Chapter 15
Remus whirled around at the sound of a door being slammed shut. He was surprised to find Sirius standing in the doorway looking desperate and a bit lost.
"Sirius?" Remus said, shrugging his jacket off. "What're you doing here? Is something wrong with Harry?"
"Yes," Sirius said, running his fingers through his hair and looking distraught. "Did he come here by any chance? I mean … Allyson's house isn't that far from here, I thought maybe …"
Remus shook his head. "I just came home. Why don't you check the rooms? I'll see if he called anybody."
Sirius nodded, immediately going to Harry's room. The room was empty and looked like nobody had even stepped in. Then he checked Remus's room, which was empty, and then his own. That room was empty too, but for some reason it looked odd. He went in, noticing that the drawers were wide open, and the Muggle money he had stashed in there was gone.
"Remus?" he called. "Did you use that money I had in the drawers?"
"No—" Remus said, then cut himself off. Sirius went out to the kitchen to see Remus with the phone to his ears. Sirius listened intently as Remus repeated the numbers out loud. Sirius knew it was a phone number, he just didn't know who's.
"I didn't call that number," Remus said as he hung up. "Do you think maybe Harry did?"
Sirius nodded firmly. "If you didn't, then it was most likely Harry. The money from my drawersare gone, too."
Remus glanced down at the phone, picking up a small piece of paper. It had the same phone number that Remus had told Sirius, but at the top had a, 'C.' He showed it to Sirius.
Sirius went over to the phone, picked it up, and dialled the exact numbers on the piece of paper. After a few rings a voice answered with a certain accent that almost seemed familiar … he just couldn't place why it was familiar.
"Uh … who is this?" Sirius said tentatively.
"'Who is this?'" the voice repeated. "Well, yeh should know who this is, shouldn't yeh? After all, you called this number. It should be me asking who this is. You some type ah person lookin' to sell stuff? Sorry, not interested."
Sirius sighed impatiently. "Did somebody named Harry call? Or … if they left their name or not, I just need to know … it's important, you see—"
"Slow down, slow down," the voice on the other end said. "Yeah, somebody named Harry called. Why? He in trouble? This better not be like last time, I trusted them I did when they said they weren't in no trouble! But if they were, and are again … I ain't goin' get involved in this, I'll tell yah now."
Sirius didn't say anything. That accent, the way this man talked, it suddenly became clear as to who he was.
"Charlie?"
"Yep, that's mah name," Charlie said proudly. "I know yeh?"
"I was the one with Harry at the … time you were talking about," Sirius said. "… Remember?"
"Yeah, yeah," Charlie said. "You were his father, weren't yah?"
"Godfather," Sirius corrected quickly. "Do you know where he's going?"
"'Course," replied Charlie. "He's comin' here!"
Sirius nearly dropped the phone. "What?" he finally managed out. "He's going there? To Wisconsin?"
Charlie sounded genuinely surprised. "Yeh didn't know? I thought yeh did!"
"No, no I didn't … er, goodbye Charlie, and thanks."
"Yeah, no problem," Charlie said. "Should I be expectin' yeh too?"
Sirius thought for a minute before answering the man on the other line. "Yes, yes you should."
"Alrightie, then. It's settled. Adeus!" Charlie said, adding, "That's Portuguese for 'Bye' … I think."
"OK, yeah," Sirius said distractedly. "Aloha."
"No, it's—"
But Sirius had hung up, and was looking at Remus.
"He hates me," Sirius said, his voice sounding distant. He went over to the couch and sat down. "My godson hates me. He hates me so much that he's running all the way to Wisconsin. Could I have been anymore thick? Anymore … stupid?"
"I'm sure he doesn't hate you," Remus said, sitting down at the other end. "He's upset. I know I would be."
"You don't know what happened, though," Sirius said, looking at his friend. "Allyson happened. Do you—do you know what she did to Harry? She slit his wrists and blamed it on him, and I—I believed her."
Remus didn't say anything.
"I believed that Harry actually slit his wrists." Sirius closed his eyes. "Now that I think back to everything that's happened, I feel so horrible. For not believing what Harry said, and how I treated him. Some of the things that I said that I didn't mean."
"You should tell him that," Remus said gently. "Harry probably hasn't gone that far on foot. Take the car and follow him."
"Right," Sirius said, shooting up. "Can you go to Allyson's house and … do a little magic on her?" he asked. "I want her to forget about me telling her that I was a wizard."
"Will do," Remus said. "Oh, here's a bit of money if you need it," he added, fishing around his pocket. Sirius raised his eyebrows.
"You went through my drawers?"
"Huh?"
"You went through my drawers?" Sirius repeated, his eyebrows still up high. Remus gave him a look.
"How else will I survive?"
Sirius returned the look, took the money, and left the house.
-
"Bloody feet," Harry muttered as he ran along the road. "Don't give up now, you've got me this far."
He had went from walking along the road to the airport, to speed walking, to jogging, then to running. He couldn't believe how far he had gotten on his feet—he could spot the airport up ahead.
When he went through the doors, he immediately went to go get his ticket. Soon … soon he would be in Wisconsin. Away from Sirius, and especially away from Allyson.
-
So far, as Sirius drove towards the airport, there was no sign of Harry. Maybe he was fast, Sirius thought. Maybe he was already at the airport, boarding the plane and getting ready to go to Wisconsin.
Sirius felt horrible for the way he had treated Harry. Right then, he swore that once he got to Harry and had him home, he'd never do it again.
-
A/N: Short chapter, but I had to stop there. I just felt like I couldn't continue this chapter any further, so I stopped, but I will make up for the late-update-short-chapter. I will post the next chapter really, really quickly. Possibly the quickest update you've ever seen! Maybe I'll post it after this one; two chapters in one day! If not, it'll definitely be posted tomorrow.