Inconnu
by Silberner Wolf
This is the final chapter of Part 1. The interlude should be up soon.
Ein Neuer Anfang is "A New Beginning" in German. Antworten means "Answers." (German as well) Inconnu means "Unknown" in French. I enjoy languages.
Jenny: [grumbles about friends who demand to read the chapters before they are posted]
-Silberner
Disclaimer: I can dream, can't I?
Chapter 4: The Muggles
When he was sure they were gone, Sirius left the shadows and approached the bundle on the doorstep. Harry was still asleep, and in his hand was an envelope. Sirius sighed. McGonagall was right. You could never really explain something like this in a letter.
He sat beside the boy and watched him for a while. He worried about his godson. What life lay ahead of him.
He heard activity in the house and decided that it may be in his best interest to hide himself for now.
About half an hour later, the door opened.
Sirius buried his head in the grass and attempted to block his ears with his forepaws. That woman could scream!
"Vernon!" she screeched.
There was a grunt from inside, then pounding footsteps came to the door.
The woman showed the baby to her husband. His eyes widened and he spat out the gulp of juice he had just taken.
"Wh-what is that?" he sputtered.
"I think that's obvious," the woman muttered under her breath, so her husband couldn't hear her. She pulled the letter from the blanket. She opened it and began to read, becoming increasingly pale as she did so. Vernon, of course, failed to notice.
"I mean, whose is it?" he corrected himself.
Sirius seethed. "It?" What was all of this "it" business?
When the woman finished reading, she stared at the bottom of the parchment, a distant look in her eyes. She mouthed something, glanced at Harry, and reread it. Vernon finally noticed that something was wrong. "What–what is it, Petunia?"
"My sister and her husband–they're dead–"
"And?" Vernon said, seeing nothing to be upset about.
"This is their son." Vernon dropped his cup, which shattered on the ground. Sirius could see Muggles peering curiously through their curtains, wondering what the racket was. Petunia turned and pushed her husband inside, shutting the door and forgetting the soggy newspaper on the step.
Sirius went around to the back of the house and sat under a window to the kitchen that was open.
"...Freaks! We are not keeping that little brat!" Vernon was saying. It was lucky they had forgotten about the open window–for Sirius, at least.
"He stays," Petunia said. There was a long pause in which there was almost total silence. Sirius looked over the window sill and saw Vernon staring at his wife in disbelief.
"P-petunia..." he pleaded.
"He stays," she said, finality in her voice. Vernon sighed in defeat.
"Where will he sleep?"
"In the extra room, by Dudley's."
"Are you mad? Leaving him near our son? Alone?"
Petunia rolled her eyes. "He's a baby, Vernon. He can't do any of that. Yet."
Vernon sighed again. "All right, then. I'll get Dudley's old crib." He stormed upstairs and could be heard rummaging through the things in the hall closet.
Sirius frowned. Dumbledore had to be insane. This was not, by any stretch of the imagination, the best place for his godson.
He watched Petunia and Harry for a few minutes longer. Only when the other child began to throw a tantrum did he look away.
He glanced upward at the sun and realized that it was midmorning.
With a sigh, he turned from the window and hurried down the street. When safely out of sight of any Muggle, he returned to human form.
Another day of Peter Hunting.
@~`~,~
Sirius walked down the street, studying everything that stirred. He was unsure of how long he had been searching when he heard a voice behind him.
"Lily and James, Sirius! How could you?" it cried loudly.
Sirius whipped around. "You," he growled. He did not reach for his wand–Peter Pettigrew had managed to corner him. Muggles began to gather around at the sound of Peter's voice.
"How could you, Sirius?" Peter howled.
"What are you on about?" Sirius growled.
"You were so kind," whispered Peter, quietly enough that Sirius was the only one to hear him, "not to tell anyone that the Potters had switched Secret-Keepers." Sirius paled. Peter grinned wickedly. "Goodbye, Sirius."
Sirius's hand flew toward his wand, but Peter beat him to it. With a final smirk, Peter blew up the street behind him and disappeared into the sewer as a rat.
All Sirius could do was stare. Muggles were screaming and he could see that several were dead. Ministry wizards apparated everywhere and began to try to clean up the damage. Several of them noticed him and began to walk toward him.
He found himself laughing. He could not stop himself. Peter had beaten him. The Ministry wizards had caught him with his wand drawn in the middle of a street that had just exploded, screaming Muggles were all around, several bodies were scattered around the scene, and then there was the finger Peter had sliced off of his hand before he transformed, as well as the fact that the Potters were dead and he was supposedly their Secret-Keeper. That little rat.
@~`~,~
Less than a day later, Sirius found himself in Azkaban prison, charged with Peter's crimes, as well as being a Death Eater, and without even a trial.
Please review!
-Silberner