It was almost 1am.
Harry was shivering from cold. As soon as he saw the letter he had slapped on a pair of jeans and shrugged on a coat, and was off in the air on his broom, never mind anyone seeing him.

Sirius was alive.

Harry needed to see him. He was numb as he touched down in front of the grungy old house. He banged desperately on the door, and as soon as it opened he barged in. Nymphadora Tonks, yelled after him, but he didn't hear her as he sped into the kitchen to find a big black dog curled up on the rug.

***

As soon as Harry barged in, the dog ran up to him and licked his face, Harry laughed out loud and hugged the dog, never wanting to let go.

"Siruis! How did you manage to escape?" Harry said, scratching the dog behind the ears.

The dog barked and barked. He probably had woken up the entire house. In fact, Harry could even hear Siruis' mother starting to yell curses at everyone and everything.

Harry laughed, he petted the dog.
But something was wrong.

Why wouldn't Siruis change back?

"Siruis? Come on! It's me, Harry. Change back!" Harry said, encouraging the dog. But in reply, it only hung it's head, tail between it's lets, the dog looked lost.

Harry whirled around to find Dumbledore in his night cap.
"Professor Dumbledore! Why won't Siruis change back?" he looked desperate.

Dumbledore wore a sad look on his face.

"Harry, why don't we discuss this in the morning, after some sleep. For now, just be happy that Sirius is still alive,"

And that's all anyone would say. He asked everyone, but none would reply, only tell him to get a good nights rest, and be happy he was alive, everything would be explained tomorrow.

That night Siruis slept beside Harry's bed, and all night, Harry turned to stare at the dog sleeping peacefully on the floor. The question plagued him, he knew that something was terribly wrong if they put the question aside, and none of the members of the order could look at him directly in the face. That night, Harry was up till the wee hours of the morning before finally falling into an uneasy sleep.