Padfoot?
by
Padfootz-luvr
A/N: To those who have beared with me throughout the years, I thank you, and I apologize profusely. To those just joining us: Welcome! This story has been a big, fat, work-in-progress for almost three years now, and I almost abandoned it. ALMOST. Then I sat down, re-read what I had written, and, before I knew it, I made the conscious decision to correct all grammatical and punctuation errors, and to add to it a bit, give it more dimension and depth. So now here we are, reader and author, ready to embark on a new, perilous journey. This time, I primise to not abandon the wheel of the ship.
Disclaimer: :le sigh: I don't own Harry Potter or anythign else you recognize, blah, blah, blah, etc.
Chapter Six:
Memories
"Memory
All alone in the moonlight..."-Cats , the musical
The next day, Harry woke up slightly confused: where was the warmth that his huge black dog usually provided? Then he remembered all the events of the day before and sighed unhappily, hoping that Padfoot would be allowed out of the cupboard tonight.
He went downstairs to let Padfoot out of the cupboard, but Unvle Vernon came trundling over, ushering the boy into the kitchen to make breakfast againt Harry's protests.
That day, more letters came (Why so many, Harry wondered) addressed to Harry as before, but this time the addresses were changed to include his new room. Once again, Harry's Uncle took the letters and destroyed them. Harry heard Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia conversing about the situation in the kitchen.
For the next few days, Harry tried repeatedly to get ahold of one of the letters, as they kept coming in increasing quantities day by day. He also repeatedly kept trying to get into the cupboard under the stairs, where Padfoot was still being kept. He knew that Aunt Petunia had put water in there, but didn't think she put any kind of food.
Eventually Harry tried creeping out of his bedroom during the middle of the night, only to find that the cupboard was locked tight. He rattled the doorknob, trying to get inside, but to no avail. The door was locked tight and wouldn't open, and to top it off Harry didn't even hear Padfoot moving inside.
"No," he muttered, frustrated. He eventually gave up, and leaned, defeated, against the door, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. He angrily hit his elbow against the door, at a loss of what to do. He closed his bespectacled eyes tightly against the throbbing in his hand and wished that the door wasn't locked.
Suddenly, there was a click.
Stepping away from the door, Harry stared at it suspiciously before, on instinct, trying the handle again. To his immense surprise, it turned easily and the door opened outward, allowing Harry access to the cupboard where his dog was.
"Padfoot!" he cried worriedly, looking with horrified eyes at the motionless body of the huge animal.
At the sound of his name, Padfoot raised his head and tiredly looked at Harry with exhausted grey eyes.
Harry bounded into the cupboard beside his pet, enveloping the animal in a tight hug, ignoring the protesting yelp he received in response.
After what was a one-sided hug of relief, Harry hurried to the kitchen to fetch as much food as he could without it being noticeable, then returned to give Padfoot the food. The ebony-furred canine ate the food quickly, whining slightly for more.
"I'm sorry, boy," Harry apologized. "I can't let Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia know that I opened the cupboard. They'd be furious, they'd lock me in here with you and they'd leave us here for ever! You know they would..."
With what appeared to be an accepting nod, Padfoot let his heavy head fall onto Harry's knee, eyes closing exhaustedly. Harry absentmindedly stroked the soft fur on his companion's head for a while before closing the door, hoping his aunt and uncle didn't notice that it wasn't locked anymore.
Thankfully the Dursleys were too distracted by the increasing letters arriving each day to notice the missing food or the unlocked door, so Harry was able to deliver food to poor Padfoot every night after the rest were all asleep.
Finally, one day, when about a thousand letters came shooting out of the fireplace, Uncle Vernon began to drag them all into the car.
Harry, at the last minute, remembered Padfoot and leapt back out of the car to save his dog. Uncle Vernon followed at a rumbling pace.
Harry got to the cupboard and was about to turn the knob to release his dog but Vernon came around the corner and began pulling the small boy from the door.
Somehow, Padfoot must have known what was happening because he threw his massive body against the door and it fell open. He ran to Harry and then into the car, wagging his tail, very thin despite Harry's attempts at feeding him.
Harry soon followed and got into the car, with only Padfoot to separate him from his cousin.
Vernon had no choice but to bring the dog along, and he drove for a long time before finding a hotel.
Unfortunately, they wouldn't allow pets in the rooms. Padfoot would have to spend the night outside. Harry tried to suggest that he stay there with his dog, but Uncle Vernon wouldn't hear it; the boy would stay in room 17 with them.
"Don't want him to try and steal the car," Uncle Vernon mumbled inanely.
That night, Harry waited until the Dursleys were asleep and then took the room key and the car keys off of Uncle Vernon, who was snoring loudly enough to wake the dead.
Harry crept down the hall, though the creeping was unnecessary as all the people that were awake were all down at the bar and restaurant. Finally Harry made his way to the Dursleys' car, where he was about to unlock the door to see Padfoot but noticed the door was already slightly open-and Padfoot was nowhere to be seen.
Bewildered, Harry looked around frantically, pondering as to where his dog could possibly be, and finally went back inside, hoping that Padfoot would have returned on his own by the morning.
While passing the restaurant/bar, Harry saw something that made him pause: a giant!
He was huge! At least twice the height of a normal person, he sat at the bar next to another man, much thinner and smaller in comparison.
They both had black hair, but the smaller man's was much neater and shorter, to the nape of his neck. The giant's hair was wild and unmanageable-looking, and, though their backs were to him, Harry suspected he had a beard to match.
They were talking in low voices, though the giant's voice would rumble slightly louder again. Harry's turned his head to the side, trying to see their faces...they seemed very familiar...
The giant unexpectedly turned as though feeling the young boy's stare, and saw Harry. At first, a spasm of shock crossed his face, but then...He grinned, almost laughing. What he found so amusing, Harry had no idea. Harry had been right, though:the giant did have a beard, and his eyes were very familiar-looking, crinkling at the corners when he smiled...
The giant leaned to the other man, whose back was still to Harry, and said something.
The other man immediately sat up straight and turned, snapping his head around to look at Harry. He was very handsome, defined features with longish black hair that flopped into his slate grey eyes; however, he was a bit thin, as though he hadn't eaten for several days.
His eyebrows shot up at the sight of Harry, and he got down from his stool to walk over.
Harry panicked, thinking that the man was going to tell Uncle Vernon that he'd left the room.
Harry ran around the side of the restaurant, still inside, and down a hall. He found a small inlet in the hall where the fire extinguisher was kept in a glass case and stood in it, back to the wall, hiding. He closed his eyes and hoped that the men wouldn't find him.
Suddenly, however, he felt a hand on his shoulder. A kind, very familiar-sounding voice said:
"Are you alright?"
Harry opened his eyes and was looking into a pair of dark, concerned- looking ones. The man from the bar was there, with the giant behind him. Harry realized that the man was actually quite tall, nearly six-and-a-half feet, though he had looked much shorter when standing next to the giant, who was about ten to eleven feet tall.
"I-I...um..er..." Harry stammered, looking around. "N-No...I mean, yes, I mean...er..."
"D'yeh need help ter try an' find yer way back t'yer room?" asked the giant, who was peering over the first man's shoulder anxiously.
"I-I...oh, I don't...no...I..." Harry continued to struggle for words, and looked around for help. "Please, please don't tell my uncle that I left! He'll be so angry, and he's already mad at me! I just wanted to see if my dog was okay, but he's not there, and...and...please don't tell my uncle!"
The younger man looked at his companion with a guilty look on his face, though Harry had no idea why. The giant slapped the other man upside the head lightly (though lightly appeared not to be too 'lightly' at all, as the man almost fell over), as though he'd done something.
"What? I didn't know!" the man said to the giant. The giant simply rolled his black eyes in response. The first man sighed. "Oh, c'mon, I...oh well..." He turned back to Harry. "We'll um...um...help you find your dog then...c'mon. My name is Sirius." What an off name...Why did it sound so familiar? The man held out his hand to shake, but Harry hesitated.
"Don't worry, he don't bite," the giant chuckled. "'Least, not most of the time..."
"Hagrid!" the man, Sirius said sharply. "Shutup!" The giant called Hagrid gave him a grin from behind his wild beard. Harry gave them a tentative smile and timidly took Sirius' hand.
Suddenly, at the moment their skin touched, Harry felt a shockwave of what could only be memories go through him
A man with black hair and glasses, he looked just like Harry, helping Harry walk...
A woman with thick crimson locks scolding the bespectacled man about something, but she was trying not to laugh...
The man in front of Harry...Sirius...changing into a dog that looked exactly like Padfoot...then tugging on the pants leg of another man with dark circles under his eyes...
A flash of green light, a woman screaming, and then the most intense pain Harry had ever felt searing through his forehead...
The visions all shot at Harry so fast he felt his head spinning...Hagrid and the Sirius' faces came back into view just before he felt himself fall onto the carpeted hallway and then there was just black...
A/N: Ta-daaa! Our first appearance of a certain Sirius Black, human form...I'd say he'd be anywhere from 29-32 here, depending on whatever. So, let me know what you think, because reviews feed my writing skills! Well...reviews and pixie sticks, that is.