Harry Potter and the New Start

Reunited With Harry

Hey guys! Thank you all so much for the reviews you sent my way for the last chapter. I'm sure by the chapter title you can guess the premise of this chapter, so I'll just be quiet and get on with the responses at the end of the chapter.

-----------------------------------Outside the Dursley's Home

Outside it was almost pitch black, which suited Sirius's purposes perfectly. As a huge black dog, he could use all the cover the night could give him.

Especially with a witch living right next door.

It hadn't taken Sirius long to figure out which house held the member of his world. There was no way Dumbledore would just unload Harry and forget about him. Someone that Dumbledore trusted had to be there. Though, Sirius had kind of figured it would have been Remus.

But of course, it just had to be an elderly Arabella Figg. It was a good thing that Sirius couldn't laugh in dog form, because one look at Arabella's sagging wrinkly skin and he would have been done for. The only thing that gave her away was her eyes, which Sirius would know anywhere.

Though, it was just as well that it wasn't Remus next door. Arabella had no idea that three of the marauders had become animagus. Only Remus and Lily knew what they had done. Lily was gone, but Remus wasn't and Remus would have known him anywhere. Especially with that annoyingly perfect sense of smell the werewolf gave him.

Something that Remus would have noticed within seconds.

But now that he was sure that Moony was nowhere to be seen – or smelt – he could breath a sigh of relief.

Wishing for the millionth time he had his wand, Sirius went about picking the lock the muggle way. There were many wards on the house, but nothing against breaking in the muggle way.

With a barely audible click, the front door to muggle central opened and Sirius was granted access without so much as a twinge from the wards. Stealthily, with the practice that only years as a prankster could give him, Sirius slid down the hallway. He already knew which room was Harry's.

The cupboard under the stairs.

Suppressing the growl that he knew was leaking to the surface, Sirius tested the doorknob at the staircase. Unlocked. Just as he knew it would be. Yep, this was far too easy. Any deatheater could walk in and steal Harry away and nothing would have been done about it. Luckily Sirius was there to steal Harry away before any of the said deatheaters came by and tried to do the same.

But Dumbledore would hardly see it that way.

He swung open the door and quietly slipped inside. There was no real light inside the room, making it hard to see inside. But Sirius could still make out the image of a crib in front of him. Smiling softly to himself, Sirius reached inside the crib and nearly cried when he felt the soft body of his godson against his fingers.

"Harry...oh Harry." He whispered. Ever so gently, Sirius picked up the little boy and held him close. What he wouldn't give to go back in time and leave Godric's Hollow with Hagrid and Harry. He could have convinced Dumbledore of the switch. It would have been hard, but it would have worked. He should have at least tried to make Dumbledore understand.

His godson kept on sleeping peacefully. Sirius cradled him tightly and rushed out of the room. Harry was a light load, lighter than he should have been. But they'd take care of that.

Rushing out the front door, Sirius tried to apparate. "Damn it. He put up anit-apparation fields..." Sirius muttered to himself as he rushed away from the house. He ran for about ten minutes and tried again. This time he was successful. He apparated Harry and himself to the first place he could think of.

----------------------------------Godric's Hollow

Godric's Hollow looked just as Sirius remembered it. Except the house at the end of the street. The Potter's house. His eyes swept over the ripped away door, the half crumbled look of the place. The street was obviously abandoned after the attack. No one had gone back to the house after ... what happened.

"Come on, Harry. We'll stay here until I think of something better." Sirius reassured the sleeping child. It was unclear to even him if he was reassuring Harry or himself. He walked up to the front door and right inside of the house. Eerily reminiscent to how he just barged into the house a million times before.

It was just how he remembered it to be when he rushed in a month ago. Minus the body of James at the front stairs. Sirius realized he had missed their funeral and wasn't sure whether to be glad or not.

Chunks of plaster, wood splinters and various household items were strewn in the floor. Cautiously Sirius walked into the living room, he tested his weight on each step and saw that the floor seemed to be all right. He brushed aside the dust and other debris from the couch and set Harry down on it.

The little boy made a noise of contentment and lightly smacked his lips, as though he'd found something to eat in his dreams. Remembering the lack of food that Harry had been given over the last month, Sirius rushed into the kitchen. Whatever was in the refrigerator would have gone bad. But the pantry had a spell cast on it to keep all of its contents from spoiling. Which means that everything inside of it would be all right. Without much trouble, he located a jar of baby food. Most of the dishes were smashed on the floor, like they had been shaken out of their cabinets. But there was a plastic bowl that had survived. He quickly wiped it clean and located a spoon.

Armed with a bowl of baby food Sirius marched back into the living room. Harry was still fast asleep, looking so peaceful that Sirius almost didn't want to wake him up. "Harry, come on baby. Wake up, I've got some food for you! I know you're hungry."

His prodding – or his voice – quickly roused the baby into wakefulness. Brilliant green eyes snapped open and a delighted smile graced Harry's baby features. "Pa-fut!"

"Yes, Harry, Padfoot. I'm here now. Don't you worry." He grinned happily at the baby. He set the bowl of food down on the couch next to Harry and sat down with Harry sitting against him. "Here, applesauce, you love applesauce."

With the way Harry swallowed down spoonful after spoonful of applesauce, Sirius suspected he could have offered the child puréed liver and he would have accepted it. And while that thought amused him, it also angered him to no end.

While he fed Harry, he started to think of a place for them to go. Obviously, staying where they were wouldn't work. The Potter Manor was out of the question too, people would look for them there.

Grimmuald Palace was an option. But a last resort. A very – very - last resort. As in, their only other option was Snape's house. At which point, if it did come down to that, Grimmuald Palace would look like paradise. Especially since no one would look for him there, even if they did think he'd gone bad.

They needed some place that no one else knew of, but had wards already placed on it because of the fact that Sirius no longer had his wand. They also needed something where no one would know them. It was a tough bill to fill.

"Prong's Place!" Sirius exclaimed, quietly however. They were still technically in hiding. But Sirius was almost too excited. His mind was back to the castle that belonged to the young master of the Potter estate.

The castle was something that had been passed down by each generation. When the boy of the family came of age, it was given to him. Which meant that the house was Prongs'. But if the heir lost their father before he became of age, the house automatically went to him.

Prong's Place was what James' had renamed it. Sirius could still vividly remember the day that James had taken him there. They'd been in Hogwarts and had actually apparated there. When you were going from or to the castle you could apparate no matter what. Anit-apparation wards or no.

Actually, now that he thought about it, he could have very well left Azkaban.

The castle itself was huge. Not quite the size of Hogwarts, but definitely quite large. It had house elves of its own, bound to Harry, which meant their food situation would be fine. Considering he couldn't very well run to the store, it was necessary to have someone do it for them. This was one less problem they would have.

But the beauty of the castle was that no one else knew of it. And no one could find them. Unless you were an heir of the home or the heir had told you of it, then you wouldn't be able to get here. For someone who didn't know, you'd take a step at the start of the property and completely step over the rest of it until you got to the complete opposite side, without knowing you'd just stepped over acres of land. This meant that there was quite a huge chunk of land that was missing to all muggles and wizards.

And since the Potter line was Harry and Harry alone, there were no other living people who knew of the home. The only real reason Sirius himself had been told was that he'd been living with James and his family at the end of their school year.

"Harry, I've got it! Oh, you'll love it." Sirius reassured the baby. It only took him one glance at Harry to see that in his thoughts he hadn't been bringing the spoon close enough to Harry. The baby was leaning forward trying to get to his food.

"Oops, sorry."

The castle will be explained in more detail next chapter. I hope I didn't confuse you all with it!

Stinky Stan- I agree, how could Dumbledore not check up on him or try to get him out if Harry was getting so mistreated. Either he didn't care or he didn't know. Neither is really working in his favor. But at least Sirius has him now...:-) Thanks for reviewing!

Athenakitty- Harry's been kidnapped this chapter, so your question has already been answered. Part of the reason I decided to start down here instead. No lasting marks to the Dursleys though. One reason for that being that technically Sirius has no wand right now. Also, he wanted to get away without any of the wards and/or Arabella Figg finding out. Hope I didn't disappoint you with the lack of Dursley terror!

Kungzoune- You're really liking it!? YAY! I'd get up and do a happy dance, but no one needs to see that! LOL. Thanks!

Tessa- Arabella doesn't really play a huge part at all. She's really more there just to watch Harry, but now that he's gone she doesn't really pop in much again. I'm sorry about that. Thanks reviewing!!

Yana5- Sirius has kidnapped Harry, happy? Thanks for the review! :-)

Padfootluver- Thank you for reviewing, though I think half of it was in code! LOL.

Luvguurl- Good to know that I've tugged some heartstrings about Harry. Not that bad of a cliffhanger, I'm known for much worse...which I'm more than willing to display! Hehe. Again, thank you for your review!