Disclaimer: I own nothing but my fury (especially when I write disclaimers)
Author's Note: At last! I've finally put up this chapter after a long wait (involving the server crashing for a couple of days) Brace yourselves! this chapter is strictly PG13 so if you are under 13 ask mommy and daddy before continuing! (I loved saying that!)
In this chapter the angst stuff begins. It's also by far the longest chapter yet.
Chapter4: A Howling Night
The next day was quite a hectic one for Sirius. He bought all his books from the bookstore, Flourish & Blotts and it was quite an achievement to carry them back to the inn unaided. The rest of the day was spent in going through the books, and he noticed that the curriculum had changed slightly since Regulus had been in his first year. He had quite an interesting time, practicing the new charms and hexes in them. It was past two o' clock in the morning when he finally dropped asleep, a copy of The Standard Book of Spells on his lap.
The next day, he decided to head for the apothecary and buy the items he would need for his Potions classes. He then planned to head for the joke shop. It wasn't a very big one, and he had heard people passing by, muttering, 'The one at Hogsmeade is much better....,' All the same, Sirius found that he didn't really care. All he wanted was a dozen or so Dungbombs at present. He had some very good ideas caged up, which he wanted to put into practice.
As he walked past Ollivanders towards the apothecary, Sirius thought he heard his name being muttered in the distance. He stopped for a moment, trying to cock his ears, and then he heard it again. Two figures were walking towards him, and though they hadn't noticed him, he heard them say his name.
He hurriedly dived behind a pile of boxes near the entrance of the shop, not wanting to be recognized by them. They were coming closer, and he could now hear them perfectly.
'I don't know what he thought, really, what an idiot, he's probably dead right now. Good riddance, anyway,' he heard a sickening voice say. There was no mistaking that voice. He had grown up hearing it.
'Was he messed up in his brain?,' he heard another slimy voice ask.
'I'm pretty sure he was, Rodolphus, anyway who cares? Mother and Father are happy about it, they were trying to get rid of him some how, and he took my wand with him, the fool,'
'So, you're here to buy a wand,'
'Yeah, and to get Bellatrix's supplies,'
'Bellatrix? Is she that pretty girl who was with you?,'
They had now come close enough to be seen clearly. Sirius found himself looking at the lanky frame of the brother he had grown to hate. His head was inclined towards the boy next to him as he was talking, who Sirius noticed was heavily built, and had a rather blank expression on his face. Sirius quietly drew out his wand from his pocket, ready to curse them both if they saw him.
They were now too close for comfort. To Sirius's annoyance, they stopped right outside the shop, and he was hiding merely three feet away from them. He saw Regulus glance at the door.
'This is the place,' he told his friend, 'Ollivanders. Will you hang on while I get my wand?,'
'I'll come with you,' said the boy, and together they began walking towards the door.
Sirius felt his heart freeze almost solid. Mr. Ollivander would be bound to tell Regulus that he had seen Sirius, and then there would be a hunt for him, and he would be found. He had to do something to stop the pair of them. He could hex them, and warn Mr. Ollivander not to tell them that he had seen him.
He pointed his wand at Regulus, and as he reached for the door, he cried, 'Stupefy!' As Regulus collapsed, the other boy looked around wildly, diving for his own wand. Before he could spot Sirius, he sent a stunner at him and he fell forward on the door with a crunching sound.
'What's going on?,' came a soft voice. Sirius saw Mr. Ollivander standing at the door, gazing in bewilderment at Regulus and his friend who were unconscious.
'Mr. Ollivander,' Sirius said hurriedly. He looked around and gave a start when he saw Sirius behind the pile of boxes. 'Yes?,' he muttered uncertainly, his eyes dashing from Sirius's outstretched wand to the slumped bodies on the floor, and a look of comprehension lit his face.
'Look, if anyone from my family comes here, I need you to tell them that you haven't seen me. Okay?,' Sirius stared pointedly at him, his fingers crossed.
'Yes, surely, If that's what you want......,' said Ollivander looking nervously at the bodies.
'Okay, I'd better run, then,' said Sirius. 'Oh, by the way, it's just a simple stunner. Say 'Enervate' and they'll come around,'
'Yes.....I thought as much, but how did you manage it?....being your age?,'
'Erm....we'll talk about it later, okay? I've got to run now, and remember, don't tell them you saw me,' Sirius hurriedly stepped out on to the path and began running towards the inn, briefly hearing Mr. Ollivander mutter 'Enervate' behind him.
He sprinted down the winding path, anxious to get back to the inn as soon as possible. He was forced to come to a halt as he saw three people walking towards him, in the distance. His jaw dropped. His mother was in the lead with Andro's mother beside her. Bellatrix was strolling behind them, looking around with an interested expression on her face. Sirius was forced to dive behind a shelf of books for sale, outside Flourish & Blotts. Like Regulus, his mother seemed to be talking about him.
'Always knew he'd meet with such an end, you know, he was just too stupid to understand things....,' his mother was saying in a matter-of-fact way.
He tightened his grip on his wand. He felt the familiar sensation of anger boiling up in him. They had stopped outside Flourish & Blotts, and he was having a hard time resisting the urge to hex them.
'This is the bookstore, isn't it? we'll come back later, as I was saying about Sirius.......,'
Sirius lost control. He quietly muttered the body bind curse, pointing his wand at Bellatrix's retreating back, and rushed off as he heard his mother and Bellatrix's mother shriek with worry at Bellatrix's petrified state.
'Gits,' said Sirius as he was sprinting towards the inn. They probably wouldn't recognize the curse, and Regulus would go through his books and come across the counter curse in one of them, and perform it (with great difficulty) and become the hero of the family. Sirius's face looked murderous as he stomped into the inn, and Tom who noticed it, was rather taken aback.
'You all right Aben? You look kind of ratty,' his toothless mouth was half-open in an expression of concern.
'Nothing,' said Sirius, storming towards the staircase.
'Something wrong?,' Tom persisted.
'Got a raw deal, that's all,' said Sirius as he marched up the stairs.
He felt no better as he stormed into his room, which was scattered with his newly bought books. He shoved aside One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi from his bed and collapsed on it. He had already been in a storming rage and lying to Tom made him feel no better.
It was only seven o' clock, too early for him to settle down for the night, but Sirius couldn't think of anything else to do. He lay on his bed fuming for two hours, until Tom cautiously knocked on his door and asked him if he wanted to come down to dinner. Though Sirius didn't feel like eating amid a crowd of chattering people, he forced himself down, anything to distract him from the painful company of his thoughts. As he trudged down the stairs, he was well aware that Tom was looking at him from behind, probably worried about him. Sirius didn't like Tom worrying about him. Not when he had fed him with such wholesome lies.
As he entered the pub, he groaned. Julie and her friends were back, and though Julie was throwing dirty looks at him, the others were looking at him hopefully. He sincerely hoped, he wouldn't have to put up with any of them. He dully placed the order for his dinner and leaned back his hand in his pocket, was around his wand.
Presently, Tom arrived with his order, and Sirius hurriedly went through his main course and without asking for a second helping, he stood up to leave, hearing groans of disappointment from Julie's friends. As was usual, he walked back to his room kicking the door open.
He banged the door behind him, hearing people muttering from the neighboring rooms. He was now feeling sleepy enough for the night. He slumped on his bed, and trying to calm his thoughts, he pulled the blanket over himself. He gradually drifted into an uneasy sleep.
'Hurry up,' Sirius told himself. He had been sprinting for nearly an hour along the same path, which seemingly was endless. Every muscle in his body was crying in protest, but some strange force kept him running forward. He didn't really know why he was doing it. He just knew that grave dangers were behind him. Something was telling him that even worse dangers lay ahead of him. Yet, he continued running, oblivious of his limbs being about to fall apart.
As he ran around a curve in the passage, a great black, shaggy dog jumped from nowhere, barring his path. He was forced to stop, it was so huge, that it occupied the whole width of the passage. It's mouth was open,, and a long dripping tongue was hanging outside. For a few moments, they stared at each other. Sirius was struck, by how majestic it appeared. Sirius was tempted to pat it on his head, but something stopped him.
'Could you move?,' Sirius asked, he was confident that the dog could understand what he said. The dog merely continued staring at him, almost mournfully, its black eyes were glowing strangely in the darkness of the passage. Sirius was taken aback. He knew that the dog had understood perfectly well. It was ignoring him for its amusement. He tried one more time, but this time, the dog tilted its head slightly from side to side, as though shaking it. Sirius was beginning to feel annoyed.
'Get out of my way,' he said, but the dog stared fixedly at him. Its shut its mouth, banging its jaws together with a warning crunch. It continued gazing at Sirius, with its mouth closed this time, as though bracing itself for something.
Sirius removed his wand from his jacket pocket. 'If you don't move, I'll curse you,' he said. The dog twitched slightly, and on seeing Sirius's wand, its mouth fell open again. Sirius saw it display its set of white teeth, as though grinning at him. 'You don't know what this can do, do you?,' said Sirius warningly, but the dog continued to grin, with its head bobbing around as though it was silently laughing. Sirius's temper got the better of him.
Stupefy!,' he cried. The red jet of light that blasted from his wand simply ricocheted of the dog's shaggy mane of hair. Again, it displayed its magnificent teeth and howled as though mocking Sirius. Its howl raised a confused emotion in Sirius's chest. It was a homely feeling, and at the same time, there was a fearful feel to it.
It turned around and began walking away from him. Sirius thought it was leaving him at last. It walked a good twenty feet away from him and suddenly stopped. Sirius stared at it apprehensively. It turned around gracefully so that it was facing Sirius. 'What?,' Sirius asked. The next second, his power of speech froze, as the dog began charging towards him. Its shaggy hair was standing up, as the air rushed through it. When it was six feet away from Sirius, it sailed into the air, in a graceful leap, and its nose was facing downwards.
Sirius couldn't move, and as the dog's head bashed into his chest, he screamed and fell to his knees. The pain was excruciating. He felt silent tears run down his cheeks, totally out of his control. He knew it. This beast was going to kill him. The dog was now walking away from him. It walked ten feet away and charged again. It once more, sailed into the air when it was a few feet away from him.
'No,' moaned Sirius as its head bashed into his chest again, harder this time. He slumped face down on the floor, clutching his chest and moaning. He felt as though his chest had been shattered to powder. He head the dog's feet pad softly towards him. It was now next to him, and he thought he heard it whimper.
It came even closer. Sirius could feel its breath. He didn't care what it did now. He was about to die. His heart was bound to stop functioning from the pain in his chest. The dog gently swung its paw at his left shoulder. With the force of the blow he turned over and was now lying on his back.
The dog bent forward, its nose was now inches from his. It's mouth was open and a its tongue was hanging out. 'Eat me,' Sirius muttered. 'Just end the pain,'
The dog's tongue suddenly made contact with his face. It slowly licked his face, making sure that every part of his face was thoroughly swept by its tongue. It's tongue was warm and moist, and quite suddenly, all the pain from Sirius's chest vanished.
The dog whimpered again as though muttering an apology and bounded away, leaving Sirius lying, painless, on his back.
*
Sirius sat up in his bed, panting. That had been an awful dream. Or was it a dream? It had seemed a lot clearer than a dream. It had been more like a vision. He shook himself. He was being silly. It was nothing but a sodden dream. He tried to calm his nerves, with little success. It had felt so real.
With a jolt, he realized that his hands were clutching his chest. He hurriedly pulled them away. But dreams could influence your actions. 'Nothing to worry about,' he told himself. He slowly ran his finger along his face. His face was warm and moist, as though it had been in contact with a tongue. A dog's tongue.
'No,' Sirius said aloud to himself. It was probably just sweat. After all, it had been a really frightening dream. His body was bound to react. He repeatedly tried to calm himself but he would not become calm. A thought at the back of his mind kept nagging him, telling him to check if he was bruised. He tried to ignore it, afraid of what he would see if he checked, but finally he gave in.
He nervously pulled back the sleeve of his left hand and let out a horrified gasp. There was a red bruise, in the shape of a dog's paw. It was swollen, as though it had been given to him recently. For a few moments, Sirius stared at the bruise, wickedly illuminated in the light of the street lamp outside his window. He was now so nervous that he could feel his shirt sticking to his chest under his jacket, because of the sweat. Again, the thought nagged him to check his chest for a bruise. He gave in without protest, this time.
With trembling fingers, he removed his jacket. He tried to convince himself that he wouldn't find anything under his shirt, but failed. His heart was beating so hard against his ribs that it hurt him. He had a hard time undoing his buttons, because he had hardly any control over his fingers. He gasped as he finished undoing the last button. He saw a magnificent bruise and he could have sworn that was exactly the place where the dog's head had bashed into his chest.
He nervously touched the bruise with his finger, as though testing to see if it was real. He hurriedly withdrew as it gave a painful throb. 'If the dream wasn't real, how come you're bruised wherever the dog hit you?,' asked the nasty thought at the back of his mind. 'Maybe, I was flailing around and I hit myself?' Sirius suggested nervously, but he agreed with the retort his brain gave him. 'Fat chance'
He gave a start as he heard a series of hoarse barks from outside his window. 'Nothing, just a stray dog barking,' he told himself, trying to stay where he was. But as the dog let out another series of barks, an unseen force prized him off his bed and he bent down to his knees.
Shivering with fear, he raised himself to his feet and inched towards the window trying to convince himself that he was just going to see a normal stray dog barking at another one. His hands were sweating as he pulled aside the curtains. He pressed his nose against the glass and jumped back when he saw what was standing just outside the entrance of the inn.
A huge black dog, staring back at him, with unblinking eyes. Sirius knew at once that it was the same dog that had bashed him in his dream. For some reason he couldn't take his eyes off it. He stared at it, petrified, feeling the his clothes drench themselves with sweat.
It looked at him for a few moments, and then reared itself on its hind legs and opened its mouth. Sirius's heart gave a painful throb as it let out a howl, a howl that made his hair stand on end. For a painful few moments, it kept howling, sending shivers down Sirius's spine. He knew that he had heard the same howl in his dream.
Suddenly, howls erupted from the dogs all around. For a bone chilling five minutes, the dogs, all over the country it seemed, howled in answer to the black dog. The black dog conducted the others, with graceful movements and fluctuations in its tone. Its eyes never left Sirius, as it urged itself on and on.
At last it stopped, and after a few moments, the dogs around stopped too. The black dog, with one last glance at Sirius, fell back on its four feet, and silently bounded away into the darkness.
Sirius could hear voices outside his door. The howls had probably woken everyone up. He decided to head down to the pub, and have something to eat, the fresh episode seemed to have drained his stomach.
As he reached for the door, Sirius could have sworn that the black dog had repeatedly howled, 'Behold as the Black breaks forth from chains'
*
'Darn dogs, why do they pick to howl their heads off?'
Sirius nodded feebly as Tom, looking groggy poured him some coffee. Dedalus was seated at his table and looked extremely unhappy at being woken up by howling dogs at four o' clock in the morning. Most of the tables around them, were occupied by people who had been woken up by the howling dogs and decided to come down to the pub, as well.
'Put some sugar in mine, will you Aben,' said Dedalus, and Sirius nodded, tipping some sugar into Dedalus's cup of coffee and then putting some in his own.
'Can't imagine, why they went nuts like that, can you?,' said Dedalus, and at this hour, his voice was not remotely high pitched and enthusiastic as it normally was, a few hours later.
Sirius shook his head, though he knew perfectly well. The dogs had been welcoming him. Or encouraging him to do something. He didn't understand what they meant by, 'breaks forth from chains' All he knew was, he had been mauled by a dog in a dream or vision, he didn't know, and a few minutes later that very dog, had applauded him. It made no sense.
As he was sipping his coffee, a woman entered the pub. She was holding a tiny dog in her arms. 'Hey there, Madam Marchbanks,' said Tom, giving her his toothless grin.
'Hello Tom,' she said, seating herself at the table beside theirs. 'Bad night?'
'You bet,' said Tom. 'with all the dogs howling their heads off,'
'Mally was at it too,' said the woman, prodding her little dog affectionately. 'Can't imagine why, though. I guess one dog started, and the others caught on,'
'S'pose so,' said Tom
Mally caught sight of Sirius and stood up, in her owners arms. She let out a series of friendly barks. 'Stop it, Mally,' said the woman and then she saw Sirius. 'She's barking at you,'
'Oh I've always been good to dogs,' said Sirius, relieved to be telling the truth for once.
'Oh good, I've never met anyone, whom Mally has ever liked before, could you hold her?,'
'Yeah sure,' said Sirius stretching out his arms.
Mally proceeded to cover his face and any other bare part of his body she could reach with her wet tongue. Madam Marchbanks eyed her, looking surprised. 'She's normally cold to strangers, you know, this is really strange...,'
'Well, I think I'll be going to my room,' said Sirius, handing the dog back to Madam Marchbanks.
Mally seemed reluctant to leave him and was open in her protest, with a series of loud barks and howls that made the surrounding customers even more irritated. She only subsided when Madam Marchbanks put a sleeping charm on her. 'My, that is indeed really strange,'
Sirius gave everyone a smile that was a little too hearty, and headed back to his room.