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Harry Potter And The Game of Death
Level 1
Chapter Seventeen: Bye Bye Privet Drive
Sirius Black wore many different titles. Escaped convict, ladies man extraordinaire, prank master, and heir to one of the richest – and Darkest – magical families in the known magical world to name a few. He was also a man of many thoughts, few of which were truly profound in any way. Something which was usually reflected in his tendency to tell a joke rather than enter deep or serious discussions.
But today was different. Today, the usually irrepressible Sirius had been stressed since the moment he woke up. Nervous butterflies danced a macabre dance in his stomach while his fingers drummed frantic beats on anything they touched.
A loud crash came as Sirius took a corner without looking where he was going. He looked at what had fallen to the floor absent-mindedly – a Ming vase from the Qianlong period – before banging his head on the nearby wall in frustration.
This was not the first item he had broken thus far today. In fact, it could be said that Sirius had left a trail of destroyed or damaged items in his wake all morning long. It was just another sign of his inability to concentrate, and it was really beginning to grate on his nerves.
A quick Reparo spell rang out, repairing the vase to its former glory as Sirius' oldest remaining friend cleaned up this latest mess.
"For Merlin's sake, Sirius, are you sure that you don't want me to accompany you on the trip? That's the eighth item you've broken in the past ten minutes!" Remus had a rather irked tone to his voice as he chided Sirius. "You're not really inspiring much confidence in your abilities at the moment. I'd even go so far to say that I'm worried I might have to call the Ministry for an anti-splinch unit if you go out like this."
Sirius scoffed at the notion that he might mess up either Apparition or the more advanced Side-Along Apparition. Even with some rust lingering from his time spent in Azkaban, Sirius was far too good of a wizard.
Unamused by Sirius' clear disdain, the werewolf waggled a finger at him. "Nope! None of that 'I'm just pure awesome' nonsense right now, Sirius. You know that having a distracted state of mind is what causes ninety percent of splinching accidents to occur. And given your experience with it back in our Seventh year, I'd expect you to have a better appreciation for the pain it can cause."
Sirius shrugged his shoulders. That incident had been mostly James' fault. Well, that and the half a bottle of Firewhiskey they had both consumed just prior to Apparating. And even though Sirius' left foot had ended up in Dublin, his hair in Manchester, and everything else in Hogwarts, it had only taken the Healers a day to sort him out.
Oddly enough, thinking of that experience served to somewhat calm the butterflies dancing in his stomach. Enough that Sirius was finally able to form a coherent train of thought and reply to his friend. "That's ancient history, Remus. There's no need to worry; I'm as fit as a fiddle and am good to go!"
Sirius flashed the man his most winsome smile and threw his arms out wide. "Just look at me! I'm a paragon of beauty and mighty wizardry, am I not?"
Having dressed up in the latest robes of wizarding fashion, with a dark maroon shirt and black slacks peeking through its open front, Sirius thought that he cut a rather dashing figure at the moment. But all he got in return for his charming attempt at humour was a deadpan stare and a sigh of discontent.
Sirius' winsome smile faded at that and returned to its previous grimace. "Don't look at me like that, furball. Everything is under control. Really!"
"Sure it is," Remus said with a roll of his eyes. "And before you go calling me a furball, Padfoot, you'd better look in the mirror the next time you transform."
Ooh! Now there was an opening for a terrible joke if Sirius had ever seen one. Hoping that it might help to relieve his inner tension, Sirius reached deep into his bag of bad puns and let one rip. "Of course I'm calling you that, Moony. 'Cause I'm Black!"
"Huh? 'Cause you're… ugh! You did not do that just now, did you?" It took Remus a moment, but the man gave out a beautifully pained groan that was music to Sirius' ears once he cottoned on. "God, Merlin, Morgana – someone! Anyone! Please, please take mercy on me for dealing with this bloody idiot. Why couldn't Azkaban have done anything for your terrible sense of humour? Why? That pun was worse than your stupid 'of course I'm serious, it's my name' routine. You skipped the whole 'pot calling the cauldron' part entirely!"
"Genius knows no bounds, Remus. Don't be jealous of my great self for being so quick on the spot."
"Yeah. Sure. Whatever, moron. Because that joke was so rotten I can feel my brain hurting, I'm bringing along those pictures of you licking yourself the next time we go out looking for dates."
"Ha! As if that would be a bad thing," Sirius barked out as he gave a hearty laugh. "That'll just show the ladies how flexible I am, and the ladies love a man who can bend and stretch. If you want to get one over on me, Remus, you'll need to do a lot better than that!"
Oh yes, telling that joke had been a good idea. A great one, even. Sirius could already feel much of his inner tension beginning to dissipate as he fell into the familiar routine with Remus.
But the happy feeling beginning to rise within Sirius was soon dashed when he saw the sly gleam in Remus' eye.
"Then how about I show Harry those pictures from our sixth year?" Remus said with a smile. "You know, from the time McGonagall caught you and James outside the common room's portrait after the two of you had just…"
His face blanching in horror, Sirius launched himself at the other man and covered his mouth before Remus could say anything more. "Nope nope nope! That event never happened. James and I had a peaceful night's rest that evening, in our dorm room, and did not go anywhere near her private sleeping quarters. End of story!"
Laughing, Remus pushed Sirius' hand away from his mouth. The man's eyes gleamed victoriously as he again waggled a finger at Sirius. "Whatever you say, Snuffles," Remus said with a chuckle. "Just remember that I have far more dirt on you than you have on me… and that I'm not afraid to use it when it suits my purposes."
The two men mock glared at each other for a moment. Then they laughed and shook their heads, bringing it to an end.
Such mock fights were a bedrock portion of their relationship and had been since they were kids. Rediscovering it had all these later been good for them both. Or at least Sirius hoped that it had been for Remus too; because without the other man's help and support, Sirius knew he would not be even a quarter as healed from his time in Azkaban as he was right now.
After a time, Sirius's barking laugh trailed off into soft chuckles. And feeling better about himself and his own state of mind, Sirius finally spoke to his friend about what was actually bothering him.
"By Merlin's straggly beard, Remus, I hope we don't manage to scare Harry off with all of our weird antics." Sirius felt his forehead tighten in worry as he thought about what might happen if Harry did not like their sense of humour; or worse, if the boy found Sirius too boring or dull. "I… I really want him to like it here. To feel safe, and comfortable, and to think of it as a place where he could have fun and be happy, too."
Remus placed a hand on Sirius' shoulder, his sombre demeanour lending him a comforting gravitas as he spoke. "Don't worry about it. Harry's a smart boy. One that, by both his account and the accounts of those closest to him, is very much looking forward to joining us here. Besides, if having the Weasley twins in his life for three years hasn't done him in yet – and the pair of them are as bad as you and James ever were – then chances are that being around a ridiculous pair of old fogeys like the two of us won't scare him off either."
Sirius gave a snort. "Hey, don't lump my young self in with your aged ass. I've still got another ten or twenty years of youth left in me."
"Riiiiight," Remus drawled sarcastically. "I'll be sure to tell that to Dora the next time she visits. I'm sure she'll just love disabusing you of that ridiculous notion."
Then, his face growing serious once again, the man tightened his grip on Sirius' shoulder. "All jokes aside, are you really sure that you don't want me to come along with you to pick Harry up? I know that we have guests coming soon, but I'm sure we could ask Andromeda to step in and take care of welcoming people. She's good at it and would be more than happy to help out."
Sirius shook his head. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure Remus. This is something that I want to do on my own. That I have to do on my own. And that I should have done ages ago, really. You know, before I went after Wormtail and fell into the bastard's trap." Sirius sighed and rubbed a hand over his face as he spoke. "Doing it now… well, it will allow me to set things right. Both for Harry and for me."
Raw emotion dripped from Sirius' voice at the end as his words had come straight from the heart. And this time, unlike the previous times, Remus stayed silent and let Sirius think things through on his own.
Dreams of making a home with Harry had been a part of Sirius' life for the past decade and were a constant topic of Sirius' therapy sessions. The professionals he had seen at St. Mungo's agreed with him and thought that it would be a healthy step for Sirius to take. All that had been needed before he took the step was for Sirius to get himself back on his feet, and to have a place ready for the young boy to live in as well. Both of which, with the aid of Remus, Andromeda, and even that crazy girl, Dora, had now been accomplished.
Thanks to their efforts Sirius was healthier than he had been since the day James and Lily had died. His face and body looked nearly recovered, he had moved into a safe and comfortable home, and even possessed a new Ollivander wand thanks to a trip to Diagon Alley several weeks ago. A few of his old friends and acquaintances had even reached out to renew ties.
Life, for the first time in a decade, was looking bright. But no matter what he did, there would always be that niggling worm of guilt in his heart.
Sirius ran a hand through his freshly cut hair as his thoughts swirled around his past mistakes. "You know, if I had just kept Harry with me instead of chasing after Wormtail all those years ago, so much could have been avoided. Just think of it. You and I could've had nearly thirteen years' worth of memories, like the ones we've made in the past few weeks. I never would've gone to Azkaban, you would've never been forced to live on the edges of society, and Harry would've never gone to those arsehole relatives of Lily's. But no, I just had to be an impulsive idiot and threw it all away."
Sirius turned to look at his friend. In the time since they had begun living with one another, Sirius had never said anything like that. Not even once. He had been too afraid, too worried that his oldest friend would judge him for his past actions. But it was something that needed to be said, and it needed to be said before Harry arrived.
After a moment of silent pondering, Remus shrugged his shoulders. "You could be right, old friend. Life really might have been different if you had made a different choice that night.
"Remus, I am so, so sorry that-"
"But the same could be said of a hundred other choices too," Remus said, cutting off Sirius' words without batting an eye. "Such as what if Hagrid had refused to take Harry from you? Or what if I had accompanied you to their cottage instead of rushing to check on the Longbottoms? Or what if anyone – Dumbledore, Minerva, Moody, or any other person who knew you – had tried harder to fight for your freedom? Any one of us could have changed the course that history took. But the fact of the matter is we didn't. And in my mind, that makes all of us equally guilty in the faults that occurred later on."
Sirius mulled over his friend's words. Looking at it that way, there was a lot that could have been done differently. And there were a lot of people who could have changed things.
But in the end, no matter what anyone else said, it had been his decision to make Peter the Secret Keeper. His decision to chase after the traitor for his betrayal. So yes, other people could have done better, but Sirius had been the one to screw things up in the first place. "I hear you, but even if you're right, I'm still the cause of everything going wrong in the first place, Remus, which mean's I'm the one most guilty."
"No. The guilty ones are Peter and Voldemort, Sirius. Not you. But let's not dwell on 'what if's' and 'maybes', my friend. If we do, then we'll both need to get drunk again and neither one of us would be in any sort of state to pick up Harry or receive the various guests due here any moment."
"Heh. I don't know about you, but a stiff drink sounds good right about now," Sirius said.
But Remus shook his head. "Sounds good? Yes. But is good? Not in the slightest. So let's both of us get a move on, shall we?"
Their discussion complete, Remus moved off towards the kitchen, his mind clearly returning to the task of preparing their home to receive guests.
Seeing that the too serious werewolf was distracted, Sirius tried to make a move towards a nearby liquor cabinet. Having a bit of a nipper really did sound good, and there was plenty of the good stuff around too.
Only when he tried to open it with a silent spell, Remus shot him in the rear with a stinging hex!
Sirius jumped into the air with an angry howl and glared at his old friend, who bared his teeth in a predatory grin.
"Not on my watch, old bean," Remus stated. "It's time for you to get a move on so you can bring the boy back to us, and I want both of you to be in one piece. In the meantime, I'll make sure to settle everyone in so that the guests we've invited can give Harry a warm welcome. Remember, today we will make this a proper home for him, the way both of us should have all those years ago, and the way that it will be from now on."
A wry grin made its way onto Sirius' face while he rubbed his stinging ass cheek. "Fine, fine," he muttered. "That sounds good to me too, Moony, so you win for now. I'll bring the little pup back and the two of us will spoil him rotten. Morgana knows that little Dora has been twisting my ear off for not bringing him over sooner."
"Just be sure not to leave Harry alone with her for too long," Remus said pointedly. "I shudder to think of just how she might twist the poor boy. The woman is as bad as you when it comes to some things."
"Ha!" Sirius crowed. "If only Harry were so lucky. Any man who can get with a Metamorphagus is one hell of a lucky bloke."
"Dammit Sirius, you know that's not what I meant! Now go on and scoot already before I follow Dora's example and begin hexing your bits instead of your cheeks."
Sirius's lips twitched as he considered throwing in one final verbal jab. But instead, he turned away and made his way to the Cottage's entranceway. But before he left, there was one final thing he needed to do.
In a well-practised gesture, he gently tapped his wand against the side of his head. The light pink flash of a Dispelio charm shone from its tip before gently fading away.
It was an old habit from Sirius' days as an Auror, back when he would cast that spell before and after handling any important situations. A properly applied sensory Charm to muddle a person's senses could be just as deadly as a killing curse if it went unnoticed, and an Auror who let it happen could only blame themselves for not taking enough precautions. These days, though, Sirius found that the action mostly served as the magical counterpart to the Muggle habit of 'pinching' oneself to make sure that one was not dreaming. Or in his case, that one was, in fact, awake, and not under the influence of a soul sucking creature.
Sirius looked around and saw that nothing had changed. That everything was truly real and that one of his dearest dreams was about to come true.
His breath hitched as he felt a frog grow in his throat. It was a struggle to force it down, but Sirius poured his everything into doing so. Going to the boy's current abode as a weeping, howling mess was the last thing that Sirius wanted to do when he was trying to project an image that was the polar opposite.
"Oh, and before you return with Harry," Remus called out from the kitchen, "make sure to let the Dursley's know that a few of us will be visiting them later on in the week to have a second discussion with them. Minerva made it quite clear to me that she expects to be included, and Dora sounded especially enthusiastic when Andromeda brought it up during their last visit."
Oh yes. There was no chance of Sirius forgetting that little event. The various signatories on the initial letter Sirius had written to the Dursleys had all been in agreement that a second, more personal visit was needed once Harry was out of the Dursley's house. One that would be between adults only and have a far more severe tone than today's visit.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll handle it," Sirius replied. A feral grin came to his face as he thought about just how he might impart the message to Lily's relatives. "Now get back to pouring that champagne, Moony. Minnie won't be happy if you forget the alcohol."
Deciding to depart before Remus could come up with a reply, Sirius gathered his concentration and left the Cottage with the ear-splitting crack of a successful apparition.
When a sound similar to that of the Knight Bus rang out in the calm morning air, Harry knew that it was finally time. His heart filled to bursting with joy, he ran over to the front door and opened it with a beaming smile on his face.
It did not take him long to spot his magical visitor.
A dark-haired man in well-cut wizard robes was walking toward the house with long, loping strides. Sporting a shaggy mane of rich black hair like that of a rocker, and bearing a twinkle in his eyes that had been missing when they last saw one another over a month ago, the man was unmistakable to Harry's eyes.
"Sirius!" Harry cried out.
The roguish man in question smiled happily at Harry's cry and bounded the final few steps separating them and wrapped Harry into a fierce hug the moment he was within reach. A hug that Harry returned with as much feeling as was packed within his small frame.
"Harry! It's good to see you, too. I wish I'd been able to write you more often, but it's been an absolute madhouse over at the Cottage in getting things ready for your arrival."
"But you're safe, right? No troubles or anything?"
"Nah, everything's under control. For the most part, anyway. Though I've probably been driving poor Remus spare, and we both know that the mangy ol' wolf could probably do with a little less worry and a whole lot more fun in his life." The older man tousled Harry's perpetually messy hair as he spoke. "But we can chat about the details after I get you to the Cottage. We've got a fun little party planned for you today and I can't wait to get you there!"
"That sounds wonderful, Sirius," Harry said with a grin. Moving back, he finally separated himself from Sirius' arms. "Though you really didn't need to go through the trouble of doing a party just to welcome me to our new home."
"Nonsense! There's no way I could've let today go without throwing a bash. Remus and I invited some of your friends over, as well as a bunch of other people who know and like you, so it should be one helluva good time!"
The man looked Harry in the eyes as he spoke. And as he did, Harry watched as Sirius' roguish grin turned into something more… feral. Perhaps it was a trait of his canine form or something he had sported for years. Either way, Sirius' roguish face no longer looked quite so charming and Harry felt the hairs on the back of this neck prickle ever so slightly in warning.
"Speaking of good times," Sirius said in a suddenly icy tone, "I don't want to ruin that wonderful moment with what will come next. After all, I can't just take you away without properly introducing myself to your three delightful relatives, now can I?"
Nodding, Harry ended the hug and stepped back inside. They had discussed this with one another in a recent letter. Though Harry felt that he had stopped the older man from making good on his death threats towards the Dursleys – threats which had been more than a little descriptive in one of the early letters Sirius had sent – Sirius had still insisted on leaving them with an impression. Even if it did cause Harry to feel a little… uncomfortable.
The Dursleys were family, the only living relatives Harry had left in the whole wide world, and a large part of him wanted that to count for something. Even if it was only a little.
Sirius followed Harry as he led the older wizard inside and into the sitting room. Petunia and Vernon sat on two chairs at the far side of the room, flanking the moderate sized couch which was entirely taken up by Dudley's obese form. Petunia had dressed in a formal pink dress with floral patterns while Vernon was in one of his usual severe grey business suits. Dudley, meanwhile, wore some terrible ensemble that his mother had created for him which made him look like a porpoise stranded on land.
Vernon's walrus-like moustache bristled the moment he saw the two wizards enter the room.
"Alright, boy, let's get this over with already," the large man said in a gruff rumble. "I've got a business meeting to get to in an hour, and Petunia will be taking our little Duddykins out to visit one of his friends from Smeltings. I'd like to finish this inconvenience as soon as possible so that we can get on with our lives."
Harry let the rude words wash over him. His younger self might have been hurt by them in the past, but not the current Harry. No, to the current Harry they were like the sweetest music he had ever heard. Because he could hear the bluster present in every word said and left unsaid, and he knew that there was nothing – absolutely nothing – his uncle could do to harm him ever again.
"In that case, uncle, please allow me to introduce my godfather, Sirius Black. And Sirius, allow me to introduce you to my Aunt Petunia, my Uncle Vernon, and my cousin Dudley."
Sirius gave a minute nod at Harry's introduction. The dark-haired man stared at each one of Harry's relatives in turn, as if committing every aspect of their features into his mind for later use.
The Dursleys, meanwhile, stared back rather nervously. Petunia's gaze darted to and fro, while Vernon quickly began to look as though his head had become an overripe tomato. While Dudley… well, Harry's bloated cousin seemed rather focused on protecting his rear. The enormous boy had his hands clamped around it and had shoved his rear so deep into the couch that the poor piece of furniture seemed to be on the verge of breaking.
Hagrid's first year gift of a pigtail, it would seem, had never been forgotten.
Sirius was the first one to break the tension filled air. "Well, I see no need to draw this out either. Harry, please go and fetch your stuff and bring it here. We will leave as soon as you have it down."
Harry gave his godfather a glance. "Are you sure? Didn't you want to talk with them before we left?"
"I am absolutely certain of this. Now, please hop to it so that we can leave this place as soon as possible. I can deliver my message while you work."
Harry nodded in acceptance and went upstairs. He had already packed his stuff and sent Hedwig off the night before, which meant that he should be able to bring everything down in short order.
As he moved his trunk and did a final once over of the room Harry faintly heard Sirius speaking in the room below. Since it never rose beyond a normal tone of voice, Harry figured that nothing important was going on.
It only took several minutes before Harry had everything ready to go and placed in a tidy pile in the middle of the living room. He had been tempted to just stick everything into his 'Inventory' – a super useful feature of the Game that Harry had experimented with over the summer – but ultimately chose against it.
The Game of Death and everything about it was a secret. It also had to be kept a secret, lest someone either accidentally or purposefully let slip its existence to the wrong sort. And because the wizarding world had things in it like memory wiping spells, possibly mind-reading, and who knew what else, Harry was taking no chances in exposing it to his vulnerable relatives.
When Harry placed the last item on the pile, Sirius looked at it with a raised eyebrow. The man then raised his wand and muttered a spell that Harry did not quite catch. "Are you sure that's everything, Harry? I'm not picking up any storage or spatial-expansion spells."
"Yeah, that's everything of value," Harry said, his face flushing as he spoke. He had never really been much for material goods, and the Dursley's had never given him anything of his own to keep until this summer. "Anything else in the house can stay."
Sirius stared at the pile with an unreadable expression on his face. His gaze moved from it to Harry before slowly making its way to the Dursleys.
Dudley's face went white as a sheet when he made eye contact with Sirius while both of his parents swallowed nervously. After several moments of tense silence, Sirius moved his gaze back to Harry and seemingly did his best to eke out a smile.
"Very well. I've finished today's business with your aunt and uncle already, so there's nothing left to do on my end." Sirius ran a hand through his long locks of hair as he spoke. "Is there anything you would like to say to them before we go? Because while Remus and I are excited to bring you to live with us, Harry, this could very well be the last time that you see each other."
A myriad of emotions flashed through Harry's body at Sirius' words.
This was a moment Harry had dreamed of for over ten years. One that he had often felt might never come. Yet now that it was upon him, all his previous ideas on how he would handle it flew out the window. Harry felt his eyes turn misty while a solid lump began to grow within his throat.
There were hundreds of things Harry wanted to say to them. He wanted to rage at them for locking him inside of a cupboard for all those years. For having lied to him about his parents, and for being called a freak. Harry wanted to ask why they had never loved him like they had loved Dudley. To see if there was anything he could have done differently. To know if it had ever been possible for him to gain their affection like he had always wanted.
But in the end Harry tossed those thoughts aside. None of it was important in the long run. For in spite of being his family, the only living family Harry had, every bridge which lay between them had been torched long ago. And he had no desire in building new ones before his departure.
Harry took a deep breath. "I hope that you each of you has a happy life. And that we never meet again." He turned to face his godfather. "Let's go."
Sirius nodded in silence. The older man tapped Harry's belongings with his wand; upon being tapped, each item disappeared with a sharp crack, ostensibly having been transported to the Cottage.
Harry's godfather then proffered his left arm and motioned for Harry to come close. "Grab hold of me with both hands, kiddo. We'll be leaving by side-along apparition, and it can be a mite bit disconcerting the first few times."
With a final look at the Dursleys, seated in a tight cluster as they watched the two wizards talk, Harry felt a single tear leave his misty eyes. He scrubbed it away with one of his sleeves and nodded fiercely. Wanting nothing more in the world than to be gone from this place, Harry grabbed hold of Sirius' robes with both of his hands and tried to prepare himself for the rigours of magical travel.
A single sharp crack later and they were gone.
A/N: Thus ends Harry's time at Number 4 Privet Drive. The Dursleys are now (mostly) out of Harry's life. And while they still have a minor role to play in things to come, it has never been my intention for them to be a major part of this story. The focus is, and always will be, on Harry and those closest to him as they battle against Voldemort and other who would see them dead.
Until Next Time,
Elsil
