A.N. Thank you to everyone who reviewed. I know, I know, it takes me too long to upload. I, however, have evil teachers who give out evil homework and take up all of my evil typing time. I have been doing my best. And my computer is still on the fritz, not letting me read anything on ff.net, and once again, it's probably by some freak miracle that I uploaded this chapter. Enjoy, and review
Mal
Harry struggled against the strong arms that held him. The mouth clamped harder over his mouth and a hurried, "shut up!" was hissed in his ear as he tried to cry out. Harry kicked backwards, into the man's shins. The man gave a grunt of pain and then a yelp as Harry bit down on the hand covering his mouth. The man cursed, putting a strong hand around Harry's neck and starting to squeeze. The eight-year-old sputtered for breath and tried to flail his arms.
The man moved the choking hand up to the boy's jaw, putting them in a vice-like grip. While Harry took several deep, steadying breaths, the man put a single drop of an unknown liquid into the boy's mouth. The man threw Harry to the ground and the boy sputtered, trying to gulp down more air. However, the potion took effect, and Harry's eyes glazed over as he struggled to breath.
"What is your name?" snarled the man.
"Harry James Potter," Harry managed to sputter out.
"Who are you living with?"
"My-my godfather, Sirius Black," Harry gasped. At the time he was thinking, 'what are you saying! This could get Sirius put in jail!'
Meanwhile, it was getting harder and harder for Harry to breath. He felt as if his lungs were shrinking and expelling all of the oxygen he tried to stick in there.
The man simply laughed as Harry's struggled to breath. "Where do the two of you reside?"
Harry heard himself choke out an answer.
The man grinned, reached down, and tousled the boy's hair.
"Good boy, Harry," said the man. "Sorry about your parents. Nothing I could do about it. Oh, and sorry about this too."
Harry, still gasping on the ground, looked up to see the tip of a wand pointing straight at him, and the man looming over him.
"Cam, go get Har-er… whatever his name was."
"Harold," Sirius hissed, giving the cashier the books that Harry had decided to buy. "Here's some money, you pay for these books, I'll go see where Harry is."
Sandy snorted as Sirius handed her a bag of Galleons.
Sirius walked slowly to the back of the store, where the Care of Magical Creatures books were located. A single book lay, open and upside down on the floor.
"Harold?" Sirius called, picking up the book and replacing it on the shelf. He turned around, wondering if Harry was playing hide-and-seek with him.
"All right," Sirius said, giving a grin. "I give up. You can come out now."
There was no answer. Sirius blinked, ran a hand through his short, blond hair and called again. "Harold? Where are you?"
Sirius walked around the bookcases, looking for his godson. "This isn't funny. Come out."
Still silence.
Sirius started searching desperately for Harry, looking around all of the bookcases. Looking around to see if no one was looking, Sirius transformed into his Animagus form, a giant black dog. Putting his keen nose to the ground, he immediately picked up Harry's scent. He followed it through the bookcases, until it led to a deserted corner…. And a door that was slightly ajar. Sirius transformed back into his blond disguise and pulled out his wand, holding it before him like a sword. He pulled open the door quickly, and found himself in a deserted, slim alleyway in the back of Flourish and Blotts.
Standing a few feet away was a short, balding wizard, his wand pointed at something on the ground. Even after 7 years, Sirius could still recognize him.
"Pettigrew," Sirius hissed, momentarily forgetting about himself being on the run, and that he had to find and protect his godson. The only thing that Sirius saw, was Pettigrew.
The man spun around, and found Sirius lividly glaring at him, with an expression that would have scared the dickens out of Severus Snape.
Sirius swung his wand upward, but before he could do so, Peter grinned and disappeared with a small pop.
Sirius was literally shaking with anger, still holding his wand out in front of him, pointed at the spot that Peter had been standing. Only when he heard panicked gasping, did he look down.
There was Harry, lying on the ground, clutching his chest and trying desperately to breath.
Sirius rushed to his side, grabbed him by the shoulders and made him sit up.
"Harry! What's wrong," Sirius asked, looking the boy in the eye.
"Can't… Can't…," Harry managed to choke out. "Help."
"Alright Harry, just concentrate on breathing. In… and out…in…"
"What on earth…" Sirius turned his head and saw Sandy, standing at the open doorway. "Sirius, what on earth-"
"Sandy, quick, Apparate to my house," Sirius said, brushing Harry's hair off of the boy's forehead. "Shrink everything and put it in a box. Keep it with you until I contact you. Go. Now."
"Where are you gonna go-"
"GO! NOW!" Sirius barked, picking Harry up. Sirius didn't wait another second, and Disapparated away from the thin alley.
~*~
Peter appeared at his flat, and collapsed on the sagging couch, laughing hysterically. He had almost had it! He was this close to having Sirius Black thrown in jail and out of his life! But that stupid man had to show up before he could get rid of the evidence. That damn boy! He wasn't putting up a fight anymore. He was hardly breathing for that matter. It would have been so easy just to dispose of the body and then appear at Black's house with a team of Aurors and have him arrested and thrown into Azkaban without a trial. He was this close!
Peter still found his predicament amusing. He lay on his couch, laughing and laughing until he was crying.
"At least I still have the address," Peter said, pulling out a piece of paper, which he had hastily scrawled it on. "I must get there quick. Black will no doubt wish to relocate…"
~*~
Sirius pounded on the front door of an odd looking house on a deserted lane. He was standing on the spindly porch, holding a gasping Harry in his arms. He was back to his normal self, having quickly taking the Disguising charms off of him and Harry. He had put a charm on Harry to keep him conscious, but Harry was growing weak from a shortage of air. Sirius pounded on the front door again, wiping stray hairs out of the boy's face.
Suddenly the door opened, and an old man looked up at Sirius through thick, large glasses.
"Who are you?" Croaked the man. "You're not selling anything are you? I have enough Bouncing Tea Kettles, you kno-"
"Uncle Carrison, it's me," Sirius gasped, readjusting Harry in his arms. Carrison squinted up at Sirius and readjusted his glasses.
"Sirius?" The man said. Sirius nodded slowly.
"I know what you're thinking Uncle Carrison, but really I-"
"Is that the Potter boy?" Carrison interrupted, an amused look on his face, looking down at the gasping boy that Sirius clutched.
"Yes," Sirius said, in too much of a hurry to ask how he knew. "He needs help."
"Obviously. Come on in. I'll put the kettle on."
Sirius rushed past Carrison and set his godson down on the sunken couch that sat in his uncle's living room. The boy wasn't faring any better.
"Sirius…" He desperately choked out.
"Shh, Harry. Save your air."
"Where…are we?" Harry took a shuddering breath, ignoring his godfather's order.
"At my uncle's house," was all that Sirius said. As they spoke, Carrison came hobbling into the room, a potion in one hand, and a cane in the other.
"Seen this before. Through all of my years as a Medi-Wizard, I'd recognize this anywhere."
Carrison dropped his cane and told Harry to open his mouth. Harry, who was growing quite tired, opened his mouth.
"Pinch his nose and hold him down," Carrison orders, and Sirius rushes to comply. The next thing Harry knows, a burning potion is being forced down his throat. He struggles with all of his might (which isn't much) but Sirius holds him still. A second later all of Harry's strength gives out, and despite the charm that was placed upon him, Harry fell unconscious.
Sirius sat there for a moment before turning to his uncle. Carrison was sitting in a big, purple easy chair, lightly tapping a rhythm with his foot, and humming.
"Carrison?" Sirius said softly.
"Yes my boy?" The man replied, a jovial smile on his face.
"Do you want to know what happened?"
"No."
Sirius stared at his uncle before inquiring why he had made that answer.
"Simple. I don't want to know."
"Well, yes, but why-"
"Tea?"
"No thank you."
"I expect you want to know what's wrong with the Potter boy?"
"Harry…yes."
"Then I'll go make some tea."
~*~
Sandy conjured up several boxes the second she appeared at Sirius' house.
"Mom, what's wrong?" Cameron kept asking. Every time Sandy shushed her, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. Truth is, she didn't know what had happened. But she had never seen Sirius that scared before.
"Quick Cam, do as many Summoning and shrinking charms as you can," Sandy said hurriedly, thrusting a box into her daughter's arms.
Her daughter just stared up at her, and slowly started to summon the many objects in the rooms.
Ten minutes later the house was nearly empty. Cam and Sandy were in the bathroom, finishing up the last box.
"There," Sandy panted, shrinking the box and dropping it into her purse. "Finished. Come on, let's get out of here." Cam scooped up Wilbur, who had been following them around, squealing happily at the visitors.
Sandy had just reached for her daughter when they heard the front door opening, and someone walking in. Cameron turned to the bathroom door, then looked up at her mother.
"Harry and Sirius must be home," Cam said. She started towards the living room.
"Cam," Sandy hissed. "Cameron, get back here."
"Why?" Asked Cam, standing in the doorway of the bathroom. A second later a spell shot past her head and she gave a loud shriek, jumping forward into her mother's arms. The two of them Disapparated a second later, right before Peter Pettigrew appeared outside of the bathroom door.
~*~
Harry blearily opened one of his emerald green eyes, and looked around the blurry room. Sirius must have taken off his glasses. From what he could tell, they were still in the same room, and he was still lying on the scratchy couch, with a scratchy blanket lying over him.
He could breath, however. He took several deep breaths just to reassure himself that he could. He could hear voices as well, somewhere off to his right. He recognized one of them to be his godfather's. The other one was familiar.
Harry grunted as he tried to sit up, but he felt a strong hand on his shoulder, pushing him back down.
"Harry?" Sirius said, his face appearing over his godson. "How do you feel?"
"Itchy."
Sirius grinned, at ease that his godson's sense of humor was showing through.
"Where are we?" Harry asked.
"At my Uncle Carrison's house," Sirius said. "In Norway."
"Is he a…"
"Wizard? Yes, he is, but he has been living with Muggles for several years…"
"Where are Cam and Sandy?"
"I don't know."
"Did that man get them?"
"Pettigrew? No, I-" Sirius stopped as Harry's eyes got wide and he tried to sit up again.
"Pettigrew! It was him? He was the one that-"
"Harry, calm down," Sirius said anxiously. "It's all right, he's gone."
"He asked-he asked where we lived. He talked about Mom and Dad! He-he-"
"Calm down boy," said Carrison, who had been sitting in his rocking chair, watching the whole scene. "He doesn't know where we are, and doesn't have a way to find out."
"What about Wilbur?" Harry whimpered.
"Cam and Sandy are getting all of our stuff…" Sirius said. "They've got him, don't worry about it."
Harry nodded and leaned back into the scratchy pillows. "Where are we going to go now?"
"I don't know. We might stay with Cam and Sandy for a little while. We might… I don't know."
"How long will we be here?"
"You'll be here for about a week."
"Just me?"
"And Carrison," Sirius said.
"What about you?" Harry asked.
"I need to go find someplace," Sirius said. "Someplace safe. It won't be for long, Harry."
Harry stared for a minute, before nodding and looking at the floor.
"You should go back to sleep Harry," Sirius said, ruffling his godson's hair. "You went through a lot today. You were very brave."
Harry gave a small smile and leaned back into the pillows.
"Sweet dreams Harry…"
Harry's dreams that night were anything but sweet. He dreamed of Pettigrew, walking through their now empty house, screaming and cursing angrily, before blowing up the whole building. He walked away from the burning rubble, laughing terribly before disappearing with a pop.
It was then that Harry awoke, panting and panicking, thinking that he was unable to breath again. He looked around the room, to the other end of the couch, where Wilbur lay, on side and dozing. There were several boxes around the room, filled with their belongings. Harry looked around for Sirius, but Sirius had gone.