Disclaimer: in chapter one
Chapter 2:
As Harry opened his eyes, he slowly realized his right arm hurt badly, like it was burnt. He remember spilling a rather large amount of boiling bacon grease on it at breakfast. Suddenly, the whole morning's events flew through his head. He noticed a weight on the side of his bed and looked over into his dead godfather's concerned eyes.
"Hey kiddo. How you feeling?"
Harry just stared at the man for a few minutes. "How? Is this a dream?"
"You were only out a few minutes, not long enough to dream. I came to catch that rat! But it seems you've got that under control. Erm… Harry…? I'm not entirely sure how I got here, though. The last thing I remember is fighting Bellatrix at the Ministry, then I was a few blocks away from here and caught Wormtail's scent. Harry? Harry, are you alright? You don't look very good.'
Harry swallowed hard to try and move the lump in his throat. He was trying to rationalize this as some dream come out of wishful thinking. He's dead. Nothing can bring him back. It's just a dream. If you tell him you know he's dead and not real, he'll go away. He does every time. But this seems so real. I have to do it. I'm going to go insane if this keeps happening, if I keep imagining him here.
Harry cleared his throat and whispered, "You're dead. Please, stop doing this. I know you're not real. I saw you die. You're not real."
Sirius looked hurt and confused, "What are you talking about, Harry? I'm right here, holding your hand. Did you hit your head when you fainted? Why would you say I'm d-dead? Look at me, Harry, I'm real. I'm here. I'm not dead."
Harry closed his eyes to block the image, but he could feel the hand holding his and someone brushing his fringe away from his eyes.
"I saw you fall. Bellatrix hit you with some curse and you fell through the veil. Everyone saw. You died. They all said that you can't pull someone back once they've fallen through. I want to believe it's you, but I can't lose you again. If I believe, then you're not you, I couldn't take it. You don't know how hard this past month has been without you…"
Sirius leaned down and hugged Harry, like a father would his troubled son. Harry could feel a dampness on his shoulder and realized the man was crying. Non of his dreams of Sirius had ever been so real. He could never actually feel him there. Could it be true?
Sirius looked up at the calendar Harry kept to mark off days until school and gasped. "It's July 31st? It's your birthday? But it was the end of June when we went to the Ministry! What…? Oh, Harry, I'm so sorry. I don't know what happened or what's going on now, but I promise I'm not dead. Merlin, you've been through enough. I'm so sorry, Harry."
"It's not your fault. If I hadn't been so stupid I never would have gone there and gotten you killed in the first place. But now you're not dead. I don't understand. I don't really care. Even if this is a dream or hallucination, it's the best birthday present I could ever ask for."
Before Sirius could interject on whose fault it was, there was a rather loud and obvious cough at the door. All three Dursleys were waiting impatiently for an explanation. Harry knew it must be true, now, because the Dursleys were never in one of his good dreams before.
"Erm… Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, this is Sirius, my godfather." Dudley ran into his room and the two adults paled. Then Vernon started going from white to red.
"Listen here, we won't stand for any of you freaks here! It's enough we have to have the boy, we don't need any more of you!"
Harry started speaking again before Sirius had a chance to hex his relatives into next week. "Listen, this is my godfather. He's here to porotect me. You'll be fine if you're nice to me and him. See that rat? It's actually a wizard here to kill me. I know you wouldn't mind that so much, but he'd kill the rest of you before leaving the house, so it really wouldn't do you any good to be rid of me for three seconds before dying yourself. Now, go to your bedroom and leave this to us. Don't call the police, they wouldn't stand a chance here, and would only mess things up more. We'll all be out of here by noon I'm sure. Now go and don't do anything stupid."
His aunt and uncle left, completely shocked at the situation and Harry's commanding attitude. They had enough sense to do what he said and stayed quiet the rest of the morning, although grumbling about "Their kind" could be heard outside the door.
Harry decided to write to Dumbledore immediately. With help from Sirius they finished the letter quickly.
Dear Professor Dumbledore,
I seek advice on pest control. It seems we have a vermin problem and my aunt is very displeased. Snuffles came by to help, but I'd really like your opinion, as you seem to have answers to most questions. Thanks, Harry
He tied the letter to Hedwig's leg and said, "Take this to Dumbledore as fast as you can, but be careful. If he doesn't read it right away, bug him until he does. Then go wherever he tells you. Got all that, girl?"
She hooted in acquiescence, nibbled his fingers lovingly and left.
Harry looked at Sirius and sighed, "I just cant believe you're here. I thought I'd lost you like mum and dad. I – it's been hard, you know, without you…" Harry trailed off, not really knowing what to say. A thought occurred to him, "Damn, I'm sorry, you must be exhausted if you've come from that night at the Ministry. Go lie down on my bed and rest. I'm just going to sit here and wait to hear from Professor Dumbledore." Harry didn't know what was making him speak, he didn't seem to be in control of his mouth. He felt physically ill after mentioning 'that night' and had to sit on his desk, where he planned on waiting for whatever would come.
The rat was waking up and seemed to be looking for an escape route. Harry leaned over the cage, "Don't even try, Peter. The cage is unbreakable and I can keep you there as long as I want. You don't necessarily have to be alive to prove Sirius's innocence. Dead or alive, I'll make sure the world knows the truth about him and you. Now stop moving around or I'll get the frying pan again." The rat stopped moving, but was shaking like mad.
Sirius had just been sitting speechless for many minutes, then finally spoke as he sat on Harry's bed. "Harry, I can't imagine what it's been like for you this past month. I wish I could have been there for you… I guess that's sort of obvious. And today I just show up… I'm so sorry. I must be upsetting you a great deal. Do you want me to leave?"
"NO! No, please. Just stay here. I don't want you to ever leave. Not again. Not if you're really you. It's been… well, bad. I'm so happy to see you, but I'm not sure of anything right now, ok? I just – just need some time to think about this. I don't want you to leave me though. I just need to sit and think. Go ahead and get some rest while you can. You know Dumbledore will be here soon after my letter. He'll probably be ready to ship me off to St. Mungo's."
Harry laughed a little at this and got a small smile out of Sirius. Although, Sirius was really much to worried and tired to find anything really funny. The truth was, Harry was too, but nothing in his mind was really thinking clearly, so laughing didn't seem all that strange at the moment.
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A/N: Should I continue with this? I don't know if it's good at all. It just popped into my head this morning so I decided to type it up. Tell me what you think!