Chapter
4
Vicis juvenis
The cat walks
The cat talks
But what does the cat say?
-Windwalker
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The familiar sounds of the Klaxons rose up from the blackness. Sirius barely paused. The constant structural changes of Silent Hill were no longer a bother to him especially after the library incident. Sirius did note however that the only apparent alteration this time was simply the lack of light. Concern momentarily flared as he thought about the fact that the alterations before had been for his benefit but his inner self the only truly reliable part of him, he thought, did not react to any possible threat, it was as devoid of warning as a lighthouse during the daytime. It was worth however to keep an open mind, Sirius did not want to be caught trapped again, the ghost of acrid smoke still tantalizing his sense of smell .
The sound of rustling in the darker areas kept him alert as he neared the school. Something scuttled momentarily into the light, Sirius caught the brief hint of leathery, bloodied skin and a proboscis muzzle before it darted back into a side alley, distinctly canine in appearance. An image of the earlier hunched figures sprung to mind and Sirius categorised the just seen zombie-like dog to the same list of avoidable monsters. A large similarly gruesome bird rose up from nowhere and followed after the dog the sight striking a sense of deja-vu, Sirius made that three.
#Harry#
The voice spoke with such subtly, a feathery caress, he barely caught the word, yet it contained such power he could not but hear it. Another mystery to add to his growing list. Sirius wondered of its significance and its arise now of all times. Time to contemplate it however came to a stop as the school's imposing self came into view and Sirius chose to tuck the extra information away for later perusal.
A howl rose up and Sirius jolted slightly from his path. One became two then a whole plethora of howls convoluted into a mass sermon. The leathered wing birds who he had only just espied from their vantage points, flew from their perches at the calling and into the night, adding to the howling with their own vociferous music. The silence that had so haunted the town was no longer in evident, simply shocked away. Gradually its initial surprise wasted away as it slowly grew to its former edge. The howls fading and the birds chattering ceasing just as quickly as they had come. The finale of this inopportune cacophony was brought about by the scream and slam of a door, from the direction of the school no less. Sirius cringed at the possibilities. It was a bloody unpleasant coincidence, he thought, with the sound coming from his intended destination.
Sirius landed on a conveniently placed bus by the school. Glass from its shattered windows strewn haphazardly about it while the majority lay within the bus's interior. Evidence that something imploded into it rather then exploding out. Sirius using his sensitive hearing, listening for movement, a sneaky creak or a suspicious noise but nothing stirred within the compounds of the vehicle.
The school stood prominently despite the darkness that sweltered around and Sirius swallowed in nervousness at it's very presence. He had to, just had to enter the building. Snow fell in a constant stream as Sirius flew to the school entrance, white streaks contrasting with the nightly sable. An open window gave Sirius the break from the heavy fall and he then found himself in an empty classroom. The teacher's desk stood to one side of the room, set with a blackboard behind it, while the rest of the room was dotted with smaller desks for the students to sit at. A bookshelf or two and a smaller sideboard set across the walls below the window side finished off the setting, and it was dark of course, to be otherwise would have surprised him.
A strange smell pervaded the air like a lingering death, it's very presence giving Sirius a rather unpleasant premonition of something bad to come, and like as so often his senses proved, it did. Stumbling from around a child's desk was one of the heinous creatures that were Sirius's first proper encounter since his arrival in the town, the very creatures that had slaughtered the only human Sirius had seen since the strangeness took hold of the town. Still looking as it did from before, skin taut with dried blood and clawed appendages that scrunching in anticipation for spilling blood. Sirius could not tell if it was one of the same ones he saw but he had no vested interest to take a closer look. However the creature seemed to have other ideas as it's eyes locked on to him and stumbled his way.
Sirius in immobile flight looked around in alarm for some high safety spot away from its eager claws and was disturbed to find none. The open window behind him was tempting but Sirius determined to stay and find the reason for his visitation. The only point above the creatures reach was upon the bookcases but the easily accessible shelves did not insure Sirius's complete safety. This creature looked absolutely famished for a victim and Sirius felt in its state it could probably even tip the case over, leaving Sirius squashed as well as eaten. He knew though that he could not stay suspended forever, his wings though sturdier then his crow cousins were unable to sustain constant flight no matter how unnatural Sirius was. His options down to leaving the school or considering an alternative before his wings gave way.
The beast stood directly below him now waving its weapons as high as it could, reaching for all it was worth. Sirius looked disdainfully at it, but with enough sense to be a little nervous. Moans past it's shrunken wrinkled lips, mewling and begging for its prize. Sirius flashed his eyes in their glorious yellow in an attempt to put it off but it only appeared to make the creature more eager for his flesh, stretching now to its fullest. With a shock another one of the little monsters made it's appearance from the farthest corner of the room and like its brethren made its way towards Sirius's location too.
A sudden bright light and the creak of an opening door and Sirius took his chance, diving towards the exit. He did not worry about the thing that was entering as he was sure he could easily fly above it. At speed he went at the door, wings tucked in close only to turn with a sudden chilled caw as he saw what had made it's entrance. A bullet skimmed past him, barely escaping it as he dived at the bookshelf the only spot he really had any protection in while behind him the quick succession of a gun being fired ricocheted off the walls. The most unpleasant mixture of gurgling and growling proceeded the gunfire followed by a bang as a heavy weight hit the floor at force. Sirius too dropped like a stone on the topmost of the bookcase, heartbeat rattling at an incredible exponential rate. An indignant pain-filled cry soon followed, this time proceeded by more gunfire. Soon the only sound was Sirius's heartbeat in his ears and the heavy breathing of the thing that had entered the room.
It couldn't be! It just couldn't. Sirius though capable of many magnificent feats had never before committed one as he had just witnessed, he did not even believe it was possible. Animating a corpse into some semblance of a moving human, like a puppet to a puppeteer was one thing but to fully bring back to life a human being to the level of sentiency of before, full reincarnation, was another. It had never been done, at least not to his knowledge, until now of course. Sirius dared to look back to the door. Standing before the open door was the man, the one not long before that Sirius had witness being slaughtered by the very creatures the man himself had only just obliterated, the man who had died in search of his daughter in this horror tale town. Now among the living once more. After a few moments Sirius sighed deeply, he was going to ignore this 'little' discrepancy, the fact the man had once been dead seemed immaterial now in light of recent events or rather he could not be bothered to be bothered by it. Strangeness was as consistent in this town as light to the day just one of those things you just accept.
The man was keeled over slightly from exertion but kept a firm grip on the revolver in his hand and looked around with wide frightened eyes into the dark, anticipating another attack. Blood rivulets snaked down his unencumbered arm dripping to the floor in their own little beat and a tinny rattling squawk dying away from the radio attached to him.
#Harry#
The name suddenly blared out from an independent source and into the front of Sirius's mind with considerable more force then it had done before. It took no bounds of logic by him to conclude the name belonged to the man in front of him. The walking, formerly deceased man in front of him.
An edge of uncertainty gripped him, the man's miraculous recovery had suddenly become more suspect. A cold, and sombre voice spoke within the back of his mind telling him that not all was right with this man, that something lurked beneath his facade. The twinning sense of before arose again like a vaporous tendril from the man. Sirius's eyes twinkled uncertainly at the man before him, yet all he saw, or what he thought he saw was a mirage effect so fleeting that he thought he imagined it. Oh, well he decided, the man did not appear to be threatening, with the exception of the loaded weapon of course, but rather nervy and confused in the setting.
Harry stood up straight, the insecurities fading from his face and merging into a look of determination. He glanced into the dark, swivelling on the spot for his torch to circuit the room but he found little of interest to him and abruptly turned leaving the door to swing openly as he departed. Sirius felt a connection like before but on his part it was more voluntary then the stringent pull in their previous meeting. Something powerful held them to each other, it had given Sirius a taste and now was wagging a finger seductively at him to follow on. It changed his perception, it was now no longer a need to know but a want to know, his curiosity piqued. Sirius had been lead here , the man had been lead here, their destiny once more intertwined.
Sirius kept to the shadows as he followed the man in remembrance of the errant shot aimed at him. Harry was on edge and anything that seemed out of the ordinary was likely to set his nerves off. A bird flying in a school would more then qualify for extermination under the circumstances, Sirius was all too aware that the man, Harry would rather be safe and shoot an insignificant bird then face any possible it appeared more then it was. So he kept silent and hidden.
Through the corridors they went, Harry taken the necessary shots against the walking creatures that overran the school. Blood and the stench of death trailing in their wake, making both Harry and his unsuspecting shadow forever aware of what was lurking. Harry's voyage through doors posed a mild problem to Sirius but his stealth and recently discovered ability to dim himself, a skill he discovered by surprise when a couple of pre-teen boys cornered him. He was trapped in a room with a ceiling blocking his exit when the next thing he knew the boys looked on in confusion and a with a hint of fear. Their sight no longer concentrated on him but rather frantically about as if he had disappeared. It was only after a minute or two of their increasing distress that he realized they could no longer see him, once again his subconscious side had taken centre stage. A skill he quickly developed through a more conscious practice. Yet it had been barely a few months before he arrived in silent Hill when he discovered it. At one point Sirius almost lost his tail feathers due to a miscalculation on his part, barely escaping the closing door but he could not blame Harry, he did not know he was there This also gave Sirius pause for thought. Harry had seen him in the classroom, the bullet aimed in his direction insuring the fact, but he had completely forgotten or ignored Sirius's presence afterward. How Sirius would loved to have had the ability to read minds, the inability to communicate and gain answers were a major pain in the rear at times. Maybe he was considered just a dumb old bird, shot at in a moment of panic... Yep he was a dumb old bird, risking life and limb to follow leads and stay in this haunted town. Useless him, following a former dead man. It was his own fault though.
Harry entered another room and Sirius came with him as always. Lockers stood in two rows, side by side in the middle of the room with more along an opposite wall. These however only came secondary to him as the sound of rattling could be heard. Metallic banging coming from within a locker. Harry paused, trigger finger itching with a shaky hand, his whole body in nervous tension. Sirius hovered curiously. A break from the monotony of opening doors and shooting critters. The tension in the air was so tangible that Sirius felt a heavy weight overcome his wings causing them to droop slightly under the immensity of it.
Harry walked around the lockers to the culprit, Sirius with the heavy sense of foreboding repositioned himself above him. A hand raised with slow and careful uncertainty moved towards the offending locker. It lurched forward suddenly from the contents ramming into it and Harry quickly pulled his hand back in surprise, half expecting the unknown entity to emerge with fangs and claws tearing out his hand in a torrent of blood. Mere seconds past and Harry laughed nervously. No doubt he was berating himself for his own stupidity, Sirius thought. Overwhelming dread gripped him with such enormity Sirius felt like he had just been hit with a ten ton truck. His nerves tingled with great urgency, his body quaked and his wings felt like lead. Sirius almost felt tears form in his eyes as he subconsciously supplicated to Harry not to open the locker, discovering the identity of the contents being the very last thing he wanted to do. However history repeated it's self.
Harry with one quick determined flick of the wrist unlocked the container and released the contents, spilling out a horrifying beast, a monster, a despicable demonic nightmare, a nightly ghoul, a birds worst enemy, a, 'shudder', cat. Harry brought forth an intake of breath and Sirius wobbled in his flight pattern as the feline jumped from the locker. It landed on its four feet, looked about with shocked and terrified eyes and leapt away. Harry practically spilled across the now empty locker, his breath coming in heavy, breathy gasps of relief. Sirius looked on, the fear in his soul the worst he had ever felt, more so even then the desperate premonition just before Harry made his move.
A cat. A blasted cat. The most devious, secretive creature Sirius had ever come across. Liable to jump out in front of you without you even realizing it was there. Sirius had seen many a bird succumb to their viscous claws, he had no love for the beasts. This creature however defied its fellow feline, it acted suspicious. In the look of fright and fear in its face Sirius felt sure he saw the briefest twinkle of dark amusement in it's eye when it glanced at him, in fact he was positive. A twinkle that sent the chill of familiarity up his spine. A tabby cat in the briefest of seconds sharing a one-sided joke to it's intended.
The door creaked open and then settled back to its original position, the cat scurrying out. A moment passed then the sound of an animal in pain electrified the already tempered atmosphere. Harry jerked as if struck while Sirius shuddered, his feathers quaking as they had never done before. The quail of pain did not sound like any noise a cat would make, Sirius's mind wandered to places he did not want to ever reach again. He filed it under ignore in pain of death.
Ghosts, monsters, the walking dead, day into night at the drop of a hat, snow in late summer, almost being singed to death and here he was undone by a common cat. Or not so uncommon as this one appeared. Harry, the lucky bastard was oblivious to it, but then again he was ground fodder so perhaps that evened it out some what. .
Here they were. Standing in front of the clock tower in the central part of the school. Out on the quad that the schools corridors and rooms encompassed within. Sirius sitting stoic above the clock face looking straight down on Harry. Snow poured around them and the dark was still ever rampant. Harry, having departed the locker room, had picked up two spherical objects in his wanderings and placed them in the spaces required that stood either side of the door that marked the entrance to the small tower. Now Sirius sat and watched him as he stood uncertainly in front of it, tapping his gun to his hip in agitation and indecision. Sirius had become dulled by the town and now instead of wallowing in discomfort and reluctance, willed Harry, albeit wearily, to open the door and see what lay within. Just as long as there was no cat inside. One meeting with the oddly acting animal was enough. Sirius had still not gotten over his suspicion after being surprised by it and coming across it again was not high on his priorities.
Harry gripped the handle and pushed the door open. Sirius dropped from his perch and almost somersaulted upside down to get in before Harry closed it on him. They found themselves in a small room with barely any space to move and where Sirius could just about hide from Harry. Dimming or no dimming, Sirius could still be felt physically and in such close quarters it was hard to be avoided. The only point of interest was a shaft with metal rungs protruding form the walls on the way down. Sirius disliked going deeper, he was a high living creature, a bird not a mole, prone to a mild case of agoraphobia, his only main vice, but Harry had no compunctions and immediately grasped the first rung and began to descend. Sirius hovered in anxiety, waiting until Harry was but a blip of light in the hole and he too slowly descended. Flying in such close proximity was impossible for him, his wings likely to graze the side and send him plummeting, so instead he hopped from one rung to the next.
Harry was standing on the other side of a longer room, wooden walls on all sides. Sirius looked around with thoughts of cadavers on his mind, the room looked like the inside of a very large coffin and the bits of suspiciously bone like debris scattered about did not improve the image.
Sirens!
Sirius could hear sirens in the distant, so subtly had they come about he only just realized. This was not good. Passing through a underground tomb and hearing those sirens that mostly foretold bad things was not good at all. Harry even seemed a little shaken up by them. They were omens, portents and Sirius though resigned to his fate could not help but feel a little unnerved by them. Harry moved on , down some steps and ducking to enter a low hung doorway. Harry's legs soon disappeared from view as he ascended some different metal rungs. Sirius followed once more , scraping through another door that Harry had opened from the top of the shaft, remarkably similar to the one that lead them here. The quad once more stood before them.
Harry began to talk to himself while Sirius hovered, eyeing the place with a little confusion. It was a replica to the quad that they had departed from. Well not quite. Harry finished with the conversation with himself, mindless babble to Sirius, then walked forward to the very central part of the open air quad and looked down to the floor. Sirius closed in to see what had caught Harry's attention and on seeing it almost flew off when an all encompassing terror held him , a worse terror then even when meeting with the cat. The strength of aversion to it so powerful he did not need his clearer inner self to react, it filled him completely and wholly blaring warnings in bright neon signs in his head. A large symbol decorated the ground that was empty before. A circle with an inner circle, while at the very centre a large triangle, between the rings and in the triangle, peculiar markings.
Sirius had seen this before! He knew he had but for the life of him could not remember where. Yet the very sight of it sent chills and warning bells up his spine like nothing else he had encountered before had. Even the experience with the cat had not yielded such an emotional roller coaster ride as he was on now. No he was wrong. In the library he had caught the front of a book which made him feel the same but the look had been so fleeting it had barely gripped a hold of him. The sign below him and the picture on the front cover were the same, he realized. Something about that symbol called to him in a negative way. Harry seemed curious rather then disturbed by it himself which sent Sirius into a state of confusion. Harry obviously felt no dark connection with it but then why should Sirius? It was an enigma and though it terrified him so badly it was one he felt he must, absolutely must discover the answer to. Silent Hill was almost shouting it's significance. Harry walked on and with relief of considerable magnitude Sirius went with him, fully aware of the symbol behind him.
Wire mesh walls and floors and blood shed in the ton had returned in vengeance. Sirius had tracked Harry through the rooms and corridors while Harry also shot at the creatures that came in his path. They had come across an abandoned wheelchair, a gorily depicted door with cadaver sentinels hanging, bound in bloodied cloth and another cadaver wired up to a wall inside a toilet cubicle. The wheelchair strangely enough disturbed Sirius more then the door or the toilet resident. Or not so strangely. Deja Vu had set in again, the last time Sirius had seen a wheelchair was in the alleyway that had been Sirius's and Harry's first proper sojourn into the grimmer parts of Silent Hill. Its repeat appearance was spooky and inexplicable. The doorway despite its gruesome entourage, was still just a doorway and the hanging deceased just another dead thing, but the wheelchair and lack of passenger held mystery and implications of the wandering insane.
In the room they were now in numerous telephones sat on a long table nothing else lay within. Harry had tried to use them but had slammed the receiver down in disgust that left Sirius in no doubt that they were not working.
Harry gripped the handle of the door intending to turn, when, the sound of a telephone ringing made him spin round on the spot and gave Sirius a slight start too. The dead phone had gained life. Harry with jerking movement came up to it then removed the receiver with a shaky hand to his ear. At first there was just silence, then, a scared, young voice came upon the other end. Sirius had an extremely keen sense of hearing and listened to every word. A female child was speaking on the other end, begging for her father. Harry almost whispering, spoke the word Cheryl. The conversation was only one sided though, there was neither recognition or acquiescence from the girl. She begged one more time, fear and desperation all wrapped up in one before all too quickly she became silent, a dead tone ringing before it fell dead altogether.
Harry stood staring into the receiver tears glistening on the very edge of his cornea but not quite daring to spill. A look of hope and despair vying in his features, gain and loss, grief of the greatest magnitude. He gentle put the receiver back in its cradle and continued to stare, a tear finally escaping from his eye trailing unnoticed down his cheek, he then turned away, no doubt a little heavier of heart then before. Sirius felt some sympathy for the man but knew they must continue on.
Obstructions blocked the way many times and Harry with Sirius in his wake had to continuously backtrack. When on the roof in search of an exit, Sirius discovered the symbol again and while Harry scoured the roof he could do nothing but hover and stare at it, the second meeting still as indescribable and terrifying as the first. Eventually all paths led to the basement area and Harry and Sirius found themselves upon a strange corridor barred by a strange contraption. On either side a valve stood prominently and Harry seeing nothing else to use turned one out of curiosity, Sirius did not see any alternative either. As expected the contraption rotated with each turn of the valve and after trial and error by Harry the path was soon clear. Sirius peered in, it was the only place yet to be explored and the fact that no such place existed before the sirens sounded out made them all the more suspect, but there was no choice in the matter now. Sirius could have left by way of the roof but with the doors now closed that was no longer possible and Harry seemed determined to carry on. Into the breach dear friend, into the breach.
A wall blocked the way and Harry slowed in his approach, Sirius kept a safe distance. One gradual step after another then all of a sudden the sound of motors sprung into gear and Harry's body took a sharp drop as the floor beneath him creaked downwards. Sirius laughed inwardly at the look of shocked surprise rather then fear on Harry's face, bet that gave him a start he thought amusedly. The smell of fire wafted into the air and all humour left Sirius, it was happening again. The libraries fire blazed into his thoughts and Sirius was hesitant to proceed. Fire and brimstone, synonymous with Hell. Harry was on his way whether he wanted too or not but Sirius still had the option to stay. Sirius was just fooling himself, he had no option, he was bound by fate, by his own admission, by necessity, he could wait here all he wanted but in the end he must eventually go down too. A kamikaze, he was a kamikaze, god help him.
Harry came to a shuddering stop as the elevator reached the bottom, before him a large pyre flamed up, the rest of the large hall empty, obscurely carved figures on the floor. As Sirius reached him a roar came from one of the corner, inhuman, indescribable. Something large scraped across the ground, reminiscent of a limping man dragging his game leg, except of course the sound from beyond suggested the limping man was a giant. It 'was' a giant creature, but not a man, for crawling out from the darkness was the largest worm Sirius had ever seen. A heavy bulbous body held up by spindly legs in comparison. Harry below him pulled from his arsenal a shotgun, collected in his school meanderings, rather then the more familiar handgun. Sirius approved, this required heavy firepower, and a professional exterminator if available.
Sirius safe from his vantage point, cheered on Harry to kill the beast. Harry himself positioned his legs and held firm, fear radiating from him like a furnace full blast. Grasping the shotgun in now heavily perspiring hands, Harry twisting it in apprehension. The worm closed in , maw widening to such a degree it looked like it could eat Harry whole. While Harry exuded fear, the worm exuded what seemed to be pleasure. Sirius was not sure but the worm looked to be enjoying the moment from what he could gather through its minimal facial features and body language.
Harry dived out of the way as the worm darted his direction trying to take a chunk from him. Sirius in a moment of panic called out but the combatants did not notice. Instead Harry turned and using the butt of the shotgun whacked the worm with all his might. The worm did not cry, nor appear phased in any way, but instead veered Harry's way in eager anticipation. Harry dived again, missing the groping mouth by inches. Close contact was not working so Harry ran from the lumbering creature and kept his distance. It shuffled behind him not nearly as fast and again widened its mouth. Harry took the opportunity and fired the shotgun in its direction. Bulls eye. The shot found its mark and blood spilled from the worms mouth, turning its pain-filled screech into a garble. Sirius cawed again, this time not caring if he was seen, Harry was going to need all the encouragement he could get.
The worm was stunned by the direct hit, but only until it settled in, it was hurt. It turned on Harry once more and the chase was on. Sirius watched in concern as Harry replied to the creatures wrath with bullets, not even slowing it down in the slightest. The worm opened wide and Harry took another shot into it, the only score so far that had dented the creature in anyway. Harry quickly caught onto it and held his shotgun for the vital weak spot in the worms armour.
Sirius sensed another presence in the room. While Harry was fighting for his life something else was in the basement with them. Sirius did not want to turn from Harry's fight but for his sake Sirius must find out what other monster was lurking for a piece of him. Sirius would not be able to stop it but he could at least warn Harry of an oncoming attack from behind. At first he could see nothing except the pyre from the corner of his eye and then, in the dark a shifting movement. Sirius closed in, but well above, in the air. There was a space where something should have been yet wasn't. Sirius's sight was obscured from its presence. He used his ability to try and overcome the intentional block and through dimmed vision he caught the sight of a figure, a human figure. A rush of understanding came over him, an conclusive realization that disappeared as quickly as it had come. He was, but for a second, positive of everything that was going on in this town but like the changing scenery it was gone just as suddenly. Whatever revelation had been in his grasp was just not meant to be, yet.
Sirens rose above the setting in accordance with the worms rattling death cry. Sirius turned to see a triumphant Harry standing before the collapsing beast. His look of success drooped however when the creature began to fade from view. Harry's head darted about in confusion until he too caught sight of the figure hiding away in the back, stopping him in his tracks and removing all thoughts of the worm from his mind. A young woman leaned against the wall fiddling with something in her hand not yet aware of two pairs of eyes on her. Suddenly she looked up and directly into Harry's eyes. She dropped the object from her hand out of surprise. Her face not quite fully surprised. Harry stared and Sirius appraised her with suspicious thoughts running in his head. The next either of them knew, she faded as the worm had, while the scenery about them reverted back to the basement that had lead them to the worm in the first place, without the curious contraption but a normal boiler. The sirens faded into nothing and Harry was left standing in confusion and Sirius with more questions then ever.
Harry walked forward to pick up the fallen item, a key, while about them the siren had been replaced by the sound of church bells. Outside dark no longer reigned, the light of day having returned with the fog. Up into the main part of the school they went until Harry opened the main entrance doors and walked into the town proper, Sirius on his heels like an obedient puppy.
Light, snow, church, never go to this school ever again, got it. Sirius was glad to be out of there. School was scary without the spooky beneath on top. Questions, numerous questions each demanding answers swirled in his head. Sirius was no closer to discovering the reasons for Silent Hills dark going on's. School was a place you were supposed to learn not come across walking dead men, strange, ominous symbols, cats, killer giant worms and teenage girls disappearing on you.
The worm was dead so Sirius could ignore that, dead was dead...the walking dead man, or maybe not. In either case the worm was not on his important list, the man, Harry however was a conundrum he wanted an answer too. His missing daughter seemed like a more direct connection to the peculiarities then the worm. As for how Harry came to be alive again, Sirius did not think that he would get any closer to that. Maybe Harry had survived the attack which Sirius thought had killed him, it was about the best he felt he was likely to get. The symbol, no, the girl. She knew or had at least some knowledge of what was going or more likely was even directly involved, her fading form confirming the last more readily. Sirius was not likely to get any answers from that quarter either. The symbol and the cat both gave Sirius a sense of familiarity, a familiarity he did not like. He knew the symbol from somewhere other then the library and the cat appeared to know him rather then the other way around. Sirius needed to know what it was, the cat he could forget with the greatest of reluctance but that symbol...
Harry had gone. Sirius looked up with a start as he came out of his reverie and noticed the spot Harry had been standing in was now vacated and that he was no longer in sight either. Oh, well, Sirius thought ruefully, Harry could not have gone too far, humans legs were not exactly speedy and the now defunct church bells gave Sirius an idea where to go.
The two blind children had sent him here, but had they sent him here to die by the worms greedy mouth or did they send him here to find Harry? Were they good or evil? Damn it, more questions. Sirius departed.