A/N: So there, you stupid computer. I just posted the second chapter, but here's the third. Explanations for anything weird are at the bottom. Thanks, and don't forget to review!

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns everything.

Someone Beside Me

Chapter 3

Minutes later, the students and Sirius were all gathered in Buckbeak's room, ready to discuss ideas.

"I guess the first thing is to decide when," mused Sirius. "I'll need a wand, for starters. Dumbledore's working on it, but I don't know for sure when…"

"And it'll have to be at night," Fred pointed out, "unless you want to be in close proximity with a dementor through the entire rescue."

Hermione nodded at him from where she sat in the corner, taking notes and leafing through books by turns. "How are we even going to get out there?"

"We? Oh, no. The only one going on this particular mission is me." Sirius said. There was a flurry of protests. "Listen, if you all came, the amount of emotions would attract all the dementors in Azkaban. To have any chance of getting to Harry without losing our souls it has to just be me. And that's final." Some faces were still mutinus, but he ignored them and turned to Hermione. "I think we'll have to wait for the full moon. Remus would know where I'd gone in an instant if I turned up missing." The faces changed to a mix of shock and worry. "I don't want to leave Harry out there for three weeks. You know I don't. I know what Azkaban does to normal people, let alone someone with his life. Do you think I want that for my godson?" Sirius choked.

The truth in his words was evident in Sirius's overbright eyes, and stopped any arguments against leaving Harry in prison for that length of time. Nobody spoke for a long moment.

"How are you going to get out there, then? I mean, you can swim there easily as Padfoot, but even if you could tow Harry back to shore it wouldn't be good for him. It's on an island, so the logical course would be to fly, but do you think you can hold Harry and control a broomstick at the same time?" Hermione said, voice shaking slightly. "Maybe he'll be able to fly himself, but we can't count on it."

Sirius frowned, angrily wiping his eyes. "I don't know - " he began, but Ginny cut in.

"Buckbeak."

They all stared at her.

Ginny rolled her eyes. "On Buckbeak you'll be able to carry Harry and not worry. Obviously you can't go flying a hippogriff around London, so Portkey to some field and fly Buckbeak out to Azkaban. Get Harry out and go back to the mainland on Buckbeak."

Ron began to smile. "I never knew you were so brilliant, Gins," he commented.

"There's a lot about me you don't know, oh dearest brother of mine," Ginny said, smirking.

" 'Dearest brother?' What happened to us?" Fred and George said together, hanging their heads in mock sorrow.

"As amusing as this undoubtedly is," Sirius said smoothly, sounding so like Snape that they all jumped. "We have a job to do. Okay, so I can get out there. What about coming back? Assuming I can get Harry and make it back to the mainland, how do we get in the house? This place is heavily warded even without the Fidelius Charm problem. I can't just ask Dumbledore for a slip of paper revealing the information, and if I took Harry to him before coming here, like as not he'd just send Harry back to Azkaban to protect Kingsley's job." There was no mistaking the bitterness in his voice.

Hermione looked up from where she'd been looking through Wandless Spells for the Defensively Inclined. "Actually, I think we can get around that," she said calmly, as though she were in class. "Dumbledore is Secret Keeper for the Order, not for number twelve Grimmauld Place. As owner of the house, you, Sirius, should be able to get through the other wards. As long as the Portkey is set to come to the house instead of Headquarters, there shouldn't be a problem."

Ron put his head in his hands. "I'm surrounded by brilliant girls!"

"But you love us," Ginny said, nonplussed.

"What can I do, Sirius?" Ron asked more solemnly.

The man smiled slightly. "We'll need a diversion to keep the adults - minus Remus - busy. Think you three can handle that?" Sirius asked Ron, Fred, and George.

"Oh, I'm sure we'll find something to do," George replied, looking at Fred and grinning wickedly.

"Most definitely," agreed Fred, rubbing his hands together in anticipation.

"All right then. Ron, if my estimation of these two is correct, you'll probably need to stop them blowing up the house." Sirius said.

"Too right," muttered Ginny, earning a snort of laughter from Sirius and a glare from her two twin brothers.

"Why is Dumbledore getting you a new wand, Sirius?" asked Ron.

"Well, mine was snapped when they imprisoned me," the ex-convict replied matter-of-fact, though his hand shook slightly as he patted Buckbeak.

Ron pressed on. "Yes, but why can't you just borrow Lup… er, Professor" - he added at Hermione's glare - "Lupin's? He wouldn't know; he'll be transforming."

Sirius smiled slightly at the boy's use of Remus Lupin's no longer valid title. "Wand signatures are monitored in Azkaban. If I use a registered wand, the wizard - or witch - it belonged to would be blamed for Harry's breakout."

"I didn't know that!" Hermione exclaimed keenly, looking up again. "Are our wands registered?"

"No. You'll learn about this in seventh year, since wands have to be registered once you're out of school."

"Then why can't you use one of our wands?" Ginny pulled her own out of the back pocket of her jeans.

"Don't let Mad-Eye catch you doing that," George warned, "or you'll get a lecture on elementary wand safety and it's application in losing buttocks."

Ginny snorted. "So?" She demanded, looking at Sirius.

"Because they'll probably keep the record around for future reference, and I wouldn't put it past Fudge to test all your signatures simply because you're friends with Harry. Or his vicious toad of a senior undersecretary, Umbridge." At everyone's confused looks, he waved a hand. "Ask Remus about her sometime. Anyway, I need a new unregistered wand. I only hope they can't trace the maker."

Hermione shut Wandless Magic for the Defensively Inclined and jumped up. "I'm going to look up more about wand signatures. Hopefully there'll be something in the library to answer that, Sirius. That's where I'll be if anyone wants me." She left, shutting the door quietly.

"And we'd better go check our dungbomb supply if we're going to create a proper diversion. We might have to order more, and that'll take time to keep Mum from noticing. Come on, Ron. Your job as babysitter starts now."

Ron groaned slightly, but followed his brothers all the same. Ginny and Sirius were left alone petting Buckbeak.

"How on earth are you going to get in, find Harry, get out, and get on Beaky here without getting swarmed over by dementors?" Ginny asked, not mincing words. "That plan isn't much, if you ask me. We've got a date, a potential mode of transportation, and an untestable theory about the Fidelius Charm. Something's bound to go wrong."

Sirius sighed. "I don't know," he replied honestly. "Getting in and finding Harry is fairly easy. As Padfoot I'll be able to get into the prison through the same rusty old grate I used to get out. Padfoot also knows Harry's smell well enough to find him, so no trouble there. But getting out… if we're quiet, I might be able to get Harry out of the prison itself without meeting any dementors. But the island itself is quite heavily guarded. A dementor would be able to sense our emotions before we'd gone five steps, and without being Padfoot I'm not a good enough Occlumens to block my feelings. Not enough patience." He grinned wryly, though his eyes revealed his worry.

"I wouldn't say that. You waited twelve years in Azkaban to get revenge on that rat Pettigrew and to help Harry. Now you're waiting out the war in a place you hate, not to mention refraining from rushing in there without a plan. All of those take more than a little patience," Ginny said thoughtfully.

Sirius's mouth curved in a genuine smile, touched. "Thanks. I appreciate that. I doubt that anyone else would say that, except Remus and Harry."

As he watched, an odd emotion flickered in Ginny's eyes. He had no way of knowing that it was the same emotion that appeared in his own eyes when he thought of his godson. But then, as quickly as it had come, the look was gone.

"What can I do to help?" She asked hopefully. "You've got Hermione and my insane brothers planning something horrible, so what's left?"

"I'm not sure. We ought to make a real outline of things on paper, but Remus was always better at that sort of thing that James and I. We'll need parchment, in any case. I guess - "

"Ginny? The meeting's over, and I need lunch help!" Mrs. Weasley called up the stairs.

" - we'll have to finish this later," Sirius finished unhappily. Ginny smiled sympathetically and patted his shoulder on her way out, leaving him alone with the hippogriff.

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Harry came to, head pounding. Being in close proximity with a dementor the entire day had left him weak and trembling. At this rate, with him only barely able to control his thoughts and only at night, he doubted he would retain his sanity for a week.

Why had no one come for him? Dumbledore must know by now; Shacklebolt had promised to tell him. Did the headmaster simply not care? That couldn't be right. Dumbledore had always cared about Harry's well-being.

Harry didn't think that Ron and Hermione would have been told, so no help there. But Sirius… if Dumbledore wasn't going to get Fudge to release Harry. the boy was sure that his godfather wouldn't hesitate to march right into Azkaban. But then he was sure to be caught and given the Kiss.

Since, with the threat of the Dementor's Kiss, a rescue from Sirius wasn't entirely a happy thought, he clung to it like a lifeline. During the day he would just have to remember that, like his godfather, he was innocent.

Except that he didn't feel innocent. He, Harry, had told Cedric to take the cup with him. Voldemort had only wanted him, not Cedric. Cedric would be alive now if not for Harry. It was his fault. He did deserve to be here, trapped in his memories by day and in his misery by night.

Come to think of it, it was his fault that his parents were dead. Again, Voldemort had been after him. And Harry had stopped Sirius and Lupin from killing Pettigrew, who had helped bring Voldemort back. Voldemort would probably kill hundreds - even thousands - of people, and he was directly responsible.

Harry looked at the meager tray of food and pushed it away from him. He wouldn't eat.

The world would be a safer place without Harry Potter. No one else would die because of him, least of all Sirius.

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A/N: Here's the deal. Sirius loves Harry in a father-son way, and Ginny loves Harry in a... er... boyfriend-girlfriend way. Because they both care about Harry (not that Ron and Hermione don't, but it's different), they've sort of forged a connection. Hope that clears any lingering questions up. Besides, I just had to have some interaction between Sirius and Ginny. They're two of my favorite characters!

Oh yeah, and for the record, this is not an evil-or-manipulative Dumbledore fic. I just wanted Dumbledore to be clueless for once. It's not really canon, but what the heck. And the situation is minorly hopeless. We'll see.

Bye for now… review… I love you… okay, I'm really truly honestly going to do my schoolwork…

Lunaterra