Thank you to:

Ash

Felt-N-Rox

ladyscar

Professor Authordude

Dumbledore_88

for the reviews!!

A/N: Some of the stuff at the end came straight from GoF, pages 634-635

Enjoy!

Whispers in the Night

Chapter 3: Explanations

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

As soon as Harry and Sirius were outside the driveway, Sirius motioned for Harry to follow him and transformed. They walked along the street for a while, before Sirius led Harry to a forest and behind a large rock. After checking to make sure they were well-hidden from the street, Sirius resumed his usual form and sat down next to his godson, who was currently looking very confused.

"So, Harry, what have you been up to this summer?" He asked.

"Oh you know, the usual-" Harry began, "wait, who cares about what I've been doing? What happened last night? Why didn't-"

"Harry wait," Sirius interrupted, "there are a lot of things I need to tell you, but it must wait. We need to get you to safety first."

"Safety? But I'm perfectly fine-"

"Harry, there's no time to argue. Now listen to me. Listen to me carefully. As much as I would like it, you cannot stay with me. It is just too dangerous. You will stay with the Weasley's, but first Dumbledore needs to put up a few protection spells. This should take only about a few more hours, which gives us plenty of time to spend some time with each other and, erm, explain some things before we portkey to Ron's." Sirius pulled a pink handkerchief out of his pocket.

"Er, did- did you say portkey?" Harry began uneasily.

"Yes, Harry, we'll take a portkey there. Don't worry, Dumbledore thought you might be a little apprehensive about it, but I assure you that we will be together the entire time.

Harry continued to look extremely nervous, but he nodded anyway.

"So how have you been, Sirius? I've missed you," Harry said with a smile.

"I've missed you too, Harry," Sirius answered sadly, "but don't worry- it's only a matter of time before Peter is caught and hopefully then I'll be able to give you the home you should have had fourteen years ago."

"Sirius," Harry began slowly, "if you still don't have a place to live, where have you been staying?"

"Well," Sirius appeared to be thinking about how much to tell his godson. "Remember when Dumbledore asked me to alert the "old crowd?"

"Yeah...."

"Well one of the people I needed to alert was none other than your old babysitter, Arabella Figg."

"Arabella Figg?" Harry asked disbelievingly. "But she isn't, she can't be-"

"She can't be what?"

"She can't be a witch!"

"Why not?" Sirius asked.

"Because... because... well let's say she is a witch, I mean to say, why hasn't she told me before? Why in the world did she let me live with those horrible relatives of mine and not even let it slip to me what I was?"

"Harry, "Sirius began, "Harry, I don't know how much I should tell you, but, well I suppose I should start at the beginning." Sirius took a deep breath. "You see, Arabella and your mother were friends at school."

"But how is that possible?" Harry interrupted. He was now thoroughly confused. "She's, well, old. How could-"

"Well, you see the Arabella you know is not exactly the same, er, Arabella I know. You see, she had been taking Polyjuice Potion to hide her true identity."

"But why would she half to do that?"

"To protect you, Harry. You are aware of you Aunt's jealousy towards your mother, are you not?"

"Yeah...." answered Harry who still couldn't see where this was going.

"Well, like I said before, your mother and Arabella were very good friends. Therefore, your Aunt was used to seeing Arabella around the house during the summer holidays. Naturally, she hated her, which is why Dumbledore suggested that she take Polyjuice Potion to prevent Petunia from recognizing her when she moved next to you."

"But why would she need to move next to me in the first place?" Harry asked.

"Because Dumbledore wanted someone to keep an eye on you and make sure you were safe after your parents died. She was also recruited to look after you when your relatives were away. He felt it was safer to have someone from our world watch you than some muggle friend of the Dursley's who felt the same way about you as they did."

"What do you mean did? They still hate me!"

"Do they, now?" Sirius replied mischievously. "I noticed your uncle was a lot warmer towards you today than he usually is."

Harry thought for a second. His uncle was a lot nicer to him than usual.

"Sirius," Harry began, "Why-"

"Would you look at the time!" Sirius interrupted, "We better be going, Harry, Molly will be frantic."

Sirius reached into his pocket pulled out the pink handkerchief.

"Ready, Harry?"

"Er-"

"One, two, three,"

Both of us.

What?

We'll take it at the same time....

On three, right?

One- two- three

Harry had absentmindedly grasped the handkerchief. He felt the familiar pull somewhere behind his navel. He was being pulled forward in a howl of wind and swirling color, Sirius at his side.

Finally, Harry felt his feet slam down onto the ground. As he fell forward, he realized that he did not recognize this dark and damp place, as it was surely not the Weasley's house.

Where are we?

Did anyone tell you the cup was a portkey?

Wands out d'you reckon?

Somewhere around him, Harry heard footsteps drawing nearer.

Someone's coming

"Harry?!"