Disclaimer: See Prologue, I own nothing!!!
Author's notes: Sorry this has taken so long, and is quite short, but I'm opening a new business and it's taking quite a lot of work. We'll be open next week though so things should settle down. Thanks to ALL the reviewers for the previous chapters: Nexus, Nicky, Schulyr, char-2-the-lotte, Samantha Black, Mrs. Moony, Elektra, AllAboutMe, cedar, evil sapple pie, Otaku freak, Alyssa, Vanne. I really appreciate all your comments.
Still un-beta'd so sorry in advance for errors. Hope you all enjoy this.
His feet slamming into the ground and causing him to stumble slightly Sirius appeared silently behind a row of tall trees. Glancing quickly around him in the darkness his sharp eyes told him that he had appeared on the edge of what looked to be a vast grassy park of some description. It rose steadily up and away both in front of him and to the left and he could just make out the tall forms of trees lining the edges. Dropping the brick he was still holding in his right hand onto the ground with a soft thud, he looked around for somewhere to hide and saw a road a little ways off to his right and then, finally, behind him some more bushes in front of a low stone wall. He moved silently away from where he had been standing to survey his surroundings and tried to seclude himself as best as he could in the shadows cast between the bushes and the wall and waited, listening to the steady rumble of the traffic travelling along the road behind him, on the other side of the wall. He did not have long to wait however and moments after he had hidden himself there was a soft pop quickly followed by a muttered curse and looking around Sirius saw a man appear where he had done so only moments before, also clutching a single red brick. Glancing around, the man's gaze fell on the discarded brick and he looked at it curiously for a moment before casting around again clearly looking for something. Brow furrowing the man stared into the darkness for a long moment before he shrugged absently and stepped aside just in time to avoid being hit by the second man who appeared suddenly out of the air next to him.
"Where's Paul?" He asked as soon as he had regained his footing. The first man shrugged.
"I haven't seen him. There's a key here though" He pointed to the brick " He must have gone on without waiting." The second man grunted.
"Bloody typical. One of these days.." He was cut off by the simultaneous arrival of three more men who stumbled into each other as they appeared. The first man spoke again.
"Right. Lets get going shall we…..haven't got all night to hang around this dump."
Still waiting quietly in his hiding place amongst the bushes Sirius watched intently as the five men began to trudge slowly up the hill and across the park away from him until, after a long moment they reached a small cluster of trees standing approximately half way up the grassy slope. Halting, they spread out forming a loose kind of circle around the largest of the trees and then paused looking around, seemingly waiting for something.
With an almost indiscernible pop Sirius was quickly replaced by the form a large black dog and stealthily moved out from behind the bushes and was about to try to edge closer to the group when the unmistakable sound of a car door opening and closing reached his sensitive ears. Turning his head to look in the direction of the road his stomach dropped as his eyes picked out the tall figure of a man stepping quickly away from a haphazardly parked car and heading towards the park and the small gate visible in the iron railings. Pushing the gate open the man stepped through the small gap and then closed it again as gently as he could. Remaining still Sirius continued watching as the man began to move slowly, but purposefully across the park and straight towards the group of undoubtedly dark wizards.
Growling softly, Sirius had no choice but to follow the foolish muggle.
*************************************************************************************************
"This has got to be one of the stupidest things you've ever done you great prat. Could've been at home now, nice cup of tea, bit of telly but nooo just had to stop and go wondering across a dark park, freezing you're bollocks off didn't you?"
Moving as quietly as he could across the grass Harry found himself disturbed by two things. First of all was the fact that he was talking to himself, muttering almost inaudibly under his breath but talking nonetheless; the second was the fact that despite the conversation with his clearly more intelligent inner voice, he was still walking across the park and towards what had to be a group of highly dangerous people. He shook his head but kept going and moments later Harry was as close to the group of dark figures gathered around the trees as he thought he should get and stopping at what he hoped was a safe distance away he glanced around quickly looking for somewhere to hide. Seeing a large tree stump several paces to his left he moved as swiftly as he was able to do so in the darkness and crouched down behind it, feeling grateful for his ebony hair that would enable him to blend more easily into the shadows. Curling himself up as small as was possible for his six foot frame to get he turned his attention back to the group and blinked; then rubbed at his eyes, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. Where there had moments before been only five black cloaked figures there now appeared to be seven. Harry looked around quickly and seeing no other figures approaching turned back to the group and stared trying to work out where the other two had materialised from. He was still trying to work it out moments later when one of the figures lifted an arm and the terrible sound of a pained and terrified screams ripped through the quiet darkness of the night, startling Harry and almost making him lose his balance.
Eyes widening in horror Harry felt the blood drain from his face as he watched one of the figures convulsing madly for what seemed like hours but which was in reality mere seconds, before dropping like a lead weight to the ground. The soft thud as the person fell to the grass was accompanied by the unmistakable sound of laughter. Anger surging through him, intermingling with the cold fear already present Harry rose to his feet, stepping out from behind the stump as he did so.
Thinking of nothing but the screaming body Harry opened his mouth to shout, though he wasn't sure what, when suddenly his path was blocked by the figure of an enormous black dog.
Sensing a quick movement off from the side of him Sirius had turned his head just in time to see the muggle he had been following step out from behind his tree stump hiding place thus revealing himself to the group by the trees. Wishing he could curse properly as a dog and desperately hoping that he would be able to save at least one innocent life tonight he threw himself in front of the man and began to advance quickly towards him growling and snarling as fiercely as he could, hoping to scare him away.
The screaming abruptly cut off and as it did so he heard voices shouting from behind him and he knew that they had been seen. He did not turn around though and although he could not see the muggle's face clearly in the shadows surrounding them Sirius felt a certain amount of relief and satisfaction as the smell of fear emanating from the person increased significantly.
************************************************************************************************
Startled, Harry was sure he felt his heart stop briefly as the enormous dog growled at him with increasingly ferocity. He took another step backward and then hearing a shout looked up briefly only to see he that the figures near the trees had spotted them, they now seemed to be pointing straight at him.
" Shit" He swore "Stupid bloody dog."
Thinking quickly he weighed up his options as he took another step back away from both the dog and the shouting figures and was preparing to turn and run when his was foot caught on a raised tree root and he fell over backwards, hitting the side of his head harshly on the sharp stump as he went down. Blinking furiously as his vision swam he cleared his eyes just in time to see a flash of bright white light and then Harry felt something rush through the air straight past his face and hit the tree bark at his side with a resounding crack, sending shards flying in all directions.
He winced at the pain in his head and pressed a hand to his temple where he could feel the blood under his fingers, running down the side of his face. Frantically, Harry looked around for the dog but instead only saw yet another man standing with his back to him pointing and shouting in the direction of the advancing figures. There was another flash of light and a bang and then confused and frightened Harry was stumbling up onto his feet, still clutching his head and half running, half stumbling back in the direction of his car. Not giving a second thought to the stranger he had left behind holding off his pursuers.
Breathing a small sigh of relief Sirius had managed to stun a third wizard at the same time that he heard the muggle behind him stumble to his feet and take off, running back down the hill to safety. Turning, he leapt nimbly over the stump and crouched down behind it, using it as a shield. Throwing off random curses and hexes he watched until the man was safely back at his car before he took a deep calming breath and apparated away, instinctively picking up the small leather wallet resting by his foot as he did so.
*************************************************************************************************
Remus Lupin had been sitting quietly in his office for over an hour, carefully marking his fifth year's essays when there was a loud bang and his office door was flung open, banging against the wall, to admit an extremely agitated looking Sirius Black. Looking up quickly Remus was alarmed to see that his long-time friend was pale and sweating and that his hands trembling from around a small black object that he was clutching so tightly in his white knuckled fingers that it was impossible for Remus to make out what it was. Concentrating on his friend he saw that Sirius was now pacing frantically backwards and forwards in front of his desk and talking so rapidly that Remus could only make out snatches of what he was saying. Pushing his chair back he stood quickly and moved around his desk to stand in front of the other man and stopping his pacing. Reaching out cautiously he placed what he hoped were claming hands on his friend's shoulders and looked into his wild and desperate light blue eyes, his own brow creasing with equal parts worry and confusion.
"Sirius! Calm down and tell me what's the matter."
Sirius took a deep and unsteady breath and his voice trembled when he spoke.
"I was. in this park, spying….they were torturing this man and I saw this…this muggle watching so I ..I tried to scare him away, growling you know? And I, I did, he ran off but he dropped this" He held up the object he was still clutching in his hand and Remus saw that it was actually a small black, leather wallet, the kind muggles had. He reached out a hand and took it, examining it carefully as Sirius continued to speak.
"And…I looked in it and Oh God Remus….It's him. It's him"
"Who?" There was a pause and Remus felt something heavy and ice cold drop inside him, his stomach turn over and anticipation surged through his veins almost making him dizzy in its intensity.
"Harry"
Remus just stared at his friend and then looked back down at the seemingly innocuous wallet he was still holding. With now trembling fingers he slowly opened the small leather holder and his eyes fell on the muggle driving licence held behind the small plastic screen; it's picture staring innocently up at him with a pair of unmistakable green eyes.
Drawing in a sharp gasp of breath Remus reached out a hand to feel for the edge of his desk and sat down heavily on top of his fifth year essays still staring at the wallet.
TO BE CONTINUED*********
