Whee! Okay on to chpt. 2!
So what do you do when you see all you ever wanted to see? Well, chase after it I suppose. In the meantime, forget your past experience, be all emotional . . .
And Harry wants to be an Auror? YIKES! He better take himself in hand! Mad-Eye would have a field-day with this chapter!
Harry heard Hermione call his name, but he didn't stop to call back. They'd probably follow him anyway. He was nearing the wall that bordered the edge of the wizard village, when he again caught sight of the figure. The man was on the other side of the stile. Perhaps trudging up the path toward the cave where Sirius and Buckbeak had lived? Harry had to know. He called out, "Sirius! Is that you?"
The figure jumped then froze. A moment later he turned. Slowly, warmly he opened his arms to Harry.
Harry could see the smile now, the dark eyes shining. It was Sirius! He ran toward his godfather, sudden tears starting in his eyes. "Sirius! Sirius!"
Sirius abruptly put both hands out before him, shaking his head violently. Harry stopped. "What? What's wrong?" Then he heard: "Harry! Harry! What are you doing? Who is that? Stop! Harry, stop!" Hermione and Ron! What bad timing! But, no, they would be glad to see Sirius, too!
Harry was turning to hail them, but Sirius swept back toward the wall. Within arm's reach, Sirius put his finger to his lips and shook his head. He reached inside his robe, grabbed a flat glass from his pocket and dropped it on the low wall. He turned and bolted up the hill.
Harry stared after him. "Sirius! Come back," Harry whispered. A flash of light caused Harry to look at what Sirius had left. It was a mirror! Identical to the one that Harry had thrown and shattered after his godfather had died. Identical to one that was to have allowed him to speak to Sirius, if only he had used it!
Harry, afraid, excited, reached toward the mirror. His fingers touched its edges. . .
Without warning, Harry felt as if a hook had caught him somewhere behind the navel. He was falling, being transported . . .
Harry felt ground under his feet and stared down at his own startled face, reflected in the shining mirror in his hand. The mirror was a portkey! He hadn't known! Now he had no idea where he was! How could he have been so stupid! But it's from Sirius, Harry thought. Sirius wouldn't. . .No, Sirius probably wouldn't. . . As Harry stood there, berating himself for being a fool, he began to realize he recognized his new surroundings.
Yes, he recognized them, and he began to feel very frightened indeed.
This was none other than the graveyard where Tom Riddle was buried, the place where Wormtail had killed Cedric with the unforgivable curse Avada Kedavra. The place Voldemort had been reborn! Harry began to shake. There was the tombstone to which he had been tied, while Wormtail had taken Harry's blood. In his mind Harry could hear the sizzling of the caldron, the splash as Wormtail had thrown his own severed hand into the fluids. Harry began to panic. The portkey slipped into his pocket. He could hear the high-pitched laugh of Voldemort, the swish of cloaks as the Death Eaters apparated around him. Wormtail sobbing. Loudest of all the slithering of the snake through the grass, as it circled, circled...
The grasses parted and waved strangely, as if something long and undulating moved amongst it. Harry felt himself scream. It was the snake! Here!
There was a sharp crack! and Sirius apparated next to Harry. He laughed nervously and said, "Hello, Harry Potter. Don't worry, this will all soon be over." His voice was different, though, wheezing and wheedling.
Harry knew him; it was Peter Pettigrew. "You're not Sirius!" he gasped.
"No? Perhaps partly? No? Polyjuice doesn't make you into the person it makes you into, does it? But you know who I am, don't you? I'll only be stuck like this for a little while longer. We had some of Sirius' dog hairs, but they seem to have worked well enough to turn me into Sirius' human form, didn't they?"
Harry felt hot tears in his eyes. He felt lost in this place of horrors, fooled by his parents' betrayer, by his desire to see his godfather again. "No! You're not like him. You don't look like him at all!"
Wormtail looked as if he had been slapped. Finally he sneered, "Fooled you well enough, didn't I?" He pointed to the snake as it slithered away. "Nagini has gone to collect the Dark Lord. He will come and he will call his Death Eaters. And we will use you, so the Dark Lord can return to his rightful place."
Harry's stomach dropped. He turned and ran.
Harry pelted across the graveyard, but no footsteps followed. He stopped and ducked behind a grave marker at the edge of the yard, looking back. Pettigrew was no where to be seen. He hadn't apparated, there hadn't been a tell-tale crack! But hewas not where he had been. Harry backed away slowly. Rats began crowding his feet. They crawled on the headstone, shrieking and biting at each other. Harry turned.
Sirius was standing right behind him.
A shining silver hand darted forth from beneath the robes and grabbed Harry around the throat. Harry pounded at the hand, but Peter Pettigrew's newest member was strong and impervious to Harry's blows.
"How do you like my Lord's gift? You haven't had a chance to admire properly it yet, have you? But just knowing I have it makes me all the excited to see my old friend. I'm sure that your presence will bring him here eventually. The entire Order may yet come to save the Great Harry Potter!"
Harry stared. Old friend? Yes! Lupin! The silver hand could harm him as surely as a silver bullet. Harry screwed up his eyes. He was going to hit this man--the likeness of his godfather. He didn't want to, but he would! Harry drew back his fist and punched Pettigrew right on the nose.
Peter dropped Harry instantly and doubled over. Harry turned to run, but Peter wheezed, "Don't you want to stay and see what I can do?"
No! Harry thought, but he found himself mesmerized, not by Wormtail, but by Sirius kneeling on the ground, blood streaming from his nose. The silver hand rose to the bleeding mass. A moment later Sirius grinned up at Harry, and wiped away the blood. He stood. "This hand has many uses. Not the least of which is enabling me to help myself. Something yourfather never did."
He leapt forward. Surprised by Peter's sudden aggressiveness Harry stumbled and was easily captured again. "You wanted to turn me over to the dementors in Azkaban, Harry. That will never happen. I am going to break your neck!" He locked the silver hand to Harry's throat.
"That's enough, Wormtail!" Voldemort stood in the darkness of the graveyard.
Peter kept squeezing, though less so. "WORMTAIL!" Voldemort pointed his wand and Pettigrew was pulled from Harry, who dropped to his knees, gasping and rubbing his throat. "I need him alive for now."
Pettigrew was suddenly acquiescent and bowed his head. "Yes, Lord."
Voldemort approached Wormtail. "Thank you for bringing him to me. It is time. Now, give me your arm, Peter."
Wormtail whimpered, but held out his left arm, and Voldemort pushed back the sleeve. The Dark Mark shown against Wormtail's pale skin.
"I believe all my brothers will be interested to see what I have in mind for you, Mr. Potter," Voldemort said and touched his wand to Wormtail's arm.