Chapter 14: Interlude- Sirius
Sirius was confused. In some ways things seemed to be the same, but in so many others the world appeared to be a completely different place from the one that existed when they'd thrown him into Azkaban and thrown away the key. He wasn't sure he knew which way was up anymore. He really should have learned from Peter, things were not always as they seemed.
He'd arrived in Hogsmeade just days after the Hogwarts Express did. He had been traveling non-stop for weeks and he was as tired as he'd been when he had first made it to shore from Azkaban. But he couldn't stop until he'd seen with his own eyes that his pup had made it safely to Hogwarts, and that the rat hadn't done him any harm.
In his animagus form he was easily able to sneak onto Hogwarts grounds, and he settled himself at the edge of the Forbidden Forest to student watch. A long few days later his patience was rewarded when he spotted an unmistakable head of messy black hair amongst a group coming down from the castle for a Care of Magical Creatures class. He appeared happy and healthy, certainly better in his Gryffindor (Sirius had just known it!) robes than he had in the oversized muggle clothing Sirius had seen him wearing around his relatives house.
Satisfied for the time being, he retreated into the forest to a small meadow where he and the other Marauders had spent hundreds of hours over the course of their tenure in the castle. He settled beneath a willow at its border and finally let himself really rest.
He awoke, hours or days later, he really couldn't have said, to the sight of two felines staring at him. One blue-eyed, the other a haunting orange, they appeared to have been waiting for him to wake up. They just gazed at each other for several minutes before the blue-eyed animal- a sleek black part-kneazle- stood up and cautiously approached him. He didn't move, just watched her warily as she leaned over and gently rubbed her small face against his muzzle. Sirius' breath caught in his throat.
It was the first time anybody- human or creature- had touched him with anything like affection in twelve years. His head fell to his paws and he whined. He hadn't realized how deprived he'd felt. The cat seemed to understand and she lay down, stretching out against him.
The ginger monster who was her companion stayed where he was, but rolled onto his back. By exposing his belly he was making himself extremely vulnerable, it was a clear display of trust in Sirius, and he wasn't sure what he'd done to earn it. But he didn't care, they had apparently decided they wanted to be friends, and he was in no position to refuse a little companionship.
Sirius strongly suspected that they knew he was not a normal dog, but it didn't deter them. They came to see him regularly, and seemed to be able to find him wherever he was hiding out. They were remarkably efficient at sneaking scraps out of the castle for him, which were vastly superior to the rats that he could catch on his own. He was better fed than he had been in more than a decade. He'd forgotten what a nearly full stomach felt like.
It was bittersweet, being back at Hogwarts. His best memories had all been made on the school grounds. And it was easy and pleasant at night to dream of them, finally away from the influence of the dementors, but devastating to wake up and realize those days were over, and so many of those memories now ruined. He credited the cats for keeping him sane through the emotional maelstrom and he couldn't help but think that they knew that he needed them and had sought him out for that very reason.
And then one day, a few weeks after he'd first met them, they brought a human along with them to visit. It was a boy who appeared to be about Harry's age. He was wearing Slytherin robes and had hair so pale Sirius knew that he had to be a Malfoy.
He remembered that his cousin Narcissa had a baby boy not long before Harry was born, he'd considered sending her and her prat of a husband a half-eaten bone as a congratulatory gift. But Lily had said that was juvenile, and she was not a witch one wanted to cross, especially when she was pregnant, so he resisted.
Sirius assumed that baby was this boy. He almost retreated back into the woods because of it. He didn't particularly want to socialize with the son of a Death Eater, even as a dog.
But he was curious about what his two intelligent and kind feline companions were doing with the Slytherin. Because he'd hardly ever met anybody sorted into that house that he could stand, and he'd certainly never heard of a Malfoy who wasn't a bad egg, but kneazles were notoriously good judges of character. And it had been a long time since he'd had anything to be curious about.
The boy came to a startled halt when he spotted Sirius, and looked at the cats, "is this what you wanted to show me?" he asked, tilting his head curiously.
They came and sat deliberately on either side of him in solidarity.
"You know, cats and dogs aren't supposed to get along," he said with a smirk, but he seemed amused enough.
He reached out a cautious hand, "hello, boy," Sirius leaned into it and let out an unconscious whine, because the food the cats had managed to smuggle him had been wonderful, but this boy's bag smelled like heaven, or, even better, the Great Hall.
"Are you hurt?" his dark eyes were wide and worried.
Sirius resisted the urge to shake his head, knowing the gesture would appear too human, and he didn't want to scare off this person who smelled like he had a feast with him, Slytherin or not. So, he just snuffled at his bag.
"Of course, you're hungry," he sat down carefully and began to remove items from it, "I brought lunch with me because these two," he jerked his head in the direction of the cats, "absolutely insisted that I follow them rather than eat, but you look like you need it more than I do."
There were a couple of sandwiches, some crisps, a couple of apples that didn't much appeal to Sirius in this form, treacle tart, and miracle of miracles, pumpkin juice. Oh how he had missed pumpkin juice! If dogs could cry, Sirius would have.
They sat quietly as he ate. Occasionally, the boy would comment on something or other, and eventually he pulled out an arithmancy text and started reading. Sirius found himself reading it over his shoulder. Arithmancy hadn't been his favorite subject, but after years of nothing to look at but the walls of his cell, anything seemed fascinating. The boy left when his lunch period was over, much to Sirius' disappointment, but at least he patted Sirius' head and promised to return.
And return he did, regularly, and with baskets of food. To Sirius' surprise- because he had been right, he was a Malfoy- he was compassionate and thoughtful, and very good company. He took note of the foods Sirius preferred and made sure to include them (or, more likely, asked the elves to do so.) And while he didn't seem to have considered the possibility that Sirius was an animagus, he did sense that he was a magical creature and spoke to him as one intelligent being to another.
He called him 'Shadow,' which Sirius didn't mind, it was nice to be called something. He eventually thought to introduce the cats. Nox was the appropriately named black one and she belonged to Draco, and Crookshanks was the ginger beast (it was the weirdest name Sirius had ever heard, but oddly fitting) and apparently he was Draco's best friend Hermione's familiar.
Draco. That was the boy, and once he said it Sirius realized that he'd heard it before. He was definitely Narcissa's child. When he'd seen the birth announcement he had been surprised that Lucius Malfoy would allow his wife to name their child using the Black family tradition. He'd always seemed the controlling type.
Sirius had considered the possibility that in the chaos at the end of the war Lucius had been killed- he knew he wasn't in Azkaban- and that Narcissa had raised Draco on her own. He remembered his cousin as a snob, and a blood purist to be sure, but she'd always been kind to him; without her Death Eater husband's influence Sirius could imagine her being capable of raising a child like Draco. But Draco spoke of his parents with a great deal of love and respect, they were both, not simply alive, but obviously very involved with their son's life.
So Sirius was confused. And that confusion only grew when one Saturday a girl appeared in lieu of Draco, and Sirius hadn't needed her to introduce herself to know that this was Hermione. She was a petite thing, pretty, with a wild head of curly hair. But what shocked him was the muggle clothes she wore, and the Gryffindor scarf draped around her neck.
The Scion to the Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy was best friends with a muggleborn Gryffindor. Had things really changed that much since he'd been in prison? Or did the Black family have another rebel?
From the moment she arrived Hermione began chattering away to him so quickly that Sirius barked out a laugh, and she was so worked up that she didn't even seem to hear him. She practically radiated fire and passion-very much a Gryffindor- and he imagined she was a good complement to Draco's cool reserve. He liked her immediately.
Apparently, the reason she was there in place of Draco was that he had landed himself in detention for the day. She was very annoyed with him over it, but Sirius wished he could thank the boy for the entertainment. Hermione looked like an angry kitten as she ranted, and it was the funniest thing Sirius had seen in a very long time.
After that she began to visit regularly as well. But she and Draco never came together. And Sirius made another assumption that was quickly proven false.
He had thought they were trying to prevent word of their relationship from reaching Draco's parents. But Hermione spoke of the elder Malfoys even more often than Draco did, and with a great deal of affection. They were obviously well aware of their son's connection to a muggleborn.
She would often bring writing supplies with her and read him the letters she wrote to Lucius and Narcissa as well as her own parents, he heard all sorts of stories about the goings on in Hogwarts. And so, he began to anticipate her visits even more than Draco's. Not because he liked her better, but because through her stories he'd learned something very important about her: she loved his godson.
She seemed to have appointed herself to be something like an older sister to him. Clearly she thought it was her job to take care of him. And when she talked about him, it resonated with Sirius. Their feelings for his pup were similarly affectionate, and he imagined there was little she wouldn't do for him.
He was terribly grateful for the two teenagers and their familiars. And he considered enlisting their help. They trusted him, it would be simple to nick one of their wands, transform, and force them to hear him out. But he'd grown fond of them, and he didn't particularly want to involve them in the mess, or scare them. But he had to keep Harry safe.
So he compromised with himself. Halloween was coming up, everybody would be attending the feast and he would use the opportunity to sneak into the castle. Hopefully he could get into Gryffindor tower and find the rat. If that didn't work, he would reconsider his options.
Getting the rat was his one clear objective, he had to concentrate on that, because everything else was so confusing.
Author's Note: On Monday this story surpassed 1,000 followers, which is kind of blowing my mind, and is so far beyond what I could have imagined not even four months ago when a I threw a 1,500 word prologue out there on a wing and a prayer. I'm so, so grateful to you all, (even you lurkers I've totally been there!) so I've written you a little present. It kind of came out of nowhere, Sirius wasn't going to appear for awhile yet, and I had no plans to write from his POV, but here it is! Don't freak out, this is truly an interlude, when we get back to the main action it will be starting from where we left off, I won't deprive you of that kiss. Thanks again wonderful readers!