Finally! u guyz r slow reviewers!
Oh, btw, there are some OotP spoilers, so if u haven't read the fifth book (why in Mithros' name are you reading FF's if you have the fifth book to read???) I would advise you not to read this chapter. (Too bad 4 u, 'cause this chappy rox- my favorite chappy so far!)
Well, Shinimegami-Rin, that is a good question. Actually my papa knows Latin and we asked him what the Hogwarts motto (Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus) means and he said "Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon," (Or actually, Dragon Sleeping Never Tickle but that's not important) Also Malfoy or "Mal foi" means "bad faith" in French. Malfoy has "mal" in it, also meaning evil. And so we found out that Mr. Draco Malfoy actually means Mr. Dragon Evil/Bad Faith
BTW #2, I will NOT ever do a slash story! *gives involuntary shudder
AND NOW, [Drum roll] On with the story...............
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* ~*~*~
In the corner was a person. A person who was hooded and cloaked, his hands in his lap. His clothes were ragged and torn, and his thin body was slumped over in a chair. He was breathing heavily.
"You really should go to the houses of healing," said Niko softly to the man. Sitting across from him, Niko was trying to use a soothing voice to persuade him into talking. The man shook his head. Niko succeeded, but the man said very little:
"Harry," he rasped, "need to talk to Harry."
Harry stepped back- he didn't recognize the voice. Was he a death eater?
"What do you want with me?" Harry asked bravely
"Harry," the man replied simply
"I am Harry!"
Briar stepped into the room, followed by Ron, Hermione, Sandry, and Tris. "He his Harry, sir. We've gotten our bodies switched."
The strange man shook his head at Harry's body. Ron, Hermione, Sandry and Tris were watching Briar and the stranger in turns, to see what would happen. Harry and Briar were both staring at the gaunt newcomer.
Briar stood his ground, bravely.
The man looked up, his eyes haunted and deep in his head. Suddenly Briar jumped back in fear; the man looked like a corpse.
Turning his head to Briar's body- Harry- the man stood up slowly with a pained look on his face.
Harry blinked. He thought he had seen—but it couldn't have been there. Taking a step forward, Harry briskly cleaned his glasses and he took another look at the man. His jaw dropped.
"But- but you were- you fell through the veil! Dumbledore- Remus- everyone thought you..." Harry's voice died in his throat, which closed up.
It was Sirius! His godfather was alive!
"Is it really you?"
The man smiled grimly, lowering his hood with tired, chapped, and bleeding hands.
Not daring to believe it, Harry shook his head as if to clear his vision, "S-Sirius? You- you look terrible." It was true. He looked as bad, if not worse, than when he had seen him the first time when he escaped from Azkaban.
"I was taken by the Death Eaters." The man answered slowly, every word seemed to be costing him strength, "You may remember near the end of the fight, Bellatrix hit me with an extremely strong curse. I don't even know which it was, but the next thing I knew, Voldemort was standing over me with an insane grin on his face and his wand pointed at me. He said something about Dumbledore, and told me revenge was his."
Sirius' face was contorted with anger. His ghost-white skin stretched across the cheekbones of a fading man- something Harry hadn't thought possible after his twelve years in Azkaban. Harry had thought, after the wizard prison, Sirius could handle anything.
Harry's head was spinning with new information. His godfather wasn't dead! But he nearly looked the part. Again, Harry realized, Sirius' eyes held the haunted look that Azkaban had left permanently inscribed in the back of Sirius's mind. For a short time, Sirius had been recognizable as the carefree boy Harry's parents had known, but it appeared that Voldemort had tortured this look into him once again.
"What did he do to you?" asked Harry softly, barely able to force his voice to work. Voldemort was pushing the limits again. Here was another reason for hating him.
"He..." Sirius paused and took a deep breath. It was obvious to Harry that he didn't want to talk about it. "He practiced some new curses... and some old ones. At some point I couldn't stand it anymore and I guess I got transported here. I was miles away from this spot when I heard talk of strangers at a place called Winding Circle. I thought that these strangers may have been transported here like I was." Sirius' eyes moved to the floor again as he began to raise one hand as if to cushion his head. His arm shook so violently that he abandoned the idea. "I walked, asking people here and there for news, information, and the whereabouts of Winding Circle. All the while I was using this disguise, in case someone recognized me."
Harry took another step toward his godfather, still unsure whether he was real or not. Looking up at Harry again, Sirius relaxed into the chair, face settling into a peaceful expression, head falling back- and fainted.
Running over to Sirius's side, Harry touched his hand. It was as cold as ice. "Sirius," he whispered. Standing up, Niko took the other hand of the man before him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Harry and Ron, accompanied by Briar, were sitting by Sirius' bedside. His face and hands were now hot to the touch, rather than the ice-cold it had been four days previous. Due to the lack of healers (there was another minor plague a ways to the north) they had been doing their best to heal Sirius without using any magic. Hermione had been doing a fine job instructing the others so far -although she hadn't been able to come to see Harry's godfather yet today- as she had become accustomed to the muggle healing methods used by her parents. (AN: remember, the kids are still not accustomed to each other's magic's)
As the three boys sat watching Sirius sweat, tossing and turning, in his sleep, they mind-talked to one another (Briar was standing and had his hand on Ron's shoulder so he would be included in the conversation).
'Well, we could have a game of chess right here in the room,' suggested Ron.
'No good,' replied Harry, 'You always win, and I'm really not in the mood for a miserable loss.'
'What's chess?' wondered Briar.
'It's a game,' Ron thought huffily, annoyed that anyone in this world or their own wouldn't know what chess was.
'Besides, Ron, I don't think they even have any chess boards here in Winding Circle- and certainly not any magical ones.' Replied Harry.
'Well, I suppose we could do it the muggle way-' thought Ron, disgusted.
'No. Ron, I've just thought- that's a two person game anyway, it would leave someone out each time.' Harry said pointedly.
'Fine!' Ron thought, rather snappishly, 'We'll just sit here and watch him breathe.'
Ron shook Briar off and turned to face Sirius.
Harry thought Sirius still looked rather ill. He was extremely thin and gaunt. He may not have eaten for a long time before he came here, Harry realized.
'This is depressing,' Harry thought to Ron.
'Yeah, I know. I wish he would wake up, so we would know he was still alive. He is barely breathing.' Ron thought.
Harry realized with a jolt that Ron was right. The chest of the man before him was rising so slowly and in such a small amount that Harry couldn't be sure it wasn't his imagination.
'D'ya think we should wake him?' Harry wondered
'Dunno- we could.' Ron paused, thinking, 'I think we should let him sleep. We'd know if he'd, you know-.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
He was in dog form, running as fast as his paws could carry him across the graveyard. Voldemort had been torturing him for the last few days with untested curses. Turning his head, Sirius saw the Death Eaters still following him- they were gaining. Sirius knew he couldn't keep up this pace forever, already he was tired and aching from- well he didn't want to think of it. Directing his gaze again in front of him, he heard two loud popping sounds on either side of him. Death Eaters, he thought desperately. Great. He was going to be caught. Again.
Racing around a section of turned-up earth, Sirius ducked behind a headstone, catching his breath.
"I know you're here, Black." A female voice teased from behind him. Bellatrix. "Why don't you come out to play." It wasn't a question.
Sirius then heard his cousin talking to herself and him at the same time, "You know, Sirius, I know all about how you are an animagus. I saw you change one time, when I was to visit. It was the summer of your fifth year at Hogwarts. So dog or not, come out, you accursed traitor! A traitor to the name of Black!"
Without looking back, Sirius began to creep along the set of headstones, carefully keeping at least three at a time between him and the one who tried to kill him.
"If you do not show yourself, Sirius Black, I will personally make sure the rest of your life, not that it will be long, is used for testing out new curses." Her cruel laughter filled the air. She muttered something under her breath, and Sirius felt a hot strand of magic encircle his body.
"Aha!" she said as Sirius, still in dog form, was pulled from behind a headstone, and into the view of at least a dozen Death Eaters.
Quickly changing into himself again, Sirius realized that he was wandless and, so, defenseless.
"Yes, my little cousin, it is nice to see you again in our clutches." Bellatrix was grinning.
"It isn't worth it, Bella" Sirius croaked, "The Dark Lord will fall despite you being on his side. Harry will make sure of that."
"HA! Do you actually believe that, Sirius? You are not so smart as I thought."
"You disgust me." Said Sirius, spitting on her feet.
"Avad-" started one Death Eater.
"No," Bellatrix interrupted, "This one will be more fun to play with alive."
Crawling backwards, Sirius hit a headstone and gasped as a wound on his side reopened.
"Crucio."
Pain. Sirius could think of nothing else. Pain. Every inch of his body was being pierced by knives. After a few minutes, his body almost numb, Sirius felt the curse lift.
When a knife goes in, it hurts. Coming out it hurts just as much, if not more. The aftereffects of this curse were like that. Sirius moaned, rolling over on the ground.
"This is boring," said a Death Eater, "He isn't even screaming! Can we kill him now?"
"No, not yet," said Bellatrix, "We will make him scream."
"I will not," Sirius rasped, his voice not quite working, "I will not scream for you."
"If you don't I will only torture you more, cousin." Said Bellatrix gleefully, raising her wand with a flourish.
Pulling himself off the ground, Sirius tried to walk away. Stumbling he began to transform. He had barely dragged himself three feet when Bellatrix began to laugh again.
'Could I be anywhere worse?' Sirius thought desperately as his knee caught on a piece of a broken tombstone, and was sliced open- blood seeping freely through his robes and leaving a sticky trail behind him. Collapsing to the ground again, the dog closed his eyes.
"No!" yelled a voice in the distance, "You cannot leave, you must stay!"
Opening his eyes slightly in spite of the pain all over his body, Sirius saw the graveyard fading away.
He passed out.
"Look, thewe's a man!" said a small voice somewhere above him.
"He fell fwom the sky!" said another.
"Mommy! Mommy!"
Sirius opened his eyes slowly and took in the scene around him. There were three small children standing above him. One was pointing at Sirius, although facing the opposite direction. Sirius noticed that he was no longer a dog.
All three looked like they were directly from an old history book. The two boys were wearing crisp breeches and starched tunics, and the small girl was wearing a neat little blouse with a pleated skirt.
"Where am I?" Sirius asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"You is at owr howse."
"Where is that?" Sirius asked patiently.
"Mommy! The man is tawking!" said the little girl.
"Hold on, Freda, I'm coming." Said a woman's voice, loudly. Sirius flinched.
When she saw Sirius laying helplessly on the ground, she gasped. Bending down, she pushed her children out of the way telling them to wait in the house. Sirius tried to sit up, but the woman bending over him pushed him back down. "Let me help you."
Sirius stayed only long enough to have his wounds dressed. Thanking the lady for helping him, he asked if she had a cloak he could use as a disguise.
Confused, Freda's mother asked, "Why would you need a disguise?"
Sirius's face looked completely calm, but inside, he was thinking quickly and frantically. He answered cautiously, "I am hiding from someone who er- " he glanced at the little girl, "who wants to er- kill- uh- me."
"Oh, no!" said the girl's mother, "Yes, my husband had an old cloak. You can have that."
She looked sad for a few seconds, before leading Sirius to a dusty old room. Sirius guessed that this was her dead husbands room.
Sirius took the cloak, thanking the woman. "I wonder, do you know about the others that came that way?" she asked "Four children. They fell from the sky just like that."
"Where are they?" Sirius had asked wearily.
"They are at Winding Circle Temple. That way."
A few minutes later, Sirius left. He walked the way Freda's mother had pointed out, but his body was so sore and worn out that it only took him a short while of walking before he passed out.
~*~*~*
Sirius awoke and sat up. He now recalled exactly what had happened due to the rather accurate and precise dream.
"He's awake," someone said suddenly
"Sirius, you were hardly breathing, and just now, you were tossing and turning so much we almost woke you up." Said Harry in one breath.
"You should've," grunted Sirius, "I was just reliving the lovely little scene when Bellatrix-" He stopped at the look on Harry and Ron's faces (actually Briar and Sandry's faces, but Harry and Ron were making them look like that).
Sirius slumped back on his pillow.
"Sorry, didn't realize... never mind, it's over now."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
At the Houses of Healing, standing around Sirius's bed the third day of his continuous swimming in and out of consciousness barely long enough to drink a little water and fall back asleep, Harry, Hermione, and Ron anxiously waited for Sirius to wake.
Slowly, Sirius's eyes opened, and flicked shut against the light. He sat up gingerly, watching Harry's, and two unfamiliar faces light up at the sight of his awakening.
In rough voice, though one that was much better than the other day, he looked at Ron and Hermione, and laughed, "Which one of you is Ron?"
Ron scowled and said, "Sirius, that's not funny!"
Sirius laughed again, quickly being joined by Harry and Hermione, and eventually, Ron.
"So you three were transported here too?" Sirius asked.
"Yes," said Hermione, "Four of us. We were in potions class and Malfoy added the wrong amount to the potion when I specifically told him-"
"Yes we know! Give it a rest, we know how you are always right and it was all Malfoy's fault," said Ron.
Hermione blushed. "I didn't mean-"
Suddenly, Malfoy walked in the room, and let out a short yelp. "S-Sirius B- Black!" he exclaimed in panic, "But you were killed!" Malfoy looked disbelievingly at Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
'Did you know about this? Is this where you've been for five days?!' he thought to the trio, angrily.
'Yes, DRAGON,' Harry thought back, 'this is where we've been- with my godfather who, by the way, is NOT one of your dad's friends or Voldemort's supporters.'
Black's eyes turned to Draco Malfoy. "How did you manage to find out about that?" he asked roughly, "I didn't think Voldemort would-"
"I just heard Potter thinking about it a few days ag-," interrupted Malfoy and then, quailing under Sirius' gaunt gaze, Malfoy stopped his excuse.
Turning to Hermione and Ron, Malfoy thought, 'You believe him? He killed Peter Pettigrew, after all.'
'NO HE DIDN'T! HE WAS FRAMED!' Harry snapped mentally at Malfoy.
'He is innocent, Malfoy,' thought Ron, heatedly.
'They're right, we saw Peter Pettigrew in our third year, right before Remus turned into a werewolf' chided Hermione.
"I feel a little left out here," Sirius said cocking his head in a way that reminded Harry strongly of a dog who was being denied food when everyone else was eating.
"Sorry, Sirius," mumbled Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Falling back onto the bed again, Sirius closed his eyes. His head was bothering him. He wondered vaguely if they had any potions in this land that would help with the headache.
Suddenly, Ron yelled at the top of Sandry's voice, "FOR THE LAST TIME, MALFOY, HE WAS FRAMED!"
Tumbling off the bed in shock, Sirius glared at Ron (who had gone quite pink after realizing what he'd done) and rubbed his head. "What was that for? If you want to have a shouting contest, let's move it outside."
"Malfoy keeps accusing you of being a turncoat." Said Ron.
"He does?" wondered Sirius aloud- he hadn't heard anything, "Oh, your Lucius's son. But wouldn't you be on his side? That is, Voldemort's side?" Draco flinched, "He is a Death Eater, you know."
"I'm not my father," said Draco hotly, "And, besides, he's in Azkaban."
Startled Sirius sat up on the floor. Then he smiled at the others, "Well he deserves it, the worm. I was in there for twelve years unjustly. I just hope some of Voldemort's real supporters get the same treatment I did."
'Told you,' thought Ron, smirking at Malfoy.
"Erm- am I missing something here? I feel like some of the conversation is being-" Sirius struggled for words, "unsaid."
"Well, Sirius," said Hermione, "We've kind of gotten used to- talking to each other in our heads since we got here."
"Really? How fascinating!" Sirius said with interest blazing through his eyes, "That would have been fun to have at school. Especially for James."
Harry smiled weakly. Walking to Sirius' side, Harry offered down a hand. Sirius was still sitting on the floor. Gratefully, Sirius accepted and Harry helped him back onto the bed, where he lay down and closing his eyes, instantly began to doze off again.
'We should probably leave now,' thought Harry to the others, 'He needs his sleep.'
"Yeah," said Hermione out loud.
Sirius' form jerked, and Hermione covered her mouth and began to walk slowly from the room. The others followed suite.
Opening one eye, Sirius checked that they were all gone, and sighed. He really needed rest, and now, instead of three talkative teenagers (Harry, Ron, & Hermione), he had to worry about eight talkative teenagers.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Thank you for all the reviews, and I would still like more, but I won't hold chapter 12 hostage this time, you see, I got in trouble with Dumbledore and The Ministry of Magic for doing that.
Point out any other information that we got wrong. (grins strangely)
BTW, If you give flames, the fire will be used to toast Umbridge (a LOT), Fudge (only a little), Karkaroff, Malfoy, and Malfoy. Did I mention Umbridge?
Sorry 4 the long chapter- so much to say- (10 pages!!! Even I didn't expect it to be that long!!!)
Oh, btw, there are some OotP spoilers, so if u haven't read the fifth book (why in Mithros' name are you reading FF's if you have the fifth book to read???) I would advise you not to read this chapter. (Too bad 4 u, 'cause this chappy rox- my favorite chappy so far!)
Well, Shinimegami-Rin, that is a good question. Actually my papa knows Latin and we asked him what the Hogwarts motto (Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus) means and he said "Never Tickle a Sleeping Dragon," (Or actually, Dragon Sleeping Never Tickle but that's not important) Also Malfoy or "Mal foi" means "bad faith" in French. Malfoy has "mal" in it, also meaning evil. And so we found out that Mr. Draco Malfoy actually means Mr. Dragon Evil/Bad Faith
BTW #2, I will NOT ever do a slash story! *gives involuntary shudder
AND NOW, [Drum roll] On with the story...............
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In the corner was a person. A person who was hooded and cloaked, his hands in his lap. His clothes were ragged and torn, and his thin body was slumped over in a chair. He was breathing heavily.
"You really should go to the houses of healing," said Niko softly to the man. Sitting across from him, Niko was trying to use a soothing voice to persuade him into talking. The man shook his head. Niko succeeded, but the man said very little:
"Harry," he rasped, "need to talk to Harry."
Harry stepped back- he didn't recognize the voice. Was he a death eater?
"What do you want with me?" Harry asked bravely
"Harry," the man replied simply
"I am Harry!"
Briar stepped into the room, followed by Ron, Hermione, Sandry, and Tris. "He his Harry, sir. We've gotten our bodies switched."
The strange man shook his head at Harry's body. Ron, Hermione, Sandry and Tris were watching Briar and the stranger in turns, to see what would happen. Harry and Briar were both staring at the gaunt newcomer.
Briar stood his ground, bravely.
The man looked up, his eyes haunted and deep in his head. Suddenly Briar jumped back in fear; the man looked like a corpse.
Turning his head to Briar's body- Harry- the man stood up slowly with a pained look on his face.
Harry blinked. He thought he had seen—but it couldn't have been there. Taking a step forward, Harry briskly cleaned his glasses and he took another look at the man. His jaw dropped.
"But- but you were- you fell through the veil! Dumbledore- Remus- everyone thought you..." Harry's voice died in his throat, which closed up.
It was Sirius! His godfather was alive!
"Is it really you?"
The man smiled grimly, lowering his hood with tired, chapped, and bleeding hands.
Not daring to believe it, Harry shook his head as if to clear his vision, "S-Sirius? You- you look terrible." It was true. He looked as bad, if not worse, than when he had seen him the first time when he escaped from Azkaban.
"I was taken by the Death Eaters." The man answered slowly, every word seemed to be costing him strength, "You may remember near the end of the fight, Bellatrix hit me with an extremely strong curse. I don't even know which it was, but the next thing I knew, Voldemort was standing over me with an insane grin on his face and his wand pointed at me. He said something about Dumbledore, and told me revenge was his."
Sirius' face was contorted with anger. His ghost-white skin stretched across the cheekbones of a fading man- something Harry hadn't thought possible after his twelve years in Azkaban. Harry had thought, after the wizard prison, Sirius could handle anything.
Harry's head was spinning with new information. His godfather wasn't dead! But he nearly looked the part. Again, Harry realized, Sirius' eyes held the haunted look that Azkaban had left permanently inscribed in the back of Sirius's mind. For a short time, Sirius had been recognizable as the carefree boy Harry's parents had known, but it appeared that Voldemort had tortured this look into him once again.
"What did he do to you?" asked Harry softly, barely able to force his voice to work. Voldemort was pushing the limits again. Here was another reason for hating him.
"He..." Sirius paused and took a deep breath. It was obvious to Harry that he didn't want to talk about it. "He practiced some new curses... and some old ones. At some point I couldn't stand it anymore and I guess I got transported here. I was miles away from this spot when I heard talk of strangers at a place called Winding Circle. I thought that these strangers may have been transported here like I was." Sirius' eyes moved to the floor again as he began to raise one hand as if to cushion his head. His arm shook so violently that he abandoned the idea. "I walked, asking people here and there for news, information, and the whereabouts of Winding Circle. All the while I was using this disguise, in case someone recognized me."
Harry took another step toward his godfather, still unsure whether he was real or not. Looking up at Harry again, Sirius relaxed into the chair, face settling into a peaceful expression, head falling back- and fainted.
Running over to Sirius's side, Harry touched his hand. It was as cold as ice. "Sirius," he whispered. Standing up, Niko took the other hand of the man before him.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Harry and Ron, accompanied by Briar, were sitting by Sirius' bedside. His face and hands were now hot to the touch, rather than the ice-cold it had been four days previous. Due to the lack of healers (there was another minor plague a ways to the north) they had been doing their best to heal Sirius without using any magic. Hermione had been doing a fine job instructing the others so far -although she hadn't been able to come to see Harry's godfather yet today- as she had become accustomed to the muggle healing methods used by her parents. (AN: remember, the kids are still not accustomed to each other's magic's)
As the three boys sat watching Sirius sweat, tossing and turning, in his sleep, they mind-talked to one another (Briar was standing and had his hand on Ron's shoulder so he would be included in the conversation).
'Well, we could have a game of chess right here in the room,' suggested Ron.
'No good,' replied Harry, 'You always win, and I'm really not in the mood for a miserable loss.'
'What's chess?' wondered Briar.
'It's a game,' Ron thought huffily, annoyed that anyone in this world or their own wouldn't know what chess was.
'Besides, Ron, I don't think they even have any chess boards here in Winding Circle- and certainly not any magical ones.' Replied Harry.
'Well, I suppose we could do it the muggle way-' thought Ron, disgusted.
'No. Ron, I've just thought- that's a two person game anyway, it would leave someone out each time.' Harry said pointedly.
'Fine!' Ron thought, rather snappishly, 'We'll just sit here and watch him breathe.'
Ron shook Briar off and turned to face Sirius.
Harry thought Sirius still looked rather ill. He was extremely thin and gaunt. He may not have eaten for a long time before he came here, Harry realized.
'This is depressing,' Harry thought to Ron.
'Yeah, I know. I wish he would wake up, so we would know he was still alive. He is barely breathing.' Ron thought.
Harry realized with a jolt that Ron was right. The chest of the man before him was rising so slowly and in such a small amount that Harry couldn't be sure it wasn't his imagination.
'D'ya think we should wake him?' Harry wondered
'Dunno- we could.' Ron paused, thinking, 'I think we should let him sleep. We'd know if he'd, you know-.'
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
He was in dog form, running as fast as his paws could carry him across the graveyard. Voldemort had been torturing him for the last few days with untested curses. Turning his head, Sirius saw the Death Eaters still following him- they were gaining. Sirius knew he couldn't keep up this pace forever, already he was tired and aching from- well he didn't want to think of it. Directing his gaze again in front of him, he heard two loud popping sounds on either side of him. Death Eaters, he thought desperately. Great. He was going to be caught. Again.
Racing around a section of turned-up earth, Sirius ducked behind a headstone, catching his breath.
"I know you're here, Black." A female voice teased from behind him. Bellatrix. "Why don't you come out to play." It wasn't a question.
Sirius then heard his cousin talking to herself and him at the same time, "You know, Sirius, I know all about how you are an animagus. I saw you change one time, when I was to visit. It was the summer of your fifth year at Hogwarts. So dog or not, come out, you accursed traitor! A traitor to the name of Black!"
Without looking back, Sirius began to creep along the set of headstones, carefully keeping at least three at a time between him and the one who tried to kill him.
"If you do not show yourself, Sirius Black, I will personally make sure the rest of your life, not that it will be long, is used for testing out new curses." Her cruel laughter filled the air. She muttered something under her breath, and Sirius felt a hot strand of magic encircle his body.
"Aha!" she said as Sirius, still in dog form, was pulled from behind a headstone, and into the view of at least a dozen Death Eaters.
Quickly changing into himself again, Sirius realized that he was wandless and, so, defenseless.
"Yes, my little cousin, it is nice to see you again in our clutches." Bellatrix was grinning.
"It isn't worth it, Bella" Sirius croaked, "The Dark Lord will fall despite you being on his side. Harry will make sure of that."
"HA! Do you actually believe that, Sirius? You are not so smart as I thought."
"You disgust me." Said Sirius, spitting on her feet.
"Avad-" started one Death Eater.
"No," Bellatrix interrupted, "This one will be more fun to play with alive."
Crawling backwards, Sirius hit a headstone and gasped as a wound on his side reopened.
"Crucio."
Pain. Sirius could think of nothing else. Pain. Every inch of his body was being pierced by knives. After a few minutes, his body almost numb, Sirius felt the curse lift.
When a knife goes in, it hurts. Coming out it hurts just as much, if not more. The aftereffects of this curse were like that. Sirius moaned, rolling over on the ground.
"This is boring," said a Death Eater, "He isn't even screaming! Can we kill him now?"
"No, not yet," said Bellatrix, "We will make him scream."
"I will not," Sirius rasped, his voice not quite working, "I will not scream for you."
"If you don't I will only torture you more, cousin." Said Bellatrix gleefully, raising her wand with a flourish.
Pulling himself off the ground, Sirius tried to walk away. Stumbling he began to transform. He had barely dragged himself three feet when Bellatrix began to laugh again.
'Could I be anywhere worse?' Sirius thought desperately as his knee caught on a piece of a broken tombstone, and was sliced open- blood seeping freely through his robes and leaving a sticky trail behind him. Collapsing to the ground again, the dog closed his eyes.
"No!" yelled a voice in the distance, "You cannot leave, you must stay!"
Opening his eyes slightly in spite of the pain all over his body, Sirius saw the graveyard fading away.
He passed out.
"Look, thewe's a man!" said a small voice somewhere above him.
"He fell fwom the sky!" said another.
"Mommy! Mommy!"
Sirius opened his eyes slowly and took in the scene around him. There were three small children standing above him. One was pointing at Sirius, although facing the opposite direction. Sirius noticed that he was no longer a dog.
All three looked like they were directly from an old history book. The two boys were wearing crisp breeches and starched tunics, and the small girl was wearing a neat little blouse with a pleated skirt.
"Where am I?" Sirius asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
"You is at owr howse."
"Where is that?" Sirius asked patiently.
"Mommy! The man is tawking!" said the little girl.
"Hold on, Freda, I'm coming." Said a woman's voice, loudly. Sirius flinched.
When she saw Sirius laying helplessly on the ground, she gasped. Bending down, she pushed her children out of the way telling them to wait in the house. Sirius tried to sit up, but the woman bending over him pushed him back down. "Let me help you."
Sirius stayed only long enough to have his wounds dressed. Thanking the lady for helping him, he asked if she had a cloak he could use as a disguise.
Confused, Freda's mother asked, "Why would you need a disguise?"
Sirius's face looked completely calm, but inside, he was thinking quickly and frantically. He answered cautiously, "I am hiding from someone who er- " he glanced at the little girl, "who wants to er- kill- uh- me."
"Oh, no!" said the girl's mother, "Yes, my husband had an old cloak. You can have that."
She looked sad for a few seconds, before leading Sirius to a dusty old room. Sirius guessed that this was her dead husbands room.
Sirius took the cloak, thanking the woman. "I wonder, do you know about the others that came that way?" she asked "Four children. They fell from the sky just like that."
"Where are they?" Sirius had asked wearily.
"They are at Winding Circle Temple. That way."
A few minutes later, Sirius left. He walked the way Freda's mother had pointed out, but his body was so sore and worn out that it only took him a short while of walking before he passed out.
~*~*~*
Sirius awoke and sat up. He now recalled exactly what had happened due to the rather accurate and precise dream.
"He's awake," someone said suddenly
"Sirius, you were hardly breathing, and just now, you were tossing and turning so much we almost woke you up." Said Harry in one breath.
"You should've," grunted Sirius, "I was just reliving the lovely little scene when Bellatrix-" He stopped at the look on Harry and Ron's faces (actually Briar and Sandry's faces, but Harry and Ron were making them look like that).
Sirius slumped back on his pillow.
"Sorry, didn't realize... never mind, it's over now."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
At the Houses of Healing, standing around Sirius's bed the third day of his continuous swimming in and out of consciousness barely long enough to drink a little water and fall back asleep, Harry, Hermione, and Ron anxiously waited for Sirius to wake.
Slowly, Sirius's eyes opened, and flicked shut against the light. He sat up gingerly, watching Harry's, and two unfamiliar faces light up at the sight of his awakening.
In rough voice, though one that was much better than the other day, he looked at Ron and Hermione, and laughed, "Which one of you is Ron?"
Ron scowled and said, "Sirius, that's not funny!"
Sirius laughed again, quickly being joined by Harry and Hermione, and eventually, Ron.
"So you three were transported here too?" Sirius asked.
"Yes," said Hermione, "Four of us. We were in potions class and Malfoy added the wrong amount to the potion when I specifically told him-"
"Yes we know! Give it a rest, we know how you are always right and it was all Malfoy's fault," said Ron.
Hermione blushed. "I didn't mean-"
Suddenly, Malfoy walked in the room, and let out a short yelp. "S-Sirius B- Black!" he exclaimed in panic, "But you were killed!" Malfoy looked disbelievingly at Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
'Did you know about this? Is this where you've been for five days?!' he thought to the trio, angrily.
'Yes, DRAGON,' Harry thought back, 'this is where we've been- with my godfather who, by the way, is NOT one of your dad's friends or Voldemort's supporters.'
Black's eyes turned to Draco Malfoy. "How did you manage to find out about that?" he asked roughly, "I didn't think Voldemort would-"
"I just heard Potter thinking about it a few days ag-," interrupted Malfoy and then, quailing under Sirius' gaunt gaze, Malfoy stopped his excuse.
Turning to Hermione and Ron, Malfoy thought, 'You believe him? He killed Peter Pettigrew, after all.'
'NO HE DIDN'T! HE WAS FRAMED!' Harry snapped mentally at Malfoy.
'He is innocent, Malfoy,' thought Ron, heatedly.
'They're right, we saw Peter Pettigrew in our third year, right before Remus turned into a werewolf' chided Hermione.
"I feel a little left out here," Sirius said cocking his head in a way that reminded Harry strongly of a dog who was being denied food when everyone else was eating.
"Sorry, Sirius," mumbled Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
Falling back onto the bed again, Sirius closed his eyes. His head was bothering him. He wondered vaguely if they had any potions in this land that would help with the headache.
Suddenly, Ron yelled at the top of Sandry's voice, "FOR THE LAST TIME, MALFOY, HE WAS FRAMED!"
Tumbling off the bed in shock, Sirius glared at Ron (who had gone quite pink after realizing what he'd done) and rubbed his head. "What was that for? If you want to have a shouting contest, let's move it outside."
"Malfoy keeps accusing you of being a turncoat." Said Ron.
"He does?" wondered Sirius aloud- he hadn't heard anything, "Oh, your Lucius's son. But wouldn't you be on his side? That is, Voldemort's side?" Draco flinched, "He is a Death Eater, you know."
"I'm not my father," said Draco hotly, "And, besides, he's in Azkaban."
Startled Sirius sat up on the floor. Then he smiled at the others, "Well he deserves it, the worm. I was in there for twelve years unjustly. I just hope some of Voldemort's real supporters get the same treatment I did."
'Told you,' thought Ron, smirking at Malfoy.
"Erm- am I missing something here? I feel like some of the conversation is being-" Sirius struggled for words, "unsaid."
"Well, Sirius," said Hermione, "We've kind of gotten used to- talking to each other in our heads since we got here."
"Really? How fascinating!" Sirius said with interest blazing through his eyes, "That would have been fun to have at school. Especially for James."
Harry smiled weakly. Walking to Sirius' side, Harry offered down a hand. Sirius was still sitting on the floor. Gratefully, Sirius accepted and Harry helped him back onto the bed, where he lay down and closing his eyes, instantly began to doze off again.
'We should probably leave now,' thought Harry to the others, 'He needs his sleep.'
"Yeah," said Hermione out loud.
Sirius' form jerked, and Hermione covered her mouth and began to walk slowly from the room. The others followed suite.
Opening one eye, Sirius checked that they were all gone, and sighed. He really needed rest, and now, instead of three talkative teenagers (Harry, Ron, & Hermione), he had to worry about eight talkative teenagers.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Thank you for all the reviews, and I would still like more, but I won't hold chapter 12 hostage this time, you see, I got in trouble with Dumbledore and The Ministry of Magic for doing that.
Point out any other information that we got wrong. (grins strangely)
BTW, If you give flames, the fire will be used to toast Umbridge (a LOT), Fudge (only a little), Karkaroff, Malfoy, and Malfoy. Did I mention Umbridge?
Sorry 4 the long chapter- so much to say- (10 pages!!! Even I didn't expect it to be that long!!!)