Authors Note: Hello to everyone out there! I am so terribly sorry that I have seemed to have dropped off of the face of the world, and in most ways I wish I had. This semester has been nothing short of painful. The good news is that basically I am done applying to law schools, hopefully to never have to repeat the experience. I am still waiting for responses from quite a few but basically most of the immediate stress is over. The bad news is that in order to go to law school I have to finish 12hrs. This summer in my insane attempt to graduate a year early, plus work full time, long story short, I can update more regularly, and I do have the next several chapters either in rough draft or extensive outline. So look for a post at the very least every other week. Anyway thank you to all who have been patient I really appreciate it. On with the show!
His head burned, which was terribly odd because at the same time he was rapidly becoming aware of the bitter cold. Harry blinked rapidly, trying to clear his eyes enough to figure out why he was so cold, and why his head was hurting and burning at the same time. It didn't feel like his scar, so what was going on? Harry was losing the battle with his eyes so he attempted to rub them clear, only to have a blinding bout of panic hit him as he realized that his hands were bound behind him. The panic did help to clear the haze that his mind was in, though there was nothing he could do for his eyes, as the winter sea spray continually sprayed over the front of the small skiff he was on, probably accounting for the bitter cold he felt. The burning was more distinct now as well, and he concluded reasonably that it was from the salt water spraying into his open wounds that he'd received only a few hours prior.
Harry tried to quell the nausea that was brewing inside of him, but whether it was from the tossing of the small vessel or from the rising fear of realizing exactly what had happened to him he wasn't sure. The disjointed memories seemed to be coming to him at a rapid fire pace, and in his haze it was taking him a while to put them into what could be considered a reasonable explanation of what had occurred. The last thing that Harry remembered was trying to get out of the Dursley's back door as several wizards had come streaming in through the front. Harry struggled to focus, the corners of his mind growing foggy again, he didn't think that the wizards that had come to Privet Dr. had been death eaters, they had seemed too official, and weren't dressed the same either. More memories vague and less coherent were making it to his brain now. He vaguely remembered being eneverated before falling unconscious again, probably due to the cut that was causing that nasty stinging sensation on his temple. Vague voices were floating back to him again, and this time he recalled a wizard speaking to him as he was hoisted into the skiff.
"Harry Potter, you have been tried and convicted of the murder of Cedric Diggory, you herby will begin your sentence of thirty years in Azkaban prison."
Harry felt his stomach drop again, he wasn't sure how he'd known where he was headed but he had, and now the full reality of the situation was hitting him. He'd been convicted of murder. He'd never see his friends again, never fly again, he wouldn't even be able to finish school. He wouldn't last thirty days in Azkaban never mind thirty years.
But what had happened, why hadn't anyone warned him this was coming. Surely Dumbledore didn't believe them. Did Dumbledore even know? What about his friends did they know where he was, and what had happened? And Sirius!
"Oh Sirius…" at the though of his Godfather Harry really did loose the battle with his stomach. He threw up the meager contents of the food he'd had most recently, but due to the bindings that kept him ramrod strait and unable to move he only managed to soil the front of his grey prison robes. Harry had little time to contemplate how Sirius would feel knowing that Harry was now the one place Sirius would do anything to prevent him from ever seeing. Before his thoughts could linger any longer on Sirius Harry felt the ominous cold that had nothing to do with the weather settle into his bones. The shore line was with in fifteen feet, he hadn't noticed it through the thick haze that seemed to surround the rocky island, and he could clearly see five robed figures awaiting his arrival. The familiar screams and pleadings of his mother were beginning to encompass his already hurting mind, and the last thing he would be aware of for at least forty- eight hours was the tremor of fear and absolute despair that raced down his spine as several pairs of bony hands pulled him from the boat and dragged him along the rocky path that led to the looming fortress.
Remus considered himself a patient man, he even considered himself a fair man, hell he'd managed to go a whole year teaching at Hogwarts without once penalizing a Slytherin too harshly. Although, he'd readily admit that he was sorely tempted to hex Malfoy on an occasion or two. But what really justified him as a patient man had been that he'd gotten through the whole day without hexing those insufferable muggles that Harry had been forced to bear and much to his shame without hexing Dumbledore for placing him there. If ever there had been a day to just go back to bed and pretend the world didn't exist, this had been it.
He, Sirius, and Albus had arrived at Privet Drive only to be greeted by some of the most insufferable people, muggles or wizards, that Remus had ever had the displeasure of meeting. On approach to the home, everything looked to be in order. The yard was impeccable and the bushes seemed to be pruned right to perfection. The front door was the only thing that would lead anyone to believe that anything had ever been amiss at the residence as it had been shoved off to the side of the porch and a rather obese man was busy putting a new one in its place. Remus had cleared his throat to gain the acknowledgement of whom he assumed to be Harry's uncle. The man had whirled around, and upon realizing that he had two wizards and a large black dog on his porch had turned a dangerous shade of purple. How the man hadn't passed on due to heart disease couple with stress Remus would never know. Before Vernon could go into a full blown rage Dumbledore quietly ushered everyone into the living room in a way that was polite but clearly made no room for argument.
Inside Albus attempted, quite unsuccessfully to explain his presence to the enraged muggle. Finally after casting an extremely strong calming spell, they had been able to get down to business, not that it had served any real purpose in the end. Vernon gave a rather long description to the three of them about what exactly had happened, and how he, his wife and son had all been knocked unconscious by the hit team the ministry had sent. He also informed them that he had been awoken to sign over custody of his nephew immediately to the ministry. He concluded his story by stating that he had seen the wizards disappear with a bleeding and unconscious Harry in the furthest corner of the back yard. He also mentioned that under no circumstances would Harry ever be allowed back into his home, and after the tour of the house gathering Harry's personal items, (before the ministry sent someone to do so) Remus was especially glad that Vernon had said so because under no circumstances would Remus, let alone Sirius ever let Harry return to that house.
Vernon had slowly began to gain his old self throughout the retelling of the events of last night, and by the time they got around to actually discussing Harry, he was practically frothing at the mouth. Vernon had gruffly told them that they were take whatever they needed and then get out of his home; he went to check on his wife whom was supposedly recovering from the dramatic events of the night before.
The trio had proceeded upstairs, and upon process of elimination found Harry's room. Remus had stood absolutely shell shocked at what he found, and Sirius had just whimpered and hung his head, it had been decided that he shouldn't transform while the Dursley's were around, his presence could cause complications later. Harry's room was tiny, and after a quick locator spell only a few trinkets were found in the room under the loose floorboards. But what had really bothered Remus was the impersonal feel of the room. The bed only had an old set of sheets and a tatty blanket, and the only thing to show Harry even lived there was a hastily drawn calendar that hadn't even been pinned to the wall, and Hedwig's bird cage. Sirius had continued to whimper the entire time he was in the room, and Remus understood why, even he could smell the vague feelings of guilt and the overwhelming feelings of loneliness, and Harry hadn't been home for very long at all.
Deciding that prolonging their stay any further would do nothing but harm Dumbledore had ushered them into the hall, saying he'd done a magical scan for any useful evidence and come up empty, though he had found Harry's wand in the flower beds outback. When they had entered the hall the encountered who they presumed to be Harry's cousin they had questioned him as to the location of the rest of Harry's belongings. The obese young man began to tremble violently and just pointed to the bottom of the stairs and mumbled something about Harry's old bedroom. Which they later discovered to be the cupboard under the stairs, the scents had been old, but in some ways much stronger than the ones in the bedroom. Sirius had been so torn up they had to portkey rather than apparate home. Dumbledore briefly discussed with them the next course of action, contacting an old friend of his in the ministry and then took his leave, looking older than Remus had ever seen him look. He'd left Sirius sitting in the living room, and gone into the kitchen hoping to relieve some tension while cooking. It wasn't working too well. It was bad enough knowing Harry had had no childhood, and Remus realized it was probably worse than what they saw, as Harry tended to keep to himself about personal matters, but what was worse was knowing where Harry was now. Remus sighed, hopefully Dumbledore would move quickly, he'd rarely seen regret in his eyes, but today had been an exception, he clearly felt the guilt of Harry's situation as much as anyone.
Remus entered the living room to see Sirius sitting reading a piece of parchment, and tears streaming down his face. It was one of the most unguarded moments he'd seen in Sirius since, well since he wasn't sure.
"Sirius, what is it?"
"We forgot about him… he wrote back you know. Telling us how he was, lying and saying he was fine. I could smell it you know? He was so depressed, so lonely, I should never have left him after the third task, I wasn't thinking clearly…"
"Yes you were. Those errands had to be done; you couldn't have predicted this Sirius." Remus sounded exasperated, he wasn't even sure Sirius was hearing him.
"He sounded so happy in the letter, like he liked talking to us."
"I should hope so since he'll be staying with us from now on." Remus was trying everything to get through to his friend, he reached for the letter Sirius had.
"Stay strong for him, you'll be the only one he'll relate to Sirius, he needs you to be whole."
"I know."
"Were going to get him."
"I know."
"Sirius?"
"I know Mooney, were going to get him, and I swear I am going to give him the life he needs, the life he deserves."
Remus seemed satisfied at that, Sirius eyes were clear, and his mind seemed to be in a similar state. Remus read through the letter quickly, and had to stifle a giggle.
"Oh Sirius we have to get him back, only he could possibly suggest neutering you and getting away with it!"
Sirius' eyes lit up, "He didn't!"
"Oh Padfoot, you better read again, it would seem that your Godson has a streak of marauder in him after all."
AN: Look for the next chapter with in another week or so, promise. I'll also catch up on all review responses at that time. So please be nice and review, I could use the encouragement.