Chapter 8: Never Drop Your Wand
"Sirius."
"Mmmmph."
"Sirius."
"Wha?"
"Sirius! Wake up!"
"Go'way."
"If you don't get up, I'm going down to the Great Hall and eating all the bacon."
"Ah'right, Wormtail, 'm up…"
Wait a second…
A softly-glowing version of Peter Pettigrew snorted at Sirius' open-mouthed expression of surprise. "Honestly, with reactions like that, how did you ever survive as a dog?"
"I found really safe places to sleep. What are you doing here?" Sirius kept his voice down, since Harry was still asleep.
"A little more payment for my debt. The attack time's been changed – the Death Eaters will be here at sunrise."
Sirius looked out the window and swore under his breath. "That's any minute now."
"Exactly. Send the Muggles off first – they'll ignore them as long as Harry's not with them – but you and Harry are going to have to Apparate out. They're already closer than Arabella Figg's place, and that's the closest Floo connection."
Not good. But better than it would have been if they'd gotten in with us still asleep. "Thanks, Peter."
"You're welcome." Wormtail faded into the general darkness of the room, making Sirius blink a few times as his eyes readjusted.
Apparently it would be too much for me to have a normal life.
Of course, normal is overrated.
He hurried down the hall to the master bedroom.
This ought to be fun, at any rate.
He put a quick Silencing Charm on Vernon Dursley, then shook the man hard by the shoulder. Vernon's eyes snapped open, then popped as he registered a stranger in his bedroom – a stranger with a wand…
"Listen carefully, there's not much time," Sirius said quickly. "There are Dark wizards surrounding your house – they want your nephew, but they'd be perfectly happy to kill you and your family. If you get out of here, now, you can avoid them. Here, take this." He pulled his Order locator out of his pocket. "This will help the good wizards find you."
Vernon looked as if he might strangle if he didn't get to say something soon. Sirius sighed and removed the charm.
"How do I know I can trust you?" Vernon sputtered – quietly, for a change. "How do I know you're not trying to kill me?"
"If I wanted you dead, you would already be dead." Petunia was awake by now, staring at him and clutching the bedcovers. "Please do it. Take your son and go. I don't want anyone to die."
"You're that Black man," Petunia said suddenly. "Harry's godfather."
"Yes, I am."
"He's telling the truth, Vernon," Petunia said, getting quickly out of bed. "We have to go, now."
Sirius nodded to her and left the bedroom, shutting the door on a fresh sputter of Vernon's.
I hope they get out in time. It's not my concern, now, I've done all I can… I have to worry about Harry…
He pushed his godson's door open.
Harry shot upright beyond the bed, where he was bent over something on the floor. In the dim grey light of pre-dawn, Sirius saw the shock on Harry's face, the total disbelief.
A wand clattered to the floor.
"Pick it up!" Sirius barked, shutting the door quickly behind him. Harry dove for his wand, still staring. "Never drop your wand! Never, no matter what you think you see! Do you understand?"
Harry nodded dumbly.
"Now, how about a hug?" Sirius asked in a more normal tone.
"What did you give me for Christmas?" Harry asked, voice barely above a whisper.
"What?"
"Just before I left your house, you gave me a Christmas present. What was it?"
Good boy, Harry! Nothing on faith, test before you believe, that's the way! "A two-way mirror. I kept the other one. It's back in Grimmauld Place – I got caught without it, the day I went to the Department of Mysteries. I'm sorry, I did promise I'd have it with me all the time…"
Harry was shaking his head, a smile starting on his face. "It's all right. It's all right now. You're back. You're really back. Right?"
"Right," Sirius confirmed, holding his arms open. "Oof." Harry might not have been eating well, but he still packed quite a punch when he ran straight into one.
"I missed you," Harry got out before he broke down crying against Sirius' chest.
"You big lummox," Sirius said affectionately, mussing up his godson's hair more than it was already mussed, if that was possible. "I missed you too." A drop of water fell into Harry's hair. Where did that come from? Oh… I'm crying too. Guess I'm happy to be back.
But neither of us is going to have a chance to be happy if we don't get out of here. And fast.
"Harry, we have to leave. The Death Eaters are coming, they've found a way past the wards. At least they think they have. I don't know if it'll work, but we have to get out of here."
"How?" Harry asked in a halfway normal tone, wiping his eyes. "Are we going to fly, or what?"
"I'm going to have to Apparate us. And double-Apparating is not comfortable. We'll likely both be sick to our stomachs. Really sick. We won't die, but we might wish we had. You up for it?"
"You ever take Polyjuice Potion?" Harry asked.
"No, but I've heard it's horrible."
"Disgusting. Worst thing I've ever tasted. Worse than anything Madame Pomfrey ever shoved into me, including Skele-Gro."
"Now that I have tasted, and it takes a lot to be worse than that." Sirius' eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute, how do you know what Polyjuice Potion tastes like? You're not supposed to get into things that advanced until your seventh year…"
Harry grinned. "You mean we've never told you this story?"
"Should I be worried or proud?"
"Well, we didn't get caught…"
"Proud."
"And we got into the Slytherin common room…"
"Exceptionally proud. When was this?"
"Guess."
"This past year. I can't imagine any of you would have been able to brew something like that before fifth year."
Harry sniggered. "You are so wrong. Did you forget about that bushy-haired girl I hang out with? The one who's always three years ahead of her class?"
"Three years… oh no. Please don't tell me you took Polyjuice Potion in your second year."
"You want me to lie to you?"
"No… but great Merlin, Harry, did you have any idea the kinds of things that could go wrong?"
"Hermione got animal hair in hers and it took her a month or so to get back to normal. Things like that?"
"Yes. Things like that. For that matter, how did you get a hold of the ingredients for something like that?"
Harry looked at the ceiling. "Threw a firework into Goyle's cauldron full of Swelling Solution," he said quietly, but with a trace of laughter in his voice. "Hermione raided Snape's office while he was dealing with it."
Sirius shook his head in disbelief. "Now I see why James is so proud of you."
"Is?" Harry asked, his head snapping back to focus on Sirius. "You mean…"
"I saw them, Harry. Your father and mother. They send their love." The rest can wait… damn it, we got distracted! We have to go, now!
As if to reinforce that thought, the house shook from top to bottom as something struck it.
"What was that?" Harry asked, hand going to his wand.
"Someone's testing the protections. They're here. Get the Map, Harry. And the Invisibility Cloak. I'll let Hedwig go. Leave everything else, it can be replaced."
Harry dashed to his trunk and flung it open. Sirius opened Hedwig's cage, and she took off and flew out the open window.
"Hoy, there goes his owl!" a voice shouted from the street.
Oh no you don't. Careful not to show himself, Sirius shielded Hedwig as a Stunner flew at her. Shrieking her anger, the snowy owl dove. A shriek echoed down the street, and Hedwig came back into Sirius' line of sight with bloody talons, looking, he thought, rather pleased with herself as she winged quickly out of range.
"Got 'em," Harry said, turning back to Sirius.
"Come here, and hold – "
The door crashed open.
"Up here!" shouted Draco Malfoy. "He's up h – "
"Silencio!" Harry shouted, just as Sirius cast a rather more difficult spell, drawing on something he remembered Harry telling him about…
A pure white ferret hit the ground silently.
"Stupefy," Harry hissed, and the ferret collapsed. He dashed forward and snatched it up. "Buckbeak likes to eat ferrets, as I recall," he said, grinning.
"You are an evil young man," Sirius said approvingly. "Hold on tight, now. Here we go."
The last thing he saw as he Disapparated were the three bleeding scratches on the head of a gaping girl with a face like a pug dog as she appeared in the doorway…
-----
They arrived in the front hall of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, gasping for breath and rather green, but all in one piece.
"Uuuuugggghhhhhh." Harry slid to the floor. "Stop the room, I want to get off."
The velvet curtains flew open.
"FILTH! CREATURES OF FILTH! HOW DARE YOU DESPOIL THIS HOU – "
"Shut up," Sirius said wearily, cutting his mother off in mid-screech. "I'm getting rid of you first thing tomorrow."
The curtains snapped closed again.
Well, if I'd known all I had to do to shut her up was die and come back to life, I would have done it a long time ago.
Order members exploded into the hall, Tonks and Lupin first, three or four Weasleys close behind them, then others. Sirius was in no mood to look.
"Took you long enough," he said wearily, staggering over to the stairs and sitting down. "We're all right, just had a rough Apparation. The Death Eaters are at Privet Drive – " Kingsley Shacklebolt swore and vanished, Tonks and the Weasley twins right behind him. " – and the Dursleys are on their way elsewhere."
"Where?" asked someone, Bill Weasley, he thought.
"Don't know. But they've got my locator, you should be able to find them." More pops of Disapparations – the hall was almost deserted now. "Oh, and someone take care of this." He pulled the ferret out of his pocket. "Moody, you want it?"
"I don't keep pets," Moody growled.
"'Snot a pet. 'S a Junior Death Eater. We nabbed him before we left. The Snark Lord must be getting low on talent."
"Nice Transfiguration," Moody said, looking the ferret over. "Couldn't have done better myself. Don't worry, we'll take care of everything." He Disapparated, leaving Sirius alone in the hallway with Remus, who was helping Harry sit up.
"Sirius," Harry moaned.
"I'm here," Sirius said, opting to crawl rather than get up. Undignified, but it got him where he was going – Harry's side. "Right here." And I am never leaving you again. Never.
"You said you saw my parents?"
"Sure did. They sent their love, first of all. Several times. And James said to tell you you're better than he ever was on a broom, and told me to hex Malfoy for him. I think turning him into a ferret counts. He also said to tell you he apologized for pantsing Snape. Not sure if he should have, but he did. And your mum said to tell you Cedric Diggory doesn't blame you at all."
Harry smiled cautiously. "Thanks. That's great to know. All of it. But mostly I'm just glad you're back." He closed his eyes, swallowing hard. "Think I need the loo."
"I'll get you there," Remus said, helping Harry to his feet and guiding him down the hall. Sirius stayed where he was, partially because he thought if he moved he might be sick, but partially because he really didn't have any reason to go anywhere.
Harry's here. Why should I go anywhere?
With that in mind, it was easy to lean his head back against the wall, easy to close his eyes and ignore his lingering sick feelings, easy to drift away into sleep again…
-----
Remus wasn't really surprised when Harry fell asleep almost before he was done rinsing his mouth out.
He's just had several shocks and a very jarring experience. Sleep's the best thing for him now.
Conjuring a stretcher, he carefully levitated Harry onto it, then guided it up the stairs (noticing Sirius with a quiet chuckle and making a mental note to come back for him) and into the master bedroom – Sirius' room.
Better not to separate them now. Harry needs the comfort.
He got the boy onto the enormous canopy bed, glad now that he had taken the time the night before to make it up with fresh sheets.
"We make a bed with clean sheets for guests or for people who are coming home, Remus." He could still hear his mother, explaining to her curious six-year-old why she was changing the sheets on the bed she shared with his father, even though she had changed them only three days before, when his father was due home from a short trip. "It reminds them that they are welcome in our home."
Tugging Harry's shoes off, Remus smiled. No one's more welcome here than you, Harry. And with you around, this might actually turn into Sirius' home.
He went back downstairs and brought Sirius up the same way, putting him on the other side of the bed.
That's so sweet. They snuggled up in their sleep.
He left them that way, Harry cradled against Sirius' chest, Sirius' arm over Harry's side. He closed the door and had to laugh as a random thought struck him.
Only Padfoot, of anyone I know, could get out of death on extenuating circumstances.
-----
THE END
-----
(A/N: Well, maybe. End of the actual storyline. Might be an epilogue in here somewhere, to tie up a loose end or two… don't know. Must do work first, though. Freaking teachers. They think I have nothing better to do than their stinking papers.
vindicated-16, Caprice-Ann HedicanKocur, emikae, MAndrews, NSW: Thanks!
blueJosh: That's my normal chapter length, dude… and what does "it does more to advance the plot than tell the story" mean? Oh, and does "V, V, V to the M" mean anything to you? Just curious.
Hugs to you all… oh, and a recommend… my friend (and semi-official beta) whydoyouneedtoknow has an AU story called "Living with Danger". RLOC, SBOC, and "baby Harry and Hermione are friends". It's on my favorites list. If you like me, you may like her – we learned to write at the same place. Thanks everyone for R&Ring!)