Chapter 7: Reunion

The first thing Sirius was aware of was that his mouth was dry. The second, that his backside hurt. And the third, that he was lying on his side on a very cold floor.

In dog form. Which I had better maintain. No telling who's nearby.

He opened his eyes slowly, resisting the urge to moan, or whine, as the bright sunlight of morning made itself known to him.

Oh, damn, not bars again.

He was, unmistakably, caged.

At the... ounce? Is that what they call it? No, the pound. Where they send stray animals. And, eventually, kill them, if they don't get claimed or adopted.

Well, not my problem. All I have to do is wait until no one's watching and Apparate out. And this time, I'm going straight to Harry's house.

A door at the end of the long room full of cages opened. "Right this way, ma'am, sir," a voice said.

Family coming to look at possible pets, I guess.

A teenage boy thundered into his line of sight – quite possibly the fattest boy he had ever seen – and stopped directly in front of his cage. "Cool, Dad, lookit this one!"

"This one" isn't interested, brat. Back off. Sirius considered showing his teeth, but decided against it. No need to make them think I'm vicious.

But why does that boy look familiar?

The boy's father and mother followed him, and Sirius had to bite back a yelp as he recognized the woman.

Petunia!

Lily's sister!

Merlin on a broomstick – that means...

Well, maybe I'm a little more interested than I thought I was.

He sat up and allowed his tongue to hang out in his "adorable" pose.

"We just found that one yesterday," said the uniformed man who had let them in. "Not even sure if he's housetrained or not. But he seems tractable. You could try giving him a command."

"Down!" the boy – Dudley, that's his name­ – ordered, and Sirius sank obediently to the floor. "Stand!"

"Sit!"

"Roll over!"

Sirius obeyed every one.

"Can we get this one, Mum, please, please? He's gotta be trained, lookit how well he does tricks. Pleeeease?"

Aren't you too old to be whining like that?

"Well..." Petunia Dursley hesitated. "Vernon?"

"I've been wanting a dog for years, Petunia, you know that. This one looks healthy, and he's obedient. I say we take him. Give Dudley something to do over the summer."

"All right, we'll take him."

"Very well," said the uniformed man, making some notes on a chart. "You'll have to get him to the veterinarian within a week to get him up to date on his shots. And he needs a collar and lead – do you have them? If not, we can take care of that for a nominal fee..."

Sirius tuned out in the interest of making his plan.

They'll take me home. When Dudley gets tired of playing with me, I'll go find Harry, and we'll get out of here. Wonder if I'm strong enough to Apparate us both?

Apparating with and for another person was dangerous and not recommended, especially someone close to the Apparater's own size. A small child, who could be held in the arms, was far easier to Apparate with than someone Harry's age.

If not, we'll go to Arabella's house, she has a Floo hookup. Either way, Harry's not spending any more time in that house. The blood magic's been compromised, so there's no reason for him to stay. We'll go home together, and I swear I'm never letting him out of my sight again.

The door of the cage opened, and the uniformed man reached warily in to put a collar on Sirius. He didn't fight it.

Staying with him might be difficult when he goes back to school, of course...

The man handed the lead to Dudley, and Sirius followed the fat boy docilely out into the room, through the door, and out to the car, where he jumped into the back seat and lay down.

No, wait. There's no reason Harry can't have a dog at Hogwarts, is there? Especially an intelligent dog, one that can use the loo so it doesn't have to go out...

That's it, that's what I can do for the Order! I can be Harry's permanent bodyguard – there's no doubt he needs one, now that Lord Riddle-Me-This is back. I'll be the Gryffindor Tower pet, all the girls will love me, and I'll scare the daylights out of the ferret-boy every time I see him. James did ask me to bite him, after all.

Pleased with his idea, he dog-grinned. This not only made him look utterly lovable, it augmented his already quite good sense of smell. The car was fairly new, probably company-issued. Vernon and Dudley smelled of fat and good living and self-satisfaction. Petunia was acrid and just a touch worried about something.

And there was another smell as well, of a person not present.

Harry. And he wasn't happy when he was last in this car.

The scents of grief and confusion figured prominently in the lingering odor of his godson.

It was a few days ago. Four or five, I'd guess.

I hope he's all right.

The car pulled up outside the Dursley house. "Let him use the yard before you bring him in, Duddy dear," Petunia said. "And I'll get the Potter boy to pick up after him."

Why should Harry have to pick up after me if I'm supposed to be Dudley's dog? Sirius shook his head, making his collar tags jingle. These people do not make sense.

Still, he did have to go...

Business done, Sirius allowed himself to be led up to the front door. The smell of Harry was almost overwhelming. He had to keep concentrating on his role so as not to transform into a human and rush off in search of his godson.

Besides, I can't transform right now. I'd choke on the collar. Have to get someone – Harry, probably – to take it off me before I can retransform.

"Hey, Potter!" Dudley yelled. "C'mon down and see what I got!"

A door at the top of the stairs opened, and Sirius had to clamp down on himself hard not to pull the lead out of Dudley's hand and charge up the steps. Dudley's dog, he reminded himself. Dudley's dog, nothing else.

But it was hard, it was so hard, to see Harry's face and not go to him, especially when he noticed tear-tracks on Harry's cheeks, and saw that he looked thin, thinner than usual, as if he hadn't been eating...

"Nice," Harry said shortly, trying to smile. "What's his name?"

"Doesn't have one. Why, you wanna name him?"

"I have an idea," Harry said, sitting down on the top step. "You could call him Padfoot. He looks like one."

"What's a Padfoot?"

"A big black spirit dog," Harry said quietly. "If you see one, you die within a day."

His lips formed silent words that only Sirius caught.

Like I wish I could...

Sirius whined, wanting, desperately, to go to Harry, to comfort him. But his training in secrecy, and the choke collar around his neck, won out.

Just hold on a little longer, Harry. I'm here, and I love you.

Please, don't do anything stupid.

Not when we're so close.

"So it makes people die? Cool! Thanks, Potter!" Dudley yanked on the lead. "Come on, Padfoot. I'm gonna teach you to attack things!"

I know what I'd like to attack.

And it happens to be holding the other end of this lead...

-----

"No word from Snape about this?" Bill Weasley asked around the kitchen table at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place.

"None." Albus Dumbledore shook his head. "Of course, with such a major attack imminent, Voldemort may have decided to keep a closer watch than usual on Severus, to test his loyalty. I have sent him a coded owl, telling him that we know of the attack, but there has been no reply."

Tonks gasped. Dumbledore held up a hand. "It could mean any number of things, Nymphadora – that he never received it, that he is unable to reply, or that a reply is not necessary, because we know the facts of the matter already. Whatever the reason, I doubt we can expect any information from him before this battle is over."

"So, tomorrow night," Kingsley Shacklebolt said. "We should be in place by five o'clock at the latest – earlier would be better. Are we expecting Sirius to join us, or not?"

"I am afraid I do not know, since he has not bothered to communicate with us." Dumbledore's voice was light, but his eyes fixed for just a moment on Remus Lupin.

When Dumbledore looked elsewhere, Lupin slumped in his chair. Damn it, he knows – I'm sure he knows. He's a Legilimens, he must know I'm lying. But he hasn't called me on it. Why?

There was only one answer. He knows Sirius was at my flat, he knows Sirius left, and he knows where Sirius went. And he approves.

In which case, I don't think he would be too surprised to see Sirius and Harry walk in the front door or come out of the fireplace any minute now.

Of course, almost nothing surprises Dumbledore...

"The blood magic wards must be reestablished elsewhere," Dumbledore was saying. "Harry, it goes without saying, is the highest priority. After him, protect the entire family, but Petunia and Dudley Dursley especially. If – " His face was regretful. "If the decision becomes necessary, save Petunia before her son. She shares more blood with Harry. The wards will be easier to establish with her."

He hates this, talking about people as if they're things and saying who must live and who must die. I know he does.

But war makes us all do things we hate.

-----

Since the Dursleys didn't have any dog food on hand, Sirius got to have the same thing they were having for dinner. Of course, he had to eat on the floor, but it was still pretty good.

Harry, he noticed, wasn't eating. At all. He was stirring the food around so it would look like he was, but he hadn't actually put anything into his mouth.

Have to get him to stop doing that. One of these days I'm going to die for real, or someone else is, and he's going to have to keep going. He should know that already...

But I guess that's another thing his relatives never taught him. Taking care of himself.

Another thing occurred to him. I wonder if they always treat him like this? Calling him by his last name, making him do the work, ignoring him, or in Dudley's case, being ready to beat up on him?

Sirius' "training" had consisted of Dudley trying to goad him into attacking a pillow with a crude representation of Harry's face drawn on one end. He had done it after a while, if only to get Dudley to stop yelling at him.

If this is all he's ever known, no wonder he was so ready to come with me. I was actually showing him affection, love even. Other than the Weasleys, I don't think he had anyone who really cared about him. Not until me.

And then I died. No wonder he's broken up.

Well, I'm back now, and I'm going to make up for lost time, if he'll let me...

"Please may I be excused?" Harry mumbled.

"All right, go on, boy, I'll do the washing-up tonight," his aunt said.

Harry pushed his chair back and almost bolted up the stairs. Sirius got up and started to follow him into the hall.

"Padfoot, come!" Dudley yelled.

Hating himself for doing it, Sirius returned to the kitchen and sat next to Dudley's chair.

"Good dog," Dudley said with a pleased smile, and held out a piece of pork chop. "Here you go, boy."

Sirius gulped it down, ignoring his insane urge to take a piece out of Dudley's hand instead.

He'll lose interest soon. He'll go do something else. Then I can go to Harry.

-----

About an hour later, Sirius' opportunity finally came. Dudley, in his bedroom, was absorbed in some game on his compluter thing – no, a computer, Sirius corrected himself, remembering the clerk on the other side of the veil correcting him in the same way.

That reminds me. Messages for Harry. An apology from Peter – save that for later – love from James and Lily, James apologized to Snape about the pantsing, Harry's better than James was on a broom, and Cedric Diggory doesn't blame him. I think that's all.

Time to go.

He got up and pushed the door open with his nose. Dudley never even noticed.

Down the hall Sirius went, only to be blocked at the other end by a detail. One tiny, insignificant detail.

Harry's room had a doorknob, not a handle. And he couldn't turn a knob without hands.

Dammit! Sirius thumped his head against the door in frustration.

"Come in," Harry's voice called hoarsely.

Hey, there's an idea. Sirius pawed the door and whined.

After a moment, it opened.

Yes!

Harry stood in the doorway, his face tear-lined again. "Hey, boy," he said softly, kneeling and holding out his hand, palm down and fingers slightly curled. "I like you, even if you do belong to Dudley. Want to be friends?"

You have no idea how much. Sirius sniffed the offered hand, then play-bowed in acceptance.

Harry smiled, a bit hesitantly, as if he wasn't used to it any more. "Come on in, then," he said, stepping aside.

Sirius walked into the bedroom and took a look around. It looked much like any other teen wizard's room – messy. Like mine when I was that age. And James'. Remus was the neat one, and that's not saying much.

Harry flopped on his bed, face down, letting his legs dangle from one side and his head off the other. Sirius came around and solemnly gave his godson's face one enormous lick.

"Hey, don't do that," Harry protested with a tiny laugh, wiping his chin with his sleeve. Sirius lay down and regarded the boy, feeling his heart fill with love, as he did every time he saw Harry. You're such a great kid. Your parents would be – they are – so proud.

Now I just need a chance to tell you that.

"You know why I named you Padfoot?" Harry said into the silence. "You remind me of someone I knew. A human being, usually, but he could turn into a dog. A dog that looked a lot like you, actually. And his nickname was Padfoot. His real name was Sirius. Sirius Black. He was my godfather."

Loving someone, Sirius discovered, meant you really, really hated it when they cried.

He jumped up on the bed and started licking Harry's face, whining. Don't cry for me, Harry. I'm here. And if I can just get you to take this collar off me, I'll prove it. But first you have to settle down.

"Oy, quit that," Harry protested, trying to push Sirius away from him. "Yuck." He wiped his face with his hand, then, for lack of anything better, dried his hand on Sirius' fur. "Are you trying to get me to stop crying?"

Sirius thought of nodding, then decided against it. Better not scare him. Instead, he whimpered and pawed at his collar.

"You want me to scratch you?" Harry obliged, scratching what Sirius suddenly found to be a fierce itch, precisely under the collar. "You know, this thing looks too tight for you."

That's a boy, Harry. Now move on from that thought.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt to take it off you," Harry mused. "Just while you're here. Have to put it back on as soon as you go out, but no reason not to let you have it off for a while in here..."

Yes, yes, yes, come on...

He unfastened the collar, pulled it off, and scratched Sirius vigorously where it had been. Sirius felt himself going cross-eyed with enjoyment.

No wonder dogs seem to enjoy this so much. It feels wonderful.

Or maybe that's just a side effect of being with Harry again.

Harry yawned. "You know something, Padfoot? I haven't been sleeping very well. Nightmares. I didn't have nightmares before I left Hogwarts – that's my school – because... well, I don't really know why. I had this crazy feeling sometimes, like Sirius wasn't really dead, like he was with me, sitting near me or talking to me, and I could sleep better when that happened."

He yawned again. "I haven't had that since I got back here. Until you got here. Now, all of a sudden, I feel like that again. And I want to go to sleep. Is that OK with you?"

Might as well risk it. Sirius nodded.

"Great. Thanks." Harry pulled his glasses off, folded them, and put them carefully on the nightstand. Sirius moved so that Harry could lie on the bed the right way, head on the pillow, feet down near the end. Has he grown? Maybe he's hitting another spurt.

"G'night, Padfoot," Harry said sleepily as his eyes closed.

Good night, Harry. Sleep well.

Sirius nestled up to his godson and allowed his own eyes to close.

-----

(A/N: OK, so you knew this was going to happen. Any guesses on what's coming next?

Thanks to blueJosh (me too!), avalon64, NSW, and emikae (no, they're gray). Sorry for the continued lateness of updates, but family and holiday and homework are kind of intervening... you know, that pesky little thing called real life...

Fan fiction is so much better, though...

Ah well, see you all next time!)