Hogwarts was the same as ever. Boring History of Magic, a new Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher, torture in Potions. It was the kind of thing that put him sane again; and then a week later drove him insane.

But all in all, Harry was happy to be back at Hogwarts.

Harry was staring out of the window one day in History of Magic when none other than Dumbledore himself walked into the room. The students in the class suddenly looked alive again.

"Professor Binns? Might I have a word with Mr. Potter?" Professor Binns hardly seemed down notice, he simply nodded and gave a little wave and turned back to the chalk board, droning on. Dumbledore beckoned to Harry and he made his way over reluctantly. He could almost feel the class melt back into their state of boredness again. As soon as he was out of the class room Dumbledore swept away without an explanation, but then again, Dumbledore was the kind of person who didn't give explanations and simply went about his business.

Harry followed him to the gargoyle statue in front of his office. This statue always reminded him of Goyle; Harry could have sworn it was his twin or something.

"Headless Hats," and Harry thought he saw Dumbledore look back slightly, a twinkle behind his half-moon spectacles. They stepped onto the rotating elevator and into the room. Dumbledore settled himself behind his desk, stopping to pet his phoenix, Fawks, before sitting down and turning his attention to Harry. He looked so old and ancient and yet…ethereal.

"Good Afternoon Harry," he said airily, he looked expectant.

Harry sat down hesitantly, he reached up with his right hand and rubbed the back of his neck, "'afternoon," he mumbled.

"I expect you know why I lead you here?"

"To find out why and ran away and stuff," he spoke to the ground.

"Yes, yes… and also because this is the safest place to-" he was interrupted by a bark.

A gigantic black dog came bounding out of the door behind Dumbledore's desk and tackled Harry to the ground. The room filled with happy barks, along with Harry's laughter. When the noise finally died down, Dumbledore spoke again.

"Harry, I don't expect you to tell me why you ran away, but I'm pretty sure that Sirius deserves an explanation.

"I'm sorry if I made you worry. I was just… I don't know" Harry ran his hands through his hair.

Dumbledore looked thoughtful, staring up at something fascinating on the ceiling, "I think I'd like some tea… and maybe some cookies. I'll just go down to the kitchen and get them would you like some Harry?"

Harry felt grateful to Dumbledore, he didn't need to walk down to the kitchen to get anything, all he practically needed was to think about it and elves would come running at this feet, almost begging to do his bidding. Dumbledore always knew what to do and when to do it.

"Sure. And maybe some fire whiskey for Sirius?"

The dog barked his approval.

***

Dumbledore left and Harry was alone with Sirius.

"Hey Sirius," he whispered softly to the dog, hugging it(/him). They stayed like that for some moments, the only sound was the dog Sirius' panting. It was oddly calming.

This was his godfather, a raggedy old dog.

"Sirius, I just wanted to tell you I didn't run away because you were a dog. When I left I went back to the Department of Mysteries."

The dog let out a growl and a bark. There was a pained look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I did it. After that I went to Diagon Ally and lived there until I came back to Hogwarts. I tried to find out how to turn you back, but I haven't found any useful information yet."

The dog suddenly leapt out of his arms and started pacing, it was making odd whimpering noises. Kind of like the way Sirius paced when he was thinking of something. It barked.

"I can't understand you Sirius!"

Again there was a pained look, then it seemed to be looking all around the room, searching for something, a cross between growling and whimpering noises coming from his throat.

"Communicate, I need a way to communicate!" Harry said out loud.

The dog barked in agreement and Harry started rummaging around Dumbledore's things, looking for something or someway Sirius could talk to him.

Barking.

Harry turned around and found Sirius, paws up on a nearby desk, wrestling with something. Harry pulled the book out of the dogs mouth. It was a thick, black book titled The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts. It was a clue.

Harry sat back down in the chair and flipped through the book. Sirius barked.

"No? Okay. What am I supposed to do with it?"

Sirius nudged the book, then ran back to the book shelf. He did this a couple more times before barking again.

"Book, more books? Black book, bookshelf? No, that's not right. Um… Dark book, and a bookshelf." Sirius barked.

"Okay, Dark book and a bookshelf… dark book and a book shelf." Harry paced around the room, muttering undistinguishable noises.

"Dark books on a bookshelf?" Sirius was barking like mad, running in circles around him.

It hit him.

The Restricted Section in the Library.

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