Chapter Six

"Harry?" Remus called down into the darkness. "Harry?" He repeated himself as no one answered. Without any hesitation, he walked down the steps until his feet touched the cold, hard cement floor of the basement. He flicked on the lights, and to his surprise found the basement empty. Harry was gone, along with Sirius.

-

Harry awoke, his head pounding. His vision, which was unfocused and blurry, quickly went back to normal as he blinked several times.

"Ugh," he let out a groan, his body aching. He tried to haul himself up so he could stand on his feet, but failed. His eyes wandered the cell he was being kept in. It was dark, grey and dull. It looked unfamiliar to him, and he suddenly started to wonder where he was or where Lucius Malfoy was.

A low whimper from the darkness from the other side of the cell startled Harry. He didn't know there was another prisoner in the cell with him.

"Hello?" He called out softly, unsure of what to say. The whimpering soon stopped, and he was left with the eerie silence once again.

"Harry?" A male's voice questioned. The voice carried hope along with uncertainness.

Harry found to his surprise that his voice shook. "Who are you?"

"Harry?" The voice repeated, this time excitedly and relieved sounding. Harry held his breath as the figure came closer to him. He wished at that second when the mans face came out of the shadows that he had something sturdy to grasp onto, even though he wasn't standing.

"Get away from me," he said through clenched teeth. He wouldn't fall for that again.

"It's me," the man said desperately. "It's really me, Harry."

"Get away from me," Harry said, sounding more sure of himself. His anger never ceased as the man looked hurt. This isn't Sirius, Harry thought to himself. It's not Sirius, it's not Sirius...

"It's really me," he tried again. "Why won't you believe me, Harry?"

"I said get away," Harry said dismissively. Using all the strength he could muster, he got up on his feet and tried to limp away, but fell in the process. He cursed under his breath.

"You shouldn't try to stand," the man spoke up. "You'll hurt yourself again."

"I don't need advice from you," Harry snapped. "Just leave me alone."

"Harry—"

"Don't talk to me," Harry said through clenched teeth. "I don't know who you are, or why you're impersonating Sirius—"

"Impersonating?" The man echoed, looking perplexed. "I'm not impersonating anyone, Harry." Harry opened his mouth, but was cut off by Lucius Malfoy, who appeared in front of him. Though, he was on the other side of the bars.

"I hope I'm not interrupting a reunion of any sort."

"There's no 'reunion'," Harry said coldly. "I'm not falling for that again."

"Too bad," Malfoy drawled. "I did have you fooled, though, did I not?" Harry clenched his teeth together until they hurt. He balled his hands into a fist, leaving deep fingernail cuts in his palm. He said nothing until Lucius Malfoy left.

"You're bleeding," the man observed, noting drops of blood on Harry's hand.

"I'm fine," Harry said dismissively, wiping his palm over his jeans. He did everything he could not to look into the man's face, since he was just a replica of Sirius. Just like Lucius had looked…

"Are you sure?" The man questioned.

"I'm positive," Harry replied angrily.

"You have to believe me," the man said suddenly. He crawled up closer to Harry. "It's really, really me."

"I'm not making that mistake again," Harry said coldly. Though, when Lucius had taken form of Sirius it was really Harry himself who kept insisting that this was Sirius. He wanted to believe it so bad…

"Ask me anything," the man continued. "Anything at all. I'll answer any question you give me." Harry eyed the desperate man warily. He bit his lip in thought, trying to come up with a question that only Sirius would know, and nobody else.

"All right," Harry said slowly. Only one question came to him, and he was surprised that he was able to get it out through the lump that had formed in his throat. "When did I first meet Matt O'Brien and how old was I?"

Without any hesitation or thought, Sirius replied, "On your birthday. July 31st, you were turning eight years old. I took you out to the park and you met Matt and his mum, Isabella, there." Harry could do nothing but stare at the man. "Do you believe me now?"

"Anyone could have known that," Harry lied. He knew that only Sirius could have known and been that precise, but he didn't want to fall for that again. He should have listened to Remus.

"What am I going to have to do to prove that it really is me?" Harry didn't bother to answer the man at all. And to his surprise, he landed himself into an uncomfortable sleep.

-

"—They're gone," Remus finished.

"Are you sure that that was Sirius?" Dumbledore questioned.

"I'm not," Remus admitted. "I've had doubts." He paused before continuing. "I remember hearing Harry call out something."

"Do you remember what?"

"It sounded like he was yelling out, 'It's not Sirius.' But his voice was cut off a couple times."

"And when you went down they were gone," Dumbledore said, sighing. Remus nodded.

"I should have went down. I shouldn't of let Harry go down there, at least not by himself."

"Don't worry," Dumbledore said. "We'll find him."

-

Harry's eyes fluttered open. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he found the man sitting on the cold ground not far from him, his back leaning against the greybrick wall. His head was bowed, and he had his knees pulled up against his chest. Harry didn't know any way to start up a conversation with the man, so he kept quiet.

"You're awake," the man said numbly as he looked up. Harry nodded, rubbing his temples as he felt another headache coming on.

"Who are you? Really?" Harry finally asked, looking up from the ground and into the mans eyes.

"I already told you who I was," the man replied. "You just don't believe me." He sounded so sincere, it was hard for Harry not to believe everything he said.

"One more question," Harry said quietly. "When I was eight what disease did I get?" Harry looked at the man patiently, waiting for him to answer. If this really and truly was Sirius, he'd know.

The man looked thoughtful before answering Harry's question. "The common cold."

-

A/N: All right, anyway…here's the chapter! I was waiting until I had twenty reviews (which I have now) to post this chapter. So, hope you enjoy, and thank you for the reviews!