Summery: Sequel to On the Run. Harry now has Sirius back, and a home and friends. What could go wrong?

No Longer Running

Chapter Two

Old Friends

(Over a week after Harry's birthday)

Sirius watched his godson as he picked at his food. Harry was deep in thought, and had been most of the day, Sirius wondered why. About halfway through Supper Sirius had finished most of his supper while Harry had only taken a few full bites.

"Harry?" Sirius asked attempting to get the distracted boy's attention. "Harry." He called again, this time louder.

"Hmm?" Harry hummed not even looking up.

Sirius sighed. "Yesterday while you were out Moony got married." 'There, maybe that will get his attention.' Sirius thought.

He wasn't disappointed when Harry looked up startled. "What?" He asked.

"Okay, what's on your mind, Kiddo?" Sirius asked putting his fork down so he could give Harry his full attention.

Harry sighed and looked back down at his plate as he stabbed the baked potato with his fork. "I've been thinking about Cameron." Harry mumbled.

"What about him?" Sirius asked. Harry hadn't spoken much about him over the summer, and he was curious about what Harry was going to say.

"Can we visit him? Try to explain things?" Harry asked looking up at Sirius.

Sirius sighed again and took a sip of his drink before answering. "You know we can't tell him about magic." Harry nodded. "He may be angry."

"I know." Harry mumbled again as he speared the potato for a second time. "But I still want to see him."

Sirius thought for several moments and weighed the pro's and con's of explaining things to the Wood family. Finally after a moment he nodded. "If you want to we can visit them. We'll explain, to a point, what happened, why we left."

Harry nodded excitedly. "When?" He asked.

"How about tomorrow?"

"Sure!" Harry said grinning.

"Now eat." Sirius said motioning to Harry's full plate of food and the messy potato.

Harry had fallen asleep several hours ago but Sirius found himself restless. He knew Harry missed Cameron, and he'd been surprised that Harry hadn't mentioned him before now.

Would Linda, John or Cameron be so angry at them that they'd refuse to see them again? Sirius hoped not. Harry and Cameron had been very close. Sirius didn't know how Harry would handle being refused to repair his and Cameron's family. He hoped they would give Harry a chance.

It was late by the time Sirius finally fell asleep.

"You ready, Kiddo?" Sirius asked as he held the portkey he'd gotten from Dumbledore that morning to take them to the Wood's house. Harry nodded and reached out and grasped the portkey, feeling the tug behind their navel they opened their eyes to find themselves in the familiar neighborhood the Wood's lived in. "It's not too late to turn back." Sirius warned Harry as they began to walk slowly to the Wood's house.

Harry nodded. "I know." Harry said quietly. "But I have to do this." Sirius nodded understandingly.

Finally they reached the Wood's house. Sirius noticed Harry hesitate a moment before he began to trek up to the front door. Sirius knocked a moment later and waited for an answer.

The door opened and Linda answered. She gasped as she recognized them. "Sirius." She finally managed to rely after a moment.

"Hello, Linda." Sirius replied inclining his head in greeting. "We've come to explain." Linda nodded after a moment, staring at them both critically, and opened the door enough for them to enter.

"Sit." She said motioning for the couch in their living room. Sirius nodded and sat in the pro-offered seat and Harry followed suit. "I'll go get John." And she left the room.

"You okay?" Sirius asked looking over at Harry who seemed in a slight daze.

Harry nodded, "Yeah. Just nervous." Sirius gripped Harry's hand and lightly squeezed.

"Sirius." A males voice called from behind them.

"Hello, John." Sirius said as he stood to shake John's hand politely. John and Linda sat down across from Harry and Sirius; after a long pause John finally spoke.

"Why did you leave? You only left a note that didn't even tell us why you left. We were hurt by that. Cameron was hurt by that!" John said without raising his voice, though he was the kind of man who didn't need to yell for someone to know he was angry.

Sirius sighed before he began his explanation. "I'm going to start from the beginning so this makes a little more sense." He warned, at their nods he continued. "Harry's parent's were my best friends. I met them in school. When Harry was a year old they were murdered by a serial killer living in England. I was blamed for tipping their killer to their location." He tried explaining it in Muggle terms but also keeping it true. "As it turned out, another of our friends had really told their killer where they were hidden. On Halloween night he murdered them. He tried to kill Harry, but was unsuccessful. I was sentenced to prison for life, but I escaped four years in. Harry was with some of his mother's family; I found out and went to see him. I snuck into their house and found Harry. He was in a broom cupboard, and he'd been beaten." At this Linda gasped and glanced at Harry, but both ignored it. "I decided to take him." Sirius continued. "I used the money I had saved up and came here, to America, and got false documents. Over the years we've moved around. We haven't stayed in the same place for more then about two years. The reason we left was because the school started questioning our background. A few months later the British government discovered my innocence after they found the one who really told the killer Harry's families location. They ran an article world wild, which I saw, and I turned myself in. We just finished a trial about two month's ago to determine my fate on kidnapping Harry." Sirius finished. He was surprised the Wood's had stayed quiet through his speech, but he was happy for it.

John was the first to speak. "Why didn't you report child abuse to the authorities? You could have done that anonymously."

"Because the people who had guardianship over Harry would have claimed Harry had gotten into a fight with other neighborhood kids. They had been notified by a teacher earlier in the year, as well as a neighbor the year prior about the possibility of Harry being abused and neglected in their care but the authorities had believed his relatives story of neighborhood fights both times." Sirius answered glancing at Harry who had his head bowed and was looking intently at his hands.

"Is Harry now in your care?" Linda asked also glancing at Harry's mop of black hair.

Sirius nodded. "Temporarily until the courts appoint me full guardianship, which could take up to a year." He clarified.

"Why didn't you tell us before now?" Linda asked giving Sirius a hurt look, while John's face was one of thoughtfulness, confusion, and hurt.

"Would you have believed me?"

Linda sighed. "I guess not." She finally conceded. "Why are you telling us this now?"

"Honestly, Harry asked to." Sirius answered glancing at Harry again, who had stayed quiet and motionless throughout the conversation.

"I don't know how Cameron will react." John warned.

Sirius nodded understandingly. "I know."

There was the sound of a door opening and closing and Linda said it must be Cameron as she stood and left the room. They could hear some talking, but they couldn't make out the words.

"Harry!" A gasped came from the doorway. Harry looked up and over at Cameron.

"Hi, Cameron." Harry said somewhat subdued.

The expression on Cameron's face changed from one of confusion and shock to anger in only a few seconds and he stepped angrily closer to Harry. "Why'd you leave? You didn't even tell me why you left, just left a note!" He cried angrily.

Harry backed up a few steps before he spoke, his voice pleading. "I'm sorry. We came to explain."

"Explain!" Cameron cried angrily. "I don't want to hear your explanation if you didn't even have the time to tell me why you left!"

"Camer-" Harry began before Cameron interrupted.

"I don't want to hear it!"

Harry sighed but didn't say anything more and Cameron stormed up the stairs.

"I'm sorry about all of this." Sirius apologized to John and Linda.

John nodded looking at Harry who had his head bowed again. He wasn't angry, just thoughtful. "We'll talk to him and see how it goes from there. You'd better leave."

Sirius nodded. "I'll leave my number so you can call for anything. It's long distance, as we're now living in Australia, so call collect and I'll take the charges."

Linda nodded. "Thank you for explaining, Sirius. Take care, Harry." She said as she rested her hand on his shoulder and squeezed lightly.

Harry nodded looking up at her and gave her a small smile. "Thanks Mrs. Wood, Mr. Wood." John nodded politely to Harry.

Sirius and Harry left the Wood's house and walked to an empty alley way near by before Sirius pulled out the portkey and they portkeyed back to Australia.

Once back inside their house Harry ran to his bedroom and Sirius heard the door slam. Sighing he walked calmly up the stairs and knocked lightly on Harry's bedroom door, receiving no answer he opened the door. "Harry?" Looking around he found Harry face down on his bed, his head buried in his pillow.

Sirius sat down on the edge of the bed next to Harry and gently placed a hand on his back. "Harry?" Sirius asked. Harry looked up, his eyes were bright and brimming with tears. Sirius knew he wanted to cry but was holding back. Reaching out he pulled Harry into a firm hug and felt as Harry began to shake from sobbing. He just held him. "It's going to be okay." He whispered into Harry's hair.

Harry fell asleep a while later from exhaustion from crying, Sirius stayed with him for a while before covering him in a blanket, placing a kiss on his forehead, then left the room.

End of Chapter Two

A/N: Well, here's chapter two! I hope you like it! I told you Cameron would be back in the story somewhere. I will hopefully update in the next few days, maybe sooner, depends on how long it takes me to finish the chapter. Please REVIEW!

Life Changed Year III: I am almost finished with the latest chapter. I did half of it last night.