Hippogriffs and Airplanes ~*~

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THE energetic little owl was hopping up and down in place madly, beside itself with excitement at actually being chosen to carry a letter. It was taking this wizard absolutely AGES to finish the letter he was writing, and the diminutive bird leaned closer as it hopped, trying to get a glance at whether or not the quill was nearing the end of it's scribbling.

Ink splattered as the bird knocked into the inkwell, and it earned another reprimand as it hopped back out of the way, now making little black owl prints on the top of the trash can lid that served as a table from the ink on his tiny talons.

"Will you please sit still!"

Sirius Black returned to his writing, casting one last warning look at the tennis ball-sized bundle of feathers as it managed to contain itself for maybe thirty or forty seconds before becoming overly excited again.

Sirius shook his head, knowing that his options were limited, and that this little hyperactive feathered monster was the best he could do under the circumstances. It was only a moment before ink splattered again, and Sirius yanked the piece of parchment off the makeshift table just in time to avoid the spill.

A snort next to him grabbed his attention, and he shot a look at the hippogriff standing off to his left.

"I'm glad that you're amused," he said irritatedly.

Buckbeak suddenly became very interested in a beetle on the ground, and proceeded to ignore the wizard standing there giving him the dirty look.

Sirius turned back to the tiny owl. "Look, I need just one more minute to write a second note. Do you think that you can hold still for even that long?" he asked in a sarcastic, biting tone.

Big yellow eyes looked up at him innocently from a tiny feathered face. The bird moved dejectedly to the far side of the lid where it sat there very quietly.

Sirius felt bad that he snapped at the bird as he penned the short note. 'I, Sirius Black, Harry Potter's godfather, hereby'.. "Oh, alright!" the wizard said, unable to stay mad at the adorable big eyes looking up at him. "Come on, then."

The birdlette instantly leaped off the lid, ecstatic that Sirius wasn't angry, and hopped onto the man's shoulder, nipping his ear in an affectionate, if not exuberant, way.

"OW! JUST...." Sirius gritted his teeth. "Just a few more words, okay?"

If Sirius had been wearing clean robes, tiny owl prints would have been visible on his shoulder where the not-much-bigger-than-a-snitch bird was hopping up and down with excitement again.

Another snort from nearby, indicating the hippogriff was still being amused at the wizard's expense.

Sirius took a deep breath and set the quill to the parchment again... 'give him permission to visit Hogsmeade on weekends.'

"There."

Sirius smiled at last, knowing how excited Harry would probably be to get this particular piece of paper. He folded it inside the first letter and turned to the little owl.

"Okay. This is very important. You're sure you're up to it? It's a long way for a little fellow like you," Sirius said.

The bird shot from his shoulder, did three loop-the-loops and landed squarely on the trash can lid. It quivered with excitement as it held out one tiny foot to accept the letter.

Sirius looked at the bird, and then folding the letter in half once more, handed it to the diminutive messenger.

"Be careful," Sirius said softly to the little animal.

The owl soon to be known as 'Pig' launched himself in the air, clamping both feet tightly on his letter, and shot quickly out of sight.

Sirius sighed. "I hope the little guy makes it."

A snort and a nod indicated the 'griff's vote of confidence.

"I hope you're right," Sirius replied.

The wizard in ragged robes cast one last glance in the direction the owl had zoomed off in, and then turned to face the hippogriff again.

"Well, then, I guess it's time we were going as well," Sirius said. "It's time we split up."

The 'gryff tipped its head and gave him a questioning look.

"It'll be safer for you to be on your own," Sirius said quietly. "I'm going to let some muggles spot me tomorrow, and I don't want any trouble for you if things go bad."

A snort, followed by the raising of head and neck feathers.

"Yeah, I'll be careful," Sirius said with a nod. He hesitated for a moment, and then spoke again. "You be careful, too, alright?"

An affirmative snort.

Sirius spoke more softly, feeling a bit awkward at saying goodbye to the only close companion he'd had in years, even if it was only for a week or so. "I can't thank you enough for what you did for me.."

He broke off as the 'griff took a step forward and rested it's large feathered head on his shoulder. Evidently the beast was feeling the same things, and Sirius rested his head against the animal's for a moment.

"Be safe, then," he said as the hippogriff moved away.

It looked back at him for a moment over it's shoulder, and Sirius raised a hand in a farewell gesture. The hippogriff looked for a second or two longer, and then spread the great wings and launched itself into the air.

Sirius watched the powerful animal climb higher in the air, moving further and further away in the nearly dark sky. It was only a minute before he stood there alone, on his own again for the first time in a week and a half.

A loud gurgling rumble from his midsection interrupted any sentimental thoughts the wizard may have been having.

"Right. Time to find some dinner, then," Sirius said to himself, patting his complaining stomach. He turned and walked down the darkening alley, transformed in mid-stride to the large black dog that was his alternate form, and headed into the center of the small town.

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Dinner, by Sirius's current standards, was an absolute feast. It hadn't taken the dog long to follow his nose to the back door of a restaurant where he was overjoyed at finding a large dumpster with freshly dumped trash in it.

Pausing briefly to sniff the air, the smells he detected confirmed that he was indeed smelling leftover sausage aroma wafting out of the open half of the bin, and he looked furtively around before approaching it. He slinked by the truck parked nearby, gauged the distance to the top, and then leaped easily onto the closed half, landing with a dull thud.

The dog leaned its great head into the opening, and sniffed, trying to detect where the best smells were coming from. A foil pan with bits of lasagna stuck to it was the first thing he found, and he grabbed it with his teeth and pulled it out.

Several minutes later, after licking the pan thoroughly clean, the dog poked his head back inside to rummage some more. He discovered a half eaten croissant a few inches down and devoured it in a single bite. More digging brought up an apple core, a moldy slice of bread, and two soggy shortbread cookies. All went the same way as the croissant.

The small amount of food he'd consumed just served to whet the large dog's appetite, and he delved in deeper, looking in earnest now for the sausages he knew were in there. He kept rooting through the paper, and the foil, and plastic, digging as far as he could reach from the top of the dumpster lid.

It just wasn't far enough, and the rumbling in his stomach drove him to climb into the open half and start digging in earnest. Trash flew about, some of it landing on the ground below as the black dog immersed itself in the refuse, desperate to take the edge off its intense hunger.

Another minute or two of digging in the dark, with his keen nose to guide him, turned up a glop of mashed potatoes stuck on a piece of greasy cardboard, and at long last, deep in the disgusting depths, he found them. Four rancid bangers, a prize that far outweighed having to deal with the smell he had acquired as a result of his digging.

The large black dog wolfed them down, pleased with the results his efforts had produced. He turned back to the garbage. His nose told him that somewhere in there was a stale piece of chocolate cake. 'Why not have dessert?' he mused.

"Just keep in mind that chocolate is toxic to all varieties of canines, so be very careful what you decide to indulge in while you're a dog."

The dog snorted derisively and kept digging, amused that the warning had stayed with him, still in Lupin's voice, in his head after all these years.

Surely a small piece of chocolate cake wouldn't affect a dog his size, now would it? He was too hungry to care, and continued to dig.

"Yeah, okay. Thanks Maggie."

A new voice in the dog's ears, but this one was outside his head, and outside the dumpster. He froze in place, one massive paw poised in mid- swipe through the trash. Someone was walking his way. Closer. Very close.

Furry ears on the great head swiveled to catch the sound of footsteps a few feet away, the small movement too subtle to be noticed in the dark. Sirius hoped that the footsteps wouldn't come any closer.

They didn't.

The dog relaxed slightly as he heard the door to the truck open, and almost immediately the engine started and headlights went on, illuminating the opposite end of the alley from where the dog was.

That was close.

The dog resumed it's search as the gears of the truck engaged and it began to move. Unfortunately the hungry canine, with his head buried in the depths of the dumpster, realized too late that the truck was actually backing up. Just about the time he recognized what was happening, he felt the impact of something against the sides of the bin, and reflexively hunkered down as he felt it shudder.

'Uh oh.'

Sirius realized at once what had escaped him earlier while he was in search of dinner. The truck parked in the alley was a garbage truck, and that meant only one thing...

'Damn.'

The curse registered in the mind of the animagus even as he felt the dumpster begin to lift. He scrambled around toward the opening, trying to get a purchase on the shifting trash, but his large paws keeps sinking as he dug in more frantically. He made a lunge for the edge of the opening, trying to grab it with his front paws, but his back feet sank to the trash, and he couldn't get a good enough grip.

Quickly he decided that he'd have a better chance of gaining the edge with hands, and he transformed as the dumpster was lifted higher off the ground. Sirius slipped around on things he decided he was better off not identifying and grabbed the rim of the dumpster, just as the upward motion halted abruptly. He pulled himself to the top, intent on climbing out and then leaping down in canine mode, but it was at that moment that the bin began to tip, and Sirius slipped again as the trash beneath his feet started to shift once more.

The bin tipped up quite rapidly and quite far, and Sirius knew he was in trouble.

"Oh, sh--!"

A small avalanche of trash, complete with one sticky and smeared wizard, tumbled into the small mountain of waste already in the back of the truck.

The empty dumpster poised over his head was lowered to the ground, as the already tattered and unkempt wizard sat there half buried in the pile of trash. Sirius remained there for a moment, gritting his teeth as he felt something wet dripping off his tangled hair onto his cheek. He raised a hand to wipe the offending substance away, and managed to smear a glob of something very sticky across his own face in replacement.

'Lovely,' he thought. 'Just absolutely spiffing.' He wiped his hand on the front of his tattered and now even filthier robes.

All thoughts of climbing out were immediately banished as he felt the truck shift gears below him, and head down the alley. He dropped his hand dejectedly back into the trash at his side and blew out a large breath as he let his head fall back and closed his eyes.

'What a night this has turned out to be,' he thought. 'First a hyperactive owl, then Buckbeak has to leave, then I have garbage for dinner, then I become garbage, and now it looks like we're going for a little ride,' he thought, 'probably to some great muggle incinerator.' He sighed and opened his eyes with his head still back.

Stars were everywhere in the night sky.

Sirius freed himself from most of the trash and found himself craning his neck back even more to look across the heavens. He stared at the million pinpoints of light in the curtain of night for several long minutes with deep appreciation for the view he'd not had for many a year, until so recently.

Slowly, as the truck rumbled along across town, a small smile began to cross the gaunt wizard's features. He might be hungry, tired, and smelling strongly of garbage at that moment, but Merlin knew, it was still better than Azkaban.

What wasn't better than Azkaban?

'Nothing!' Sirius thought, and he flopped back on the trash pile, hands laced behind his head, and enjoyed the unobstructed view of the sky above, and the ride to wherever the truck was taking him.

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Early morning came, and the large black dog rose, yawned and stretched his front legs first, and then each back leg out behind him one and then the other. This was followed by an all over body shake that started at his massive shaggy head and ended at the long tail, and then he was ready to venture out of the abandoned factory where he'd spent the night.

Three things weighed on his mind as he trotted down a back alley and then a quiet side street - the need for breakfast, the decision he had made to let himself be seen by muggles today, and where he was going to go from here, pretty much in that order.

As he trotted along down the quiet lane, he passed no one until he neared the end. A small church stood at the end, and one of the priests was outside, trimming the hedges in front.

The black dog narrowed his eyes as he scrutinized the situation. Here was his chance to be spotted. No one else was about, so it should be relatively easy to make his escape, and the local authorities were likely to believe a respected member of the community such as the priest. Perfect.

The large canine ducked behind the shrubs at the end of the hedge, and a second later, Sirius appeared in it's place, crouched down behind the bushes. He watched as the somewhat elderly man paused from his chore and set the trimmers down to go inside. Excellent. Now he could pretend as though he were breaking and entering on this very early morning, and be long gone before the townsfolk were really out and about.

Sirius took one last look around the area, and crept furtively to the large oak door of the church, opened it a small bit, and squeezed inside.

It took his eyes a second to adjust to the dimmer light of the church, but Sirius could see the priest no where. The doorway to a small room off to the right caught Sirius's eye, and he crept over to peer around the opening to see if that was where the priest had gone. He saw no one, but another door was across the room, and he contemplated whether he should venture ahead and try that door.

"Something I can help you with, my son?"

The priest's question from behind him caused Sirius to jump, and spin around, and nearly transform there on the spot as a defense mechanism.

"MERLIN'S BA...."

He been about to exclaim loudly about Merlin's nether anatomy when he remembered that he was in a muggle place of worship, and he caught himself at the last moment, and then wondered why he was worried about uttering something offensive if he was in here pretending to be a mass murderer and trying to make an unfavorable impression on the priest. He mentally rolled his eyes at himself, and then realized the man was waiting for him patiently.

Sirius drew himself op to his full height and spoke in a brusque manner.

"Don't you know who I AM?" He stared at the man in what he hoped was a menacing manner.

The old priest, appearing unfazed by the shabby appearance (and not to mention smell) of the man in front of him, fold his hands together in front of him and spoke gently in return.

"I do not, my son, but God does. God knows who we all are."

Sirius had opened his mouth say something else, but shut it abruptly and looked at the priest. "What?"

The priest continued on, reaching out and patting Sirius on the arm in a comforting gesture. "Even when we have lost ourselves, God still truly knows each and every one of us." He had obviously taken in the appearance of the man in front of him.

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Don't you know who I am?"

"Do you?" returned the priest. "Tell me, my son, do you?"

Sirius was taken aback. This obviously wasn't going the way he'd planned. He decided to give it another try.

"I," he announced in what he hoped was an intimidating tone, "am Sirius Black!"

The priest looked unruffled, and blinked calmly.

"Don't you know what I've done?" Sirius demanded, now getting a little frustrated.

The priest came to stand alongside and spoke benevolently. "Do you feel the need to tell me?"

"What?" Sirius asked, now puzzled as well as frustrated.

"We've all done things that we're not proud of, my son. All of us have sinned," the priest continued, looking beatifically at Sirius. "Do you wish to confess?"

Okay, now he was getting somewhere. This ought to jog the man's memory.

"Yes!" Sirius replied. "Yes I do." He went on in a more dramatic voice. " I am Sirius Black, responsible for..."

He broke off as he realized the priest was walking away from him.

"The confessional is this way." The priest walked a short ways away and opened the door to a closet.

Sirius just stared at the man, dumfounded as he realized that the priest was actually indicating that he should step into the closet. "In there?" Sirius asked.

The priest nodded reassuringly.

'Of all the...' Sirius rolled his eyes and trudged over to the small booth, watching as the priest stepped into a similar closet adjacent to it and closed the door.

When the priest was out of sight, Sirius took one look at the small, dark space that he was expected to climb into, and shuddered. "Noooooo thank you," he said under his breath.

The priest waited for several moments, and at last, when he still hadn't heard Sirius step into the confessional, he opened the door to his own chamber and peered out. Seeing no one, he glanced at the door to the church, expecting that his shabby visitor had changed his mind and fled.

He caught sight of a movement there just before the door closed, and he rubbed his eyes and looked again. He'd sworn he'd seen a large furry tail disappearing through the door. He frowned for just a moment, and then shrugged and wrote it off to dim lighting.

It wouldn't be until he saw the evening news reports that he would have any idea about the identity of his early morning visitor.

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The large black dog trotted quickly down the next street and away from the church, glad to put that little fiasco behind him. That had accomplished nothing, and he was still hungry, undiscovered, and destination-less. It was once again his nose that provided the solution to the first two items on the list.

As he trotted along he picked up the aroma of freshly baked bread coming from a small building up ahead, and he wondered if maybe it was a bakery. A bakery would be just the thing he needed - he could pop in a steal a nice breakfast for himself in human form, terrifying some muggles along the way. His stomach would then stop rumbling, and the subsequent report of his sighting this far south would allow them to remove the unpleasant security in place at Hogwarts. Excellent.

He stopped outside one of the windows, and put his front paws up on the sill to peer in and assess the situation. There were two women in the storefront, one behind the counter, and one in front, obviously engaged in conversation. The black dog narrowed its eyes. Perfect. Each one would corroborate the other's sighting of the escaped convict. He dropped back onto all fours, and ducked around the side of the building to transform.

Sirius turned back and headed for the door. He'd already spied where the loaves of bread were stacked on the counter, and he planned to make a quick grab, pausing just long enough for the ladies to in a good look and a good scream. Then it would be off to some quiet secluded spot to have a leisurely breakfast and ponder where he was headed for next.

He hesitated for a moment outside the door and sniffed. If the sight of him didn't set those women a-screaming, the smell of him certainly would. He took in a deep breath, (although not through his nose) blew it out, and walked boldly in.

The two women were so busy chatting, that they barely spared him a glance when he stepped up to the counter a few feet away and began picking up loaves of bread. It was, however, only about three seconds before each of them broke off and slowly turned wide-eyed expressions toward the newcomer. They stared at him in unison, open-mouthed, and Sirius stared back.

Several seconds went by as the two mouths opened wider and wider in shock at who they were seeing, and Sirius decided to speed things along. He squinted at them and spoke.

"BOO!"

Instantaneous screaming filled the store, and Sirius was a little pleased with himself for finally getting a reaction.

He became less pleased pretty darn quickly.

The screaming he'd expected, but what he wasn't anticipating was that the one in front and the one in back would continue screaming but also assault him with an over-stuffed handbag and a rolling pin, respectively.

"YOU BEAST!" 'whap!'

"MONSTER!" 'whack!'

"MURDERER!" 'whap! whap!'

"CALL THE POLICE!" 'thunk!'

Sirius backpedaled as fast as he could, scattering the bread he was dropping, and raised his arms to defend himself. It was apparent to him at that instant, that despite his infamous reputation, he was clearly the least dangerous person in the bakery.

He managed to salvage a lone loaf of bread, and bolted from the store as fast as he could.

Two blocks away, the heart of the black dog was still pounding furiously as he slowed to a trot and came to an intersection.

He was thanking his lucky star (most likely the brightest one in Canus major) that there hadn't been any police within screaming distance, or things would have gotten a lot more messy.

He looked both ways and crossed the street a short ways ahead of an approaching van. Yup, very lucky indeed. A run in with the authorities was not what he..

The black dog, unlike most if they were in his exact location, felt his blood go cold as the van turned down the street he was now only. Mostly because of the fact that as far as he knew, there were no other dogs that could read the words 'Animal Control' stenciled on the side of the van.

'Uh oh.'

Sirius knew that he couldn't risk a transformation - he hadn't put enough distance or time between himself and the bakery incident.

He continued at a casual trot, pretending to be oblivious to the nature of the vehicle behind him and trying to decide what to do as it followed along behind him. It followed him for another couple of blocks, and visions of snares and leashes and tranquilizer guns as it crept closer finally prompted him to make a run for it.

The great black dog bolted, and the van changed gears and sped up behind him.

Sirius cut sharply off to the right and charged across the yard of a small house, knowing the van couldn't follow to the next street. He'd nearly made it to the other side of the block when he spotted the police car. Normally he would have ignored it, but a wary glance confirmed that one of the two officers was pointing in his direction. He veered left, ran through several yards and then turned left again, coming back out onto the first road a short way ahead of the Animal Control van.

Things were going downhill. He caught glimpses between houses as he ran of the police car on the next street following his progress, a worried glance over his shoulder confirmed that the van was right on his tail, and worst of all, he knew he couldn't keep this up indefinitely.

He kept running, trying to keep track of where the two vehicles were. In his haste and preoccupation with the cars, he failed to notice that the road was coming to a dead end, and he screeched to a halt at the last moment, just before he ran headlong into the chain link fence.

The van pulled to a stop just behind him and to his left, and two uniformed men got out. The dog turned to go right, only to see the police car now cutting off that direction for escape.

He looked left, and saw the two nooses the men were carrying, and glanced frantically back at the fence.

The road continued on the other side, but was blocked by a chained and padlocked gate at that point in the fence.

'Damn.'

Sirius looked at the top of the 8 foot fence. Where was that blasted hippogriff now?

Police officers closed to his right, ACO's to his left. Sirius knew his only chance was over the fence. He ran back a couple of paces, whirled, and leaped for everything he was worth at the fence.

The impact of the great dog caused chain link to rattle for several yards in either direction as he hit it and managed to just hook his front paws over the top. He pulled for everything he was worth as the four men behind him started to run towards the fence, and scrambled with his back feet for any sort of purchase he could get. Several toes finally grabbed a couple links of fence, and he was able to propel himself upward.

He gained the top and leaped off without hesitation, landing heavily on the ground on the other side. A quick look confirmed that they were not going to follow; they all knew that the dog would put too much distance between himself and the fence before any of them could climb over. Sirius bounded away without a second glance.

He found himself out in the middle of a very, very large open area with several long paved pathways of asphalt. Several low buildings were off in the distance a ways, and the dog slowed to a steady trot as he headed for them. A moment or two later, flashing lights caught his eye, and he realized that some sort of security vehicle was racing his direction.

Whether or not the vehicle was after him, Sirius didn't know, but he wasn't taking any chances, and he ran for a nearer very large building. When he ducked in the huge opening in the front, he finally understood where he was.

A muggle airport.

Ahead of him was a large cavernous opening with several large planes inside, and it dawned on the animagus that he must have climbed over the perimeter security fence before making it to this hanger.

People were bustling about off to one side, but no one had notice him yet, and he slunk down one wall on the far side of a large plane from where the activity was. His intent was to make it to the back of the hangar to see if there was a way out, but the arrival of the security vehicle back by the entrance bay sent him immediately to plan B.

Which was to duck into the first likely hiding spot he could find.

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TBC....