Disclaimer: Not mine, I only own some of the plot of this fanfic and Carya, some parts might be copied from the book (hopefully not very much. I tried to keep it to a minimum), you might notice that some people got into different houses than in the books by JKR; this has only minor reasons, but I need them to be where they are now

Author's Notes: Took me some time to get this out but I had to get the pictures ready. I hope the site is working. If not send me an email and shout at me to send the pictures to you, 'kay?

Chapter 02 - Sirius Black and Discoveries or The Injured Dog

At first they didn't notice the curious and odd glances everyone seemed to throw at the Potter twins whether it was because of them being alone or because of them wearing Slytherin robes. As soon as they noticed and looked around people kept looking away. Suddenly they saw a young wizard selling a special Edition of that days 'Daily Prophet'. Curious as always Carya bought one, too. What caught their interest immediately was the headline on the front page.

Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban!

a special report by Audrey Skeeter

The impossible has happened! This morning the ministry confirmed that Sirius Black, Death-Eater and You-Know-Who's right-hand man who was imprisoned in Azkaban for eleven years has now somehow escaped. He was charged for murder of twelve muggles and one wizard, namely Peter Pettigrew, in November 1981 with a single curse. Dozens of aurors from the MLE (Magical Law Enforcement) are currently trying to recapture Black who seems to have vanished from earth.

Although the Minister of Magic keeps telling us that everything is under control the ministry has informed the Muggle ministry about Black. Of course they don't tell the muggles the whole truth. According to them Black is armed with a gun (a muggle device muggle criminals use for killing people). The answers to our questions about this murderer were quite different. While the Minister insisted on having everything under control other people kept mumbling about how insane Black really is. 'absolutely nuts that man, probably thinks his master is still here' a ministry worker said; a guard told us 'kept mumbling something about Hogwarts, really scary, I can tell you'.

I don't need to tell you that if this is true certain people at Hogwarts will be in grave danger until Black is caught. We can only hope that Merlin is with us and that Black is caught as soon as possible. Concerned mothers went as far as saying' I wouldn't let my children out on the streets anymore' and 'we don't even leave the house after sunset'. People are afraid and the ministry has yet to prove that they are indeed able to handle this situation.

Carya paled immediately but not for the reason most people would imagine. She dragged her friends away from the crowd in an instant and stopped short before the entrance to Knockturn Alley. Most people kept away from that street for obvious reasons, so they were relatively undisturbed.

"There's something I have to tell you two, especially you Harry but not here, I'll tell you when we get home. Someone might overhear us, and we can't put up a silencing charm without using magic," she whispered to her brother and friend. Both nodded and didn't ask any further.

Suddenly they felt uneasy in 'Diagon Alley' and headed back towards the 'Leaky Cauldron'. The kids still had one and a half hour left and decided to go to Muggle London for the remainder of the time. As soon as they got onto Charing Cross Road most of the tension left them. The twins used this occasion to show their friend what muggle London was like. Carya, Harry and Ginny visited many odd shops and stores but soon stopped at a small clothes shop, much to Harry's chagrin. He just knew that Carya would buy them new clothes. Not that they needed any.

They had enough clothes to equip at least two other people. But he also knew that protesting was useless. When his twin set herself on something she would do it. Thirty minutes later he had some new summer clothes, mostly shirts and shorts. Carya and Ginny had some new ones too. The Potter girl had insisted that Ginny got new clothes too. Clothes that fit her and that were not hand-me-downs or second-hand.

"Take it as an early birthday present if you like, Ginny. You look gorgeous! Wait until the boys see you," Carya said and smiled evilly. Ginny of course knew that Carya still would give her something else for her birthday but she loved her friend dearly and accepted this unusual gift.

She was happy. Here were two people who had accepted her from the first minute. They'd never questioned her because of her heritage, her name or anything else. They were just friends and Ginny loved it this way. It was the same with Hermione but also very different because they didn't share the same house at Hogwarts. She'd only been afraid of them once. That was when she'd found out about their pet-snakes. (A/N: I deliberately didn't mention the snakes any further in book 1 because they will be more important in the next books, perhaps even here!!)

Ginny was one of the very few who knew about them having snakes. Hermione and Professor Snape and perhaps Headmaster Dumbledore (just because he seems to know everything that happens at Hogwarts) knew about that fact. Not even Draco knew, yet. She still wondered how they could've hidden this for so long.

After the clothes shop they stopped at a store that sold all types of sweets. Each of them got their favourite muggle type. Harry had blackcurrant flavoured drops, Carya bought cherry drops, Ginny's were strawberry flavoured and together they bought a huge tin of lemon drops. That would be an anonymous christmas present for their headmaster. They also bought some sugar-free peppermint drops for Hermione because she liked those best.

Soon it was time to meet with Vernon and to get back to Privet Drive No.4. The nearer they got the quieter the three children went. Vernon found this odd but thought that they were just exhausted. Actually Ginny and Harry were thinking about what Carya would've to tell them and Carya thought about how to tell them the best way.

Once they got home they found the house empty. Apparently Petunia had gone shopping. Vernon settled himself in the living room with today's paper and the kids went upstairs towards the twins bedroom.

"Well, Carya, what was it that you wanted to tell us? What is so important that no one else can hear, and why were you so upset about that newspaper article. I know he's dangerous, of course, and the comment about Hogwarts ... I think that Skeeter woman meant us but that is not the reason for this, is it?" Harry asked while Ginny just watched.

"No, it's not really about that article. It's about Black in general ... Oh Harry, I don't know how to tell you ..." Carya sighed.

"Carya, ... " Ginny said softly, "... just start. Everything will be fine. Okay?" Carya only nodded and swallowed once.

"See, I know who Sirius Black is. Not only that what the Daily Prophet wrote about him. There's something else. Something I'm sure about, no one, except our parents would want the two of us to know, Harry. It is something that mum wrote in her diary ... the diary she left in my vault ..." Carya started explaining and hesitated for a second. Before Harry or Ginny could say something she continued. "You see, Mum and Dad knew Black very well.

They were in school with him, and with that Pettigrew guy too. They were a famous prankster group at Hogwarts, not unlike your twin brothers Ginny. They were called 'The Marauders' and in that group were our parents, James Potter and Lily Evans, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and ... Sirius Black. They actually were best friends. Although the newspaper didn't write about it, I still know more. There was another thing he was accused of. It was the betrayal of our parents Harry, they say he was the one who betrayed Mum and Dad." At this Harry wanted to interrupt, angry as he was but Carya held up her hand and looked at him pleadingly to listen.

"I know what you think. I did it too at first but not anymore once I'd finished with Mums Diary. Mum did never believe that he would betray them. She always loved him like a brother and she wrote too, that she suspected Pettigrew to be the one who spied on them. She never really liked Peter but trusted Remus and Sirius more than anyone else, except Dad of course. Dad seemed to think it was their friend Remus who spied on them. Why I don't know, Mum didn't mention it.

Did you know that Black never got a trial? They didn't even question him. He was just carted off to Azkaban. Odd, don't you think? Normally people get questioned under Veritaserum but he didn't. Well, the real reason why I wanted to talk to you, and why I am inclined to believe Mum more than the newspapers is that Mum and Dad made him our godfather. Harry what comes next is the most difficult to believe since apparently no one else has known of this.

Mum wrote that they switched secret keepers in the last moment. She said that they changed from Sirius to Peter for some odd reason. I only know that Black wasn't our parents secret keeper, and that means that he's at least innocent on behalf of betraying our family. I even have a photo of him before his time in Azkaban, with our parents and their friends too.

You'll never guess what they did in school. They became animagi, illegally, in their fifth year. No one ever found out, not even Dumbledore. I have a photo of their animagus forms too. Want to see it?" Harry said yes and Ginny wanted to look too. "... Eh, and Ginny, you promise to not tell anyone, except Hermione?" Carya asked a bit worried since Ginny's father worked in the ministry. Ginny nodded and Carya fetched the diary from the bottom of her trunk.

Before she showed them she told the other two about her idea of becoming animagi themselves this year, secretly of course. Ginny and Harry liked the idea and Hermione would too, even if she'd be a little apprehensive at first about breaking a rule as big as that. In the middle of the Diary were two photos. Both of them in full colour. One showed five humans, the other five animals.

Photos (perhaps I'll find someone to draw them for me, since I'm not that good, or I'll make a collage with other people drawing, giving them credit of course) Here's a description:

On the photo with the humans there were from the left to the right, Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin.

On the photo with the animagus forms were the stag (James) on the left, next to him the tiger (Lily) and on the right was the werewolf (Remus). I front of them were the dog (Sirius) on the right hand side and the rat (Peter) was sitting on the floor in front of the stag.

Their nicknames were inscribed on the back of the human photo. Peter Michael Pettigrew / Wormtail, Lily Amelia Evans / Tiger, James David Potter / Prongs, Sirius Orion Black / Padfoot, Remus Jeremy Lupin / Moony.

On the back of the second photo was an explanation who was which animal (see above).

(If you want to see the photos go to www.caryablack.de/fanfiction/adw/index.html and see them under 'Miscellaneous'.)

They looked at the photos for a few minutes until the silence became unbearable. That was much to take in for Harry and even Ginny could only stare dumbfounded. After a few minutes the children were called down for dinner. They didn't do much after that and went to bed early.

The next morning wasn't any better. They still were shocked by what they'd found out yesterday and breakfast was eaten in silence. Petunia was worried but the children assured her that everything was fine. Again they lapsed into an uncomfortable silence until Carya sighed and asked if they wanted to go for a walk in the park.

Ginny and Harry agreed. They didn't know that they wouldn't stay outside for long. The kids got there by bike (Ginny borrowed Aunt Petunia's [snicker, imagine Petunia on a bike]). Ginny's bike had a bicycle trailer behind it. This contained some sandwiches and a blanket for them to sit on.

As soon as they reached the park they could hear a soft whimpering from nearby. The twins and Ginny searched a few minutes until they found the source of the pained noise. It was a large black dog. He was bleeding and he also seemed to have an injured leg.

"Harry, Ginny, over here. I've found it," Carya called for the other two.

"The poor dog. Who would do that to an animal? That's just plain cruel," Ginny said sadly.

"We have to help him girls. Why don't you go fetch our bikes and I try to put kind of a bandage around the worst wounds. I'll use the old tablecloth we had for a blanket, okay?" Harry asked and the girls ran back to their bikes.

Harry instantly liked the dog with those incredibly blue eyes, Ginny just wanted to help him and Carya thought about both lines but had the distinct feeling that she had seen him somewhere else before.

"I could swear I've seen him before. The dog, I mean. I just can't remember where. Let's hurry. I bet Harry's already waiting for us," Carya told Ginny.

"You're right. Do we bring him to a veterinarian or take him to your house?" the redhead asked.

"No, we have to bring him home. The next veterinary is too far away. I doubt he would live through it," Carya said and then added in a whisper, "I still have the healing potions we made in the last potions class."

Once the girls reached the spot where Harry was waiting they carefully put the injured animal on the trailer and drove home. The injuries seemed quite serious and the next veterinarian was 10 miles away. Luckily Carya had remembered the healing potions they'd made in the last week of classes and since they'd had to test them she knew that they were perfect. Once they arrived at No.4 Privet Drive they carefully carried the dog upstairs and hid him in the twins bedroom. Ginny and Harry stayed with him while Carya fetched the potions from their trunks in the attic.

The kids had quite some difficulties to make him drink the potions but finally succeeded. A few minutes later the whimpering ceased and the dogs breathing became more steadily. He soon fell asleep after that which was perfectly normal since he had lost quite a bit of blood. He kept sleeping most of the time. Carya, Harry and Ginny made sure he ate and drank something between his naps.

Petunia had been very little amused when she'd found out that they had brought a 'ruddy street dog' into her house but she allowed it when she heard in which condition they'd found him. "Poor thing, okay you can keep him for the holidays. We'll decide what to do with him once the summer is over," Petunia said and Vernon agreed to that.

Soon Hermione came over too. When she heard about the animagi plans of the twins she was absolutely excited. This was perhaps the first time that she wanted to break a rule out of pure and full purpose. But the first thing they'd talked about was Sirius Black. Hermione was really afraid that he would indeed harm her friends but when the three told her what Lily had written in her diary she calmed down. Though they still didn't know if he did kill all those people or not.

They started their animagus training the second day after Hermione's arrival. Now Harry knew why exactly his sister had bought this particular book. It contained a step by step instruction how to become an animagus. They now knew why the man at 'Flourish and Blotts' had looked at them that oddly.

When they weren't training they continued to work in the attic. The children had already painted the walls and now only the floor and the furnishing was left. Vernon helped them to find some not so expensive furniture.

(A/N: I know that the Marauders needed five years for this but they chose a different type of training and they did not slit it up. Who says I have to be rational about me hero's magical abilities? evilgrin )

Please Read AND Review.

Thx ,

Carya

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