Chapter Four: The Fat Lady's Portrait
Hello all, chapter four is out, be happy!
He had made friends with the cat, finally. It had taken him weeks to establish a bond between him and the cat. Crookshanks, it was called. He often saw its owner, a bushy-haired brunette, striding around the lawns, calling its name. It was strange that such a creature could be tamed; the cat—Crookshanks—was so smart and clever. Strange indeed.
Sirius had seen Harry out and about with the cat's owner once, or perhaps it was only his imagination. He believed that once they had been to visit Hagrid with one of the Weasley children, on the first week of school or so—Hagrid had nearly dragged them back to school angrily after that. The giant gamekeeper probably thought that Sirius was after Harry. That wasn't true. It was all backward; he was trying to get to Peter, not Harry. Sirius felt small stirring of anger rising up inside of him and he took a deep breath, calming himself down.
It was night again, and Sirius was bored. The castle grounds seemed so silent and watchful under the cover of darkness. The clouds matted the sky in a smothering cover of coming rain. Sirius felt something; a slight sense of foreboding, perhaps. Something was going to happen. He felt it calling to him. Laying himself out onto the ground, he decided to take a short nap in the forest and then go in search of something to eat.
When he woke, it was dawn. Apparently the rain or clouds had cleared out during the night; the twilight sunrise sent a collage of colors across the sky, gradually descending from red to yellow, down to the horizon. It was beautiful, and Sirius sucked in his breath as he watched it for a few minutes. He felt a revival of strength. So long had he been hiding in the dark trees that he had almost forgotten the beauty of light and sun. As the sun rose and spread its light across the fresh morning sky, Sirius took a deep breath of fresh air and stretched out on the grass.
The October day was chilly and nipped Sirius with a slight shiver. He wished he had a coat on. Transforming in his Animagus form, he ran around in the forest for a bit and then ate his daily diet of rats—he had gotten used to the taste by then. Lamps were lit in the towers of the castle as the teacher prepared their lessons, and as the hour passed by, Sirius saw more and more faces appear at the windows, a yearning expression on them, wishing for the day to end so that they could go outside. A flock of owls hooted and flew into the Great Hall, delivering the mail. Sirius wondered where Crookshanks was.
As if on cue, Crookshanks suddenly appeared from behind a nearby bush. It seemed that the male cat had a message to send. Sirius waited expectantly and gradually learned that the students would be out for the evening in a nearby village. Hogsmeade, Sirius thought. It's the first trip to Hogsmeade. Peter—or, the rat-but-not-rat to Crookshanks--was living in Gryffindor Tower, in the Weasley child's bed or nightstand. So far he had not done any harm to anyone in the castle; in fact, he looked extraordinarily thin and worried. Probably he was worried about Sirius' future revenge for James' and Lily's death. That was quite true.
As the day waned, the students began filing out of the castle for the trip to Hogsmeade. Sirius did not see Harry among them, but he supposed that since there were so many students, he wouldn't have been able to spot his short godson's head amongst the crowd anyway. After an hour had passed Sirius snuck through the front doors and instinctively made his way through the halls to Gryffindor Tower. He had decided to avenge himself tonight. It would be easy to get into Gryffindor Tower; the Fat Lady had always let him in, and it wouldn't be too hard to convince her now. As he climbed up the winding staircase, he made sure that nobody was around, and then transformed back into his human form. Then he finally reached the Fat Lady's portrait. She was snoozing.
"Er…excuse me…" he said tentatively. She didn't wake up. He tried again. "Excuse me…er…Fat Lady…could you let me in?"
The lady's eyes fluttered open. "And who may you be? What is the password?"
"I'm terribly sorry, Missus. I forgot it. I'm terrible at remembering things like that, and all of my classmates are out at Hogsmeade, and so I can't get in," Sirius lied. He didn't know that he sounded exactly like Neville Longbottom, except for his voice.
"What is your name?" the Fat Lady asked, more sharply.
"Er…"
The Fat Lady's eyes were finally open, and when she saw Sirius, she let out a small cry. "You are not a resident of Gryffindor Tower," she stated simply.
"No, I was, I mean, I am a—" Sirius stammered, not expecting this.
"You don't know the password, and you are simply one that I have not seen before. You cannot go in."
"But—don't you recognize me—" he pleaded.
"No. You cannot go in."
Later he did not know what made him do it. He had stared at the horror afterward, then heard Peeves' voice and had run away, terrified. His frustration finally took control of him and he had taken out a big knife—he could not recall where he had gotten it from—a long, twelve-inch knife, and had slashed at the Fat Lady's portrait. He had stabbed and slashed angrily, insanely, until the spasm finally passed. But by then it was too late. By then, strips of canvas had been strewn over the floor, scattered everywhere, a thousand miniscule little pieces, something he had done, his own sin, his own creation. It was irreplaceable. The Fat Lady had fled, and her portrait was gone.
Horrified, Sirius stood there gaping for a moment. Then he heard Peeves' mocking voice and he turned and fled down the stairs. As soon as he reached the outside, he transformed himself back into the Animagus form. He heard the sound of students' voices approaching and sprinted into the heart of the Forbidden Forest. Once there, he transformed again in a panic and took deep breaths, still not quite believing his sin, his act of anger and insanity. Harry will never forgive me, he thought, before realizing that Harry still thought he was a cold-blooded murderer.
No one will believe me. No one will think I did it by accident. No one will ever believe me. And with that, Sirius plunged into a fitful, weary sleep, hoping that when he woke up, it would all be a dream.
But it wasn't.
A/N: thank you to all reviewers of Chapter 3: Kanari, Hannah Reitman, and "wellduh…" I really appreciate their reviews and hope you do the same! Please review this! Thanks.