Harry Potter and the New Start: Unconscious Nightmares
Hello everyone! Thanks so much for the reviews for the last chapter, I'm glad you all enjoyed it. Er, well, perhaps "enjoyed" is too strong a word. Considering I practically – did I say practically? I meant actually – got death threats.
As for that ever-present question of "Did you kill Sirius, you evil author?" well, read on.
-------------------------------Emerald's Palace -- Dream
"Sirius!" Screamed the little boy in front of him. There was nothing blocking him from Sirius, but the child just stood there, holding his arms out and screaming for the man.
He didn't know this little boy, did he? But the child seemed to know him. The boy seemed desperate for him. "I…I don't know you." Sirius whispered to the child. The boy's face crumbled, and Sirius had to fight the unexplainable urge to take back his words just to take that expression from his face.
"Padfoot, please." The child tried again. "You do know me!" He insisted, looking scared and confused even more.
That didn't make sense, his mind yelled. He did not know who this boy was. He didn't have children, he would know if he did. This boy must be mistaken, his own father must have just looked like Sirius did. That was it. The boy was lost and he was looking for his father who looked like Sirius.
But why would he know Sirius's name. The name was not common, and even if it was the nickname of Padfoot definitely was not.
"Help me!" The boy cried again.
Sirius looked at him with pleading eyes of his own. "I don't know you, I can't help you." The boy started crying again. "I'm so sorry."
------------------------------- Real Life
Sirius lay still in bed, the house elves looking on fearfully. It had been a full day since their little master had been taken and Master Black had been found unconscious with a nasty gash and bump to match on his head.
They had cleaned up the area and taken Sirius to his own bedroom. From there one of the elves, who knew a bit more about medicine, had cleaned Sirius up a bit. But he'd been hit so hard that he did not regain consciousness. He almost appeared to be stuck in his own dreams and nightmares.
They could do nothing more than keep things up and wait for their master to wake up and find his godson.
------------------------------- Dream
"I can't say I ever thought this would happen, eh, Sirius?" A teasing voice asked, sounding happy. At least someone could be feeling happy, because all Sirius felt was confusion. Hadn't he been talking to a little boy only moments ago?
Sirius turned to the voice, his mind only half aware of his surroundings. But the mental shock that came took care of what was left of his awareness. "James…"
"Yeah, who'd you think it was, Padfoot? Snape?" James asked, grinning. James turned away from him, walking back away from Sirius. They were outdoors, with leaves fall from trees all around them.
Sirius followed him, thinking just how happy he was to see his friend. But he always saw James, so why was then so special? "Where are we, James?" he asked, shaking himself from his own thoughts. He fell from his motorbike - that had to be why he was so confused. Maybe a prank had knocked him out for a bit.
"Don't you know, Padfoot?" James called, and then fell silent. After a second, he added more quietly. "No, you wouldn't, would you? You weren't there."
"I wasn't where?" Sirius asked, losing sight of James, as his friend had traveled faster than him.
James waited a while before answering. His voice came in a completely different place than where Sirius would have thought it would be. Where was James going? "You weren't there. Lily and I were so disappointed in you, Sirius. We trusted you, but you didn't come. You're still messing it all up, even now."
What his friend had to say threw Sirius off completely. What had he done to make James so angry? And Lily, why did that name sound so familiar? "James, where are you?" Sirius settled for asking when it became apparent that he was lost. James had gone to far ahead.
"You promised, Sirius!" James yelled, coming from the left of Sirius. He had been in front of him before. Sirius headed that way, before James's voice came again. "Why can't you just fix this?" he yelled, coming from behind him.
"James!" Sirius screamed, panic overcoming him. He had to find James. He just had to. If Sirius lost him now that would be it, he would never find James again. "James, where are you?" he called again.
A rat scampered past him, but Sirius didn't pay attention. All that was on his mind was helping James. He didn't have time to pay attention to what else was going on around him. "Come on, Prongs! I can't see you!"
"We trusted you with him, Sirius. I trusted you. You're messing up, Sirius. You have to work faster." James said, sounding to be right next to Sirius. But he wasn't, Sirius realized as he whirled around in a full circle. "You aren't doing good enough, but you can. He needs you Sirius." James continued, sounding far away.
"Who?" Sirius yelled, falling to his knees. All of the confusion was making his head hurt. His ears were ringing, but he still strained to hear James. "I'm sorry, James, I'll do what you want. I help whoever you're talking about, I will." He yelled into nothing.
There was no response to his pleas. The fearful panic clawed at him even more. "James, please, don't go where I can't follow!"
-----------------------------------Real Life
Boo sat in the chair next to her Master's bed. Huge tears fell from her even larger eyes as she watched him thrash in the bed. They'd long since stopped trying to calm him, as they found that nothing could.
He yelled out for her other Master, Mr. Potter. But he was long dead, and now the only Potter they served was the little Master, but he was gone too.
Something horrible was happening in Master Black's nightmares, and Boo wished she could end it. He sounded so heartbroken as he begged Master James to stay with him. But it wasn't to be. This time, even in his dream, Master James had gone to the one place Master Black couldn't follow.
But he could follow the little Master, if he woke up. She frantically hoped that it would be soon, that Master Black would awake well enough to search for the little boy that they all loved so very much.
-----------------------------------Dream
Sirius sat on the cold ground of the strange forest they were in. He had no way of knowing where he was. And he had no way of finding his own way out. He whished he'd paid attention to where he was going when James had led him in. His mind's lack of cooperation wasn't helping either.
"Padfoot."
At the sound of his nickname, Sirius spun around. Remus stood in front of him, smiling gently. He hardly looked to be a day over sixteen. Why was it that he and James had looked their ages, but Remus was younger? Sirius didn't want to make his head hurt more by contemplating it. "Remy, I didn't even hear you." Sirius told him, as if that really mattered.
"Well, marauders can be sneaky, you know that, Sirius." Remus returned with an easy smile. He held a hand out for Sirius to take, and he did just that. Once on his feet, he shut his eyes when the forest around him lurched and spun. "Okay there, Sirius?" Remus asked, sounding concerned.
Sirius opened his eyes and nodded. Had he really been dizzy a moment before? "I'm fine, got up to quick." He dismissed.
"No, that's not it. You're hurt." Remus stated firmly, and grabbed Sirius's shoulder, pulling him in a different direction. "You should really get your head looked at, but for now you'll have to deal with it." He said as he led Sirius somewhere.
"Is that your way of saying I'm crazy, Moony?" Sirius teased, overwhelmed with happiness at being able to talk to Remus again, really talk to him. He laughed, all at once very happy. "I missed you Remus."
"I missed you too, Siri. But you've got to go." Remus said sadly. If Remus was as happy as Sirius was to talk again, then why did he have to go? He didn't have anything to do.
But that wasn't true, he had to find James again. His original purpose came screaming back to him, and he stopped, turning to Remus frantically. "Remus! James, I forgot all about James. He was here, but he left. We have to find him."
"There's nothing we can do for James now, Sirius." Remus shook his head. He grabbed Sirius again and started pulling him.
But Sirius would not be pulled. If James was in the forest, then that was where Sirius would stay. "No, Remus. You don't understand, if we don't find him now we'll never find him again." He tried to explain. It almost made him scream when Remus appeared sad and resigned, not concerned.
"Like I said, Sirius, there's nothing we can do. There are more important things going on right now." Remus said, grabbing Sirius by the shoulders to get him to listen. "You need to get out of here, you need to get yourself going."
"Get out of where!?" Sirius yelled.
Remus shook his head. "Think Sirius. You're messing yourself up, because we all know that you're right for the job. James and Lily trusted you with this, and they did for a reason. Let it all go."
"Trust yourself, Sirius, and you'll be okay." Remus said finally. Sirius started to feel himself fade, but he didn't do anything to stop it.
-------------------------------Real Life
Sirius woke with a start, throwing himself forward in bed. He was completely sitting up, breathing harshly. His entire head ached, something he became aware of all too quickly.
"Master Black, Master Black, you's is being awake!" Boo cried to his left. Sirius turned, squinting at the house elf as she peered as intensely at him as he was at her.
After a minute, the world stopped turning and Sirius fell back against the pillows. "Yeah, Boo, I is being awake." He informed the house elf. "What happened?" He asked, rubbing his head where it had been hit.
"Master Black has to go find the little Master!" Boo cried upon the confirmation that Sirius was okay. She looked fearful, as though something horrible had happened.
But as the memories rushed back to him, Sirius realized something had. Harry. His little godson had been kidnapped, taken away from him by the man that started all their troubles. Peter had returned.
And, all at once, that murderous rage that had taken him over on Halloween night returned tenfold. He could not let his godson be hurt.
Sirius jumped out of bed and ignored the dizziness that nearly overcame him. He would take care of that when Harry was safe back with him in their home. He would figure out what to do with Wormtail's knowledge of Emerald's Palace also. This was their home, and he wasn't going to give it up to the likes of Peter Pettigrew.
He dressed quickly, ignoring Boo's pop out of the room. He had plans to make. Remus had been right in his dream. He could save Harry.
He would save Harry.
I'll let everyone do up their own dream interpretations on that, instead of telling you what I had in mind. It's fairly obvious, so you're probably not confused or anything.
I'm very sorry for the delay. Last week was dedicated to midterm study, and this week is the actual midterms. But, today is a snow day.
::Gets down on her knees to thank every deity she's ever heard of::
So, thank Mother Nature, because she's given me the opportunity to get this up for you guys. Please, forgive the wait, and review. I really love hearing from you all…give me something to get me through my remaining three midterms!
Stars Enchantress