cover… so… *sigh*
This chapter went through so many drafts, but in the end, it… does it seem choppy? I'm open to any constructive criticism. This is still a draft version, since I haven't really proofread this draft, so…
a/n Story dedicated to Moppet Poppet, Cheating Death's 500th reviewer!
There are a lot of overlapping time frames in this story, especially in the slowly crawly parts. Last chapter, the second scene took place simultaneously as the first, and in this chapter, it picks up about five minutes after. It's a draft, I wasn't really planning to post this today.
Was suppose to be studying, but then remembered it was MercS and Tilly's birthday today. Happy birthday!! I hope you enjoy this post!
Of Western Stars
By neutral
Chapter twenty-two - of invisible men
Remus scanned the empty hotel room with mounting unease. In his agitation, he nearly tripped over the helm of the invisibility cloak as he made this way through the room.
Could Sirius have ran again? Could he have taken Harry and just left? Or was he entirely misled? What if something happened?
Those questions played like a broken record in his mind. He was sure in two hours time, he would be insane.
But all the signs said that Sirius was merely outside with the child. There was money hidden in duffle bag, laundered clothes folded neatly on the table, warm soup in the coffee machine. Sirius had substituted that as a stove, and Remus noticed several packages of powder lying to one side. Curious, he held it up to the light.
Protein it said simply, followed by a list of ingredients that made no sense to his mind.
Remus slowly placed it back on the counter, returning to his position beside the window. He frowned thoughtfully. The lady had been truthful when she said that Sirius was taking care of James' son. The signs had said that Harry received medical care from muggle doctors. He seemed alive and well, but…
The soft platter of water against the window echoed through the room listlessly. He peeled back a corner of the curtain, watching the overshadowed sky and the moist earth that stretched beneath it. It must have started to rain seconds ago, and by the sight of the sky, it was threatening to be an overnight downpour.
A shadow behind the glass suddenly swam into his vision through fractured glass; Remus took an involuntary step back.
The bay windows slid open with a sudden lurch, and a figure burst inside. For a moment, Remus almost didn't recognize the man. His hair was long, combed neatly and tied in a low ponytail, moist and glossy from the dewdrops of rain. He was unhealthily thin, even under the thin cotton blanket. He had a small bundle in his arms that he was obviously trying to shade from the rain, hutched over the form protectively.
Remus could feel his hands shaking violently; he forcefully kept his gaze unwavering. Sirius changed so much the past five years; he lost the mischievous gleam in his eyes, the energy that he lit the room by just being there. Sirius' usually pale blue eyes were overshadowed with gray, there was a shadow in his face that spoke of pain, but at the same time, relief? It made no sense…
Remus had prepared to curse him on the spot, but then, seeing how cruel the years had been on him, Remus didn't seem to be able to. Those childhood memories were holding him back. Even if Sirius had betrayed them, he had still been his friend once.
Sirius pushed the door shut with the edge of his shoe, and instantly made his way to the bed. It took Remus a moment to register the slight form of James' son, nested securely in the murderer's arms. Remus' throat constricted even further at the brief glimpse of the child. Harry seemed to have lost the little weight he had; the paleness in his skin was disturbing.
"Did you get wet?" Sirius asked, prodding him lightly on the hand.
Harry blinked groggily, shaking his head before leaning against his godfather again.
Sirius smiled, "Go to sleep. You look tired."
"Only a little," Harry admitted reluctantly, but he rubbed his eyes with a hand as if trying to stay awake. There was a fragility in his tone, like those who had suffered a degenerative illness and found themselves physically and mentally drained. But at the same time, the child sounded oddly blithe, as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Harry was obviously much more than a little tired, but Sirius seemed well acquainted with his character. He sighed and shook his head, "Don't try to push yourself. The doctor says you're not recovering as fast as you should."
Remus hand tightened in its fist.
Sirius placed the child gently on the bed, carefully removing the makeshift coat before tucking him under the covers. The blankets were unusually thick on Harry's bed, stacked with multiple layers that cushioned the surface. Harry sank against it like a limp puppet the moment he was laid down, burying himself in the bleached folds. His thinness was frightening, but Remus couldn't decide whether it was from the Dursleys or from Sirius.
"Is it cold in here? Should I turn up the heat?" Sirius softly asked.
Harry shook his head again, nestling deeper in the covers.
Sirius smiled widely, lightly ruffling the boy's hair. Retrieving a small mug, he poured a steaming, creamy liquid from the coffee cooker, no longer used for coffee, and brought it to the bedside.
"Well, you should take some antibiotics. The doctor will kill me once he finds out it you were out in the rain," Sirius said quietly. "Here, drink something warm before you sleep. You won't feel so dehydrated."
He lifted Harry with infinite care, almost as if handling fragile glass, and leaned him against his shoulder. Harry made a small noise of assent, sluggishly stirring. He didn't flinch, didn't pull away; the child even nestled closer against his godfather and rested his head against his chest. Remus stiffened in shock, unsure whether it was Harry's weariness that took away his shyness, or the trust that Sirius managed to gain.
He did care for Harry, he had to. There was no way to falsify the parental affection Sirius had for the child. It just wasn't possible.
Sirius' eyes would soften as he watched Harry with a sort of concern that Remus only saw shades of during his years at Hogwarts. And Harry was far more at ease than Remus could ever remember. He seemed less haunted and less afraid, more like his age.
"What about you?" Harry asked suddenly, looking up at his godfather past heavily laden eyes.
Sirius stilled; he seemed unsettled by the focus somehow, avoiding Harry's eyes and distractedly wringing out the edges of the blanket.
"Don't worry about me. You just worry about getting better," Sirius said, giving Harry a rather forced smile. He simply set the mug at the desk, and eased the child back against the pillows.
Harry blinked, giving Sirius an odd, searching look, and a heavy gloom passed over his eyes. He sank back against the pillow. There was something bothering him that he was hesitant to voice; his emerald eyes spoke far louder than his words.
"What is it?" Sirius asked, smoothing out the child's hair. He seemed well acquainted with Harry's character, and read his facial expressions with expert skill.
"What's going to happen afterwards? Am I going to go back to the Dursleys?" Harry asked almost fearfully.
Remus' stomach clenched and plummeted at the sight. The expression on the child's face made him wonder just how much that question haunted him.
"Of course not!" Sirius stood up with a jerk, voice harsher than before. He sounded bitterly angry, but made an obvious effort to suppress an outburst. "I'm not letting you go back there. In a few weeks, I'm going to book us tickets to America, and you're going to live with me."
"Really?" Harry's face lit up in excitement. He examined Sirius expression, trying to discern the truthfulness of those words.
Sirius grinned, ruffling his hair slightly. "Where would you like to go? Do you want to choose a place?"
Harry broke into a shy smile. Remus stared in surprise; through the short week he spent with the boy, he had never seen the child display any signs of happiness or relief. The extent of Harry's attachment to Sirius stretched deeper than Remus ever imagined. If he was told the truth, he would reject it outright. Remus paled; to take the one person Harry had grown to trust away would hurt him more than any beating ever would. He would never trust again.
Sirius moved from his position at the bed, smoothing out the sheet, and arranging it more snugly around the child. "If you're tired, sleep. I'll wake you later, okay?" Sirius said, giving the child's hand a comforting squeeze before tucking his arm under the covers.
Remus backed away, unsure of what to think or do. To see Sirius so defensive and protective of the child was something he wasn't prepared for. It was suddenly hard to imagine Sirius guilty. But could Sirius be lying? Could he…?
Sirius lingered at the edge of the bed even after pulling the sheets securely around him, watching the child with a sort of sadness, and even regret. Tentatively, he reached out and smoothed the child's windswept hair.
It was impossible to discern Harry's expression from his position beside the window, but Remus noted Sirius' with mounting confusion. Sirius looked truly concerned, with a demeanor that was fooling even him. Even for his blatant betrayal five years ago, Remus found his hatred and bitterness faltering.
He took a few hesitant steps towards the door, torn between leaving the pair or contacting Dumbledore. He knew he had a task to fulfill, but the idea of abandoning the child to a murderer, however kind he seemed, was still caustic. Remus lingered at the side of the bed, fingering the wand in the depths of his pocket.
"Will you finish the story?" Harry abruptly asked, eagerness audible in his childish voice.
Remus had paused right above the doorknob. He turned back jerkily, apprehensive about the stories Sirius was telling the child. If the traitor was truly turning Harry to the dark, he had to be stopped immediately.
"You're never going to rest until I do," Sirius said with a resigned sigh. He ruffled the child's hair fondly, a familiar grin tracing his features.
Harry's eyes brightened in excitement, but clouded by a film of weariness.
"Well, that night was our first real venture into the Forbidden Forest in our animagus forms," Sirius slowly began, drawing up a chair to the bedside and resting his arms on the edge of the bed. "And we still didn't know the place very well. We were too dense to think about exploring and testing out our forms on a long term basis, so things didn't exactly go… that well…"
Remus froze, blood draining from his face. A mixture of shock, anger, and disbelief was stirring in a torrent in his mind. Sirius was telling Harry their childhood experiences, the memories he discarded the moment he turned to the dark. How could he? He never had the right!
But as he listened to Sirius' account of their first full moon in the forest, he began to notice that they were not fabricated. Everything he was telling the child was true, although somehow, all the events that involved Peter dropped out of the narration. Perhaps it was the event at the street that made Sirius bitter, seeing how it was Peter who tracked him down. Remus inwardly frowned.
"… wandered into some odd place in the forest with human sized spiders. We got chased for a whole hour; your dad kept getting his antlers caught in the branches…"
The wave of fury struck so violently that Remus had to catch onto the edge of the divan to steady himself. To hear Sirius speaking of James, the friend he betrayed, and to James' son, was just too much. Remus gritted his teeth, withdrawing the wand from the depths of his pocket, hand forcibly steady as he pointed it at the back of Sirius' head.
Harry's eyes widened with an emotion akin to terror. He made a move to sit up, but Sirius placed a restraining hand on his shoulder.
"What is it?" Sirius asked quickly.
Harry didn't answer at first, his eyes darting through the room wildly. But when he saw nothing out of place, he hesitated.
"I… I don't know," Harry admitted slowly. "I thought there was something…"
Harry jerked up, entire body stiffening. The expression dropped like lead from his face, and he stared past Sirius at a patch of deceptively empty space. Remus froze when the child fixed a piercing gaze on him.
"Moony?" Harry whispered.
*
Ack, cliffy yet again. Humm… I wonder if Nick is like MercS or Tilly. *looks for a closet*
Well, things are progressing. Remus technically was suppose to wait until Dumbledore gets there with backup, but kind of lost patience and tracked them down by himself. Then Harry blew his cover… so… *sigh*
This chapter went through so many drafts, but in the end, it… does it seem choppy? I'm open to any constructive criticism. This is still a draft version, since I haven't really proofread this draft, so…