::Chapter Three::

Some were away from London, in a quiet, nice looking village, a teenage boy with untidy, black hair, sat in his room. He was reading a book, every now and then turning the page and taking a bite of a piece of carrot cake.

He was suddenly disturbed by a ticking noise, coming from the window. He looked up and saw a dark owl on the other side of the glass. He recognised it immediately, jumped up, opened the window and let the owl in.

"Colonel!"

The owl landed on James' shoulder and held out his leg, a letter attached to it.

"Is our Padfoot in trouble again, huh?" James said to the owl, taking the piece of parchment off and unrolled it. He sat down, his eyes fixed on the piece of parchment, reading his best friend's letter.

Prongs,

How's your holiday? Mine's the same as always.

That horrible, shrewish bitch, that happened to be my mother, keeps shrieking and screaming at me! Not that I bloody care.

"I told you he was in trouble." James said, passing a piece of carrot cake to the owl, which plugged it apart and ate it. James read on.

Apart from that, I'm as bored as the shampoo in Snivellus cupboard. When did you say I could come over? Let it be quick, will you? I can't stand another day in this hovel!

Answer me as quick as possible, Colonel Snobby could do with some exercise.

As you can see, he's getting fat. Fed him too many chocolate frogs, I guess…

WRITE ME, OK?!

Your most noble and loyal and handsome and blahdyblah friend,

Padfoot

P.S. I bought a new pet.

When James had finished reading, he strode across the room towards the door. He entered the first landing, hurried down the stairs and opened the living room door.

"Mum?"

Mrs Potter, James' mother, looked up from her book. "Hm?"

James remained in the doorway, leaning on the handle. "Can Sirius come over?"

"When, dear?"

"Er- tomorrow?" James said.

"Yeah sure. But not too early, please. I've got a day off tomorrow and-"

"No, mum. Okay, mum. Thanks, mum." he hastily flashed a grateful smile while closing the door again. He hurried upstairs and bumped into his father.

"Oopsy. Sorry, I'm in a hurry!" And he disappeared into his room.

Mr Potter calmly walked down the stairs and entered the living room. He sat down.

"Why's James suddenly in such a hurry?" he asked his wife.

"Oh, he just asked if Sirius could come over." She answered.

"Oh, that explains." Mr Potter said.

The both laughed.

James, now in his room, had grabbed his ink, an blank piece of parchment and a quill and had already started writing a letter back.

When he had finished it, he rolled the letter up.

"I'm sorry. Seems you can't rest here for the night, Colonel." he said, attaching the roll to Colonel Snobby's leg.

"It sounds like he really wants to get out of there as soon as possible."

James let the owl to the window where it took flight. He closed the window and went downstairs again to get something to drink.

Sirius was combing his hair, standing in front of the mirror. He swayed it backwards and into model again. Laying his comb down, he looked at his clock. 11 PM.

He walked over to the window to look outside to see if he could catch a glimpse of Colonel Snobby yet, but there was nothing to be seen. It was getting dark and it was still raining.

'He'll make it.' Sirius thought. 'Maybe it's best if I start packing.'

He got a big bag from under his bed and started to pack some clothes and other stuff he found necessary to take with him.

11:30 PM. Sirius looked out of the window again. Still no sign of an owl.

He walked over to a plant which stood next to his closet and moved it aside.

"Hi."

Behind the plant stood an old aquarium. Its contents were a bit of sand, a large brick and a green iguana.

Sirius liked animals. He always felt he could get along better with animals than with humans.

Though he wasn't allowed to have another pet next to his owl, he had bought the iguana in a Muggle pet shop, when he had been wandering in London which he did a lot these days.

He had called the reptile Major Muggle. It was quite young, so it was still easy to hide him. Sirius took him out of his basin and sat down in a chair, stroking its leather-like.

"I will have to put you in my bag, if you want to come with me. But don't worry. It won't be for long."

Then, finally, he heard a ticking noise out of the direction of the window. Sirius hastily placed Major Muggle in his neck, walked over to the window and opened it.

Colonel Snobby landed on the desk and shook heavily which made water fly all around the room. Naturally, Sirius was splattered all over.

"Thanks a bunch, Colonel! I've just taken a bath, you moron!"

But the letter attached to Colonel's leg, made it all up.

"Good boy." He stroked him over his wet feathers and took the letter off. Then he opened the drawer filled with candy, saying: "Go ahead, laddy. You deserved it."

At those words, Colonel duck into the drawer and happily nibbled on the candies.

Sirius sat down at his desk, his attention on the letter.

My best and most patient –ahum- and sweetest –ahum- and most lucky –AHUM- Petfood,

Holiday's fine, thanks.

She keeps screaming, doesn't she?! Your mummy. Must be a world record… screaming all summer and not losing her voice.

"Yeah, it sure is." Sirius muttered darkly.

HAHA! Ah, that gives you a bit of practise if you scream back. Now, I do expect you to be the one that cheers the loudest next Quidditch match, got that?

Nah, I'll get you out of there. Use floopowder. Tomorrow afternoon the first thing you'll do, is pack your stuff and come over here.

Colonel Snobby is indeed getting fat! You spoil him too much. But I don't blame you. When you're bored, what else should you do but wanking and feeding chocolate to your owl, right? Tehe.

Well, see you tomorrow.

Ciao,

Prongs

After finishing reading the letter, Sirius thought for a moment.

He looked at his clock once again. It was a quarter to twelve. James' parents would still be up, no doubt James too. SO he decided to go there straight away. He would take the risk.

He pulled Major Muggle of his shoulder and carefully lay him in his bag.

"There you go." He quickly looked around, opening another drawer and took out a plastic, transparent box, containing crickets. He put that also into the bag, next to Major.

"Almost forgot your food there, lad." He said, stroking Major once more, before closing the bag. He carefully pulled the bag over his shoulder and looked at Colonel Snobby.

"Hey. Just rest here, okay? I'll leave the window open, so you can come whenever you want to."

Colonel just hooted softly.

"Alright, then. I'm off. We'll see you there."

He left his room and went down into the kitchen, which was, to Sirius' great relive, totally deserted. He strode over to the fire place. Then he grabbed a hand full of floopowder, stepped into fire place and said: "The Potters!"

And with a loud crack, he disappeared, leaving the kitchen deserted once again.