Chapter three: Silver Fog

"Who are you?" he asked

His face moved a bit, twitched as though it were sleeping. And in a soft voice, as though he were talking in his sleep, he spoke.

"Sirius Black." he answered. Harry held his wand tighter.

There was no way to lie under the Verita spell, McGonagall had told him. It forced the person spelled to tell the truth and nothing else. She said it was an ancient spell, created by her ancestors during the Middle Ages and not many people knew of its existance. McGonagall said it was a great thing to use as protection, should anyone come to retrieve him from the Dursley's and Harry was unsure of his or her identity.

He wasn't sure, even now. He trusted Professor McGonagall always when it came to her spellwork, but how could have his godfather, Sirius Black, been risen from the dead?

He remembered how Albus Dumbledore, his headmaster until the end of last term, had told him nobody could be risen from the dead, that there was no spell, no potion, nothing to bring someone back from the icy grip of death's embrace. So how could his godfather be alive, after Harry himself had seen him fall into the veil at the Ministry of Magic and not return from it?

There was no body, a small voice in the back of his head said; Lupin and everyone else could be wrong. He may be alive.

As much as Harry wanted to dismiss those thoughts, that his godfather, the only person he could ever think of as a parental figure could be alive, he didn't want to hope on it. It would be almost as bad as if he had to watch him die again.

"I thought you died." he said to him.

"I did." came the monotone reply

"Then how are you here?" Harry inquired''

"Becau-" he began, but Harry was not listening. At least not to him.

There was a sound from downstairs. Not quite a sound, he shouldn't say that. It was as though the very air thickened, and from the window in the hall he watched as the lights outside by the street dimmed ever so slightly. If it was what he thought it was, it did not bode well.

He knew he was right the moment he saw the air thicken to the point that fog began to creep throughout the streets and onto the perfectly manicured lawns behind number four's. He could see through the window that it was getting thicker and thicker by the minute.

"Dementors" he whispered, the air excaping his lips in a deathly white frost.

"Then I suppose you'd better take this spell off of me before they get any closer." Sirius said, still in his monotone, sleepy boy voice.

Sirius was right. If those dementors got any closer, they may harm the Dursley's (which wouldn't be so bad after all) and leave them in a bad spot to do any worthwhile defending. He did not want to have his soul sucked out by these horrific creatures.

It was his decision. Either he let go of this possible inposter (but McGonagall said the spell always works) and possibly be killed while defending himself and Sirius from the dementors; or not let him go, knock him unconscious somehow and take him by broom or knight bus or something to the authorites, to McGonagall, to someone, and find out who he is, while possibly getting killed by the dementors since he'd be slowed down so much.

He didn't like either avenue, but he knew he'd have to make a decision now or never. He could already feel the dementors coming closer.

"You are not here to kill me, right?" Harry asked him. If McGonagall was right, he'd be forced to answer.

"Of course not, Harry. What would James and Lily say if I killed their only son?" he replied, with a bit of a sleepy grin.

Not pausing to think about it any longer, especially with the looming thought of soul-sucking dementors on their way, he ended the spell with an uttered Finite Incantatem and watched as his godfather landed gracefully on his feet like a dancer.

Sirius blinked a few times, and shook his head not unlike a dog would, seeming to clear his mind. He hopped up and down a bit, seemingly to get his circulation back to normal, adjusted his eyes to Harry and smiled.

"Now that I've had myself a nice nap, you finally decide I'm not going to kill you?" Sirius asked, the usual goofy grin back on his face.

"Yes, now let's hurry and get out of here. There are dementors on their way." Harry told him. At the mention ofthe creatures that feasted on every happy thought he had for thirteen years, his eyes grew large with worry.

"Dementors? Are you sure?" he asked. Harry pointed to the window that was now almost completely obscured by fog.

"Quite." he answered

Sirius stared outside for a moment or two before replying. "Wonderful. Voldemort must have sent them here to slow you down before he arrived." Sirius said to him "Let's go to your room quickly and get your things. I trust you took McGonagall's advice and packed early?"

Harry nodded led the way to the bedroom, being closer to the door.

Everything he owned worth taking with him was in the trunk. He couldn't believe he was finally leaving the Dursleys. He didnt' know where he was going to go after this, but it had to be better than here. He was nice enough to the Dursley's to make his bed and clean out his closet, taking all of his clothes but leaving the puce and canary yellow socks for them to remember him by. His trunk was enlarged inside to accomodate his broom, and Hedwig's cage inside quite nicely, while Hedwig was sent off to the Weasley's the day before as McGonagall had requested. The only things he had left out was his wand, one robe and his invisibility cloak, which was still stuffed in his pocket for easy access. He took it with him everywhere now.

He took out his wand now, to spell the trunk to float behind them as they left the house, but Sirius shook his head.

"We'll shrink it." he said to Harry

"Shrink it?" Harry asked

"Yes, James, Lupin and I did it all of the time to our trunks, it saved us the trouble of carrying them. It's rather difficult to do with things inside it, but I can manage."

Harry thought that was a good idea and left Sirius to it while he looked around once more to be sure he left nothing behind.

Sirius quickly shrunk the trunk and Harry tightened his robe around him while Sirius put the galleon-sized trunk in his jacket pocket and headed out the door, Harry close behind him. He was already starting to feel the swamping, drowning feelings the presence of a dementor brought and did not look forward to when he and his once-dead godfather walked out the door to face what was ahead.

Landing to the bottom steps of the Dursley residence, Harry and Sirius both had their wands out, ready to fight. The feeling that the dementors brought with them was less intense, as though it had moved further away. Harry was hoping that they could use that to their advantage and leave before there was great damage done to the muggles in the vicinity.

"What should we do, Sirius? Should we wait until they arrive or should we leave now? I'm sure they'll leave as soon as we do. They must be looking for me."

Sirius nodded "The last thing we need to do right now is to be slowed down by them. We need to get out of here and where we need to go as soon as possible."

"Where are we going that we need to be so quickly?"

"We are going to Hogwarts. I need you to help me find something"

"What is it?"

"My memory."

A gust of wind blew between Harry and Sirius as soon as they stepped outside number four. It slid through his hair and around his arms, chilling him though he wore his thickest robe.

He didn't know what Sirius meant by his memory, but he wasn't ready to ask him just yet. The dementors were sure to find him any moment, and they had to be moving.

"How are we going to Hogwarts, Sirius? Are we going to apparate?" Harry started shivering

"No, we are going to take my motorcycle to the Weasley's, then we are going to Hogwarts via floo."

"Your motorcycle?" Harry said "I thought Hagrid had that?"

"He did, but he has returned it to me. No time to talk, Harry. We must be swift about this." Sirius said, and without further ado, clutched his wand tightly and stalked into the night, Harry at his heels.