Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, as if I did I wouldn't be writing this.
Harry heaved the door open with a big smile on his face, however instead of seeing Sirius' smiling face looking back at him, he saw nothing. He glanced around the street trying to glimpse a tall man with long black hair, but still nothing.
Disappointed and confused, Harry went to close the door but suddenly found himself on the floor with a huge lump of fur, blinding his eyes and licking his face furiously, laughter bubbled through his throat as he was tickled by the dog's hot breath on his face.
"Get off me you mangy mutt!" Harry choked out, laughing. Throwing the dog off him Harry managed to sit up "Honestly Sirius!" For his part, the dog sat in front of him, tail swishing from side to side at an enormous speed.
"Who is it?" Petunia cried shrilly coming out of the kitchen, however seeing Sirius parading around her hall as a huge black dog, promptly made her drop the mug she was holding with a scream; the mug crashing to the floor.
"GET THAT THING OUT OF HERE THIS INSTANT!" Petunia screamed, however instead of scaring the dog, this just seemed to make his tail wag even more as he bounded towards Aunt Petunia, much to her horror, and leapt into the kitchen. Looking back Harry would always laugh at the commotion that erupted from that movement.
Vernon's tea went spilling all over the table and his paper went flying into the air at the sight of the black fur-ball, whereas Dudley, who had been in the middle of a mouthful of bacon, started to yelp, but this action made him start to choke as he gradually started to turn blue. Petunia shrieked as she tried to hit Dudley on the back trying to dislodge the slice of bacon trapped in the back of his throat. Vernon was trying desperately to kick the dog out of the house, his face getting more and more purple by the second.
It was here that Harry decided to intervene before the dog accidentally killed Dudley, indirectly of course. Harry ran up to Dudley wrapped his arms around Dudley's huge middle and then yanked his arms up and in forcing the bacon out of Dudley's throat where it flew through the air and landed on the wall, mere centimetre's from Vernon's head.
Sirius on the other hand, had decided that although causing so much havoc was fun, they needed to calm down, so very slowly he padded into the middle of the room, in clear view of all eyes and started to transform. Seeing a black dog start to shift shape and gradually turn into a human being was far too much for Aunt Petunia to take, hence her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she promptly fainted.
Vernon's face had gone from a very deep purple to being as pale as a ghost, as he watched the animal in front of him transform, however before he could form any coherent thoughts on the subject he was quickly assaulted by the large form of Dudley, shaking violently, running straight into him, as he tried to get out of the house as quickly as his fat legs would carry him.
"WHAT IN THE BLAZES IS GOING ON HERE!" Vernon yelled, starting to recover from the shock of seeing a huge black beast change shape and become a strangely familiar looking man before his very eyes.
"I would have thought it was rather obvious actually Vernon" the stranger said in a deathly calm voice. He then pointed his wand at Petunia's still unconscious form and said quietly "Enervate".
Petunia gasped as she woke up with a start, wondering suddenly why she was looking at the kitchen ceiling and not her bedroom ceiling, she looked around only to remember quite vividly the reason.
"Where did the black thing go?" she asked shakily
"Ah, I believe that was me" a voice said and her attention was pulled from Vernon, who seemed to be breathing rather heavily to a rather familiar looking man, he had long black shaggy hair with piercingly ice blue eyes. His form was very slender, yet he had quite obvious muscle, starting to expand on his form. He also had an extremely dangerous look in his eyes that clearly stated to Petunia that he was not to be messed with.
"And who exactly might you be?" Vernon replied tersely, still reeling from the shock of the black lump that had mauled his kitchen turning out to be a man.
"Oh, I'm terribly sorry have I not introduced myself?" The man said, all hints of the danger in his eyes replaced with a mischievous glint, this was supported by a slight chuckle from behind him, and once Petunia had craned her neck round the stranger, she could see it was Harry. "My name is Sirius Black, I do believe we've met before".
Of what colour was left in Petunia and Vernon's faces quickly vanished and a very girl pitched shriek could be heard from upstairs. "The m-m-murderer?" Petunia choked out
"Murderer is such a strong word, but if you're trying to say am I the man responsible for your sister's death? Then yes I suppose I am" There was no emotion present in his voice, but Harry could tell through the haunted look, he got whenever he spoke of Harry's parents that it was costing him a lot to say this.
"You're on the run! We'll have you locked up for this!" Vernon roared regaining his voice magnificently
"Ah, that would be true had I not been cleared of all charges, I'm a free man. Now Harry why don't you go and get your things while the Dursely's and I settle a few things out" If Harry didn't know Sirius so well, he would have been scared by the menace in Sirius' voice, nevertheless he didn't need telling twice, and quickly nodded his consent before exiting the room, skipping up the stairs and coming face to face with Dudley.
"Harry! Is that man really the murderer?" Dudley asked, his voice trembling. Harry realised then just how scared Dudley was of his godfather, an evil smile creeping onto his face as he thought just how he could use this to his advantage.
"He is no murderer" came the cold answer, but when Dudley started to look relieved, he quickly added "But he is my godfather, and with his temper, could easily become one" smirking at the look of horror on Dudley's face he quickly turned and started walking to his room.
"Oh Harry I didn't mean it this morning! The whole birthday present it was just a joke! You know that right?" He called nervously from behind. His only reply was a slam of the door as Harry went in to collect his things.
Looking round his room, Harry suddenly realised this would probably be the last time he entered it, as he was going to live with Sirius and Remus now and considering the battle was so close next summer he either wouldn't need the blood protection as Voldemort would be dead, or he himself would be dead. How morbid he thought. But nothing could mistake the truthfulness of that statement. This time next year I could be dead. In a couple of months I could be dead. Hell even tomorrow I could be dead! Face it Harry there's no way you're going to be able to defeat Voldemort! You won't even last ten seconds against him. Okay I have got to stop thinking like this. Snapping out of the trance he had just been in he quickly pulled out his wand muttered the minimising spell, with a slight thrill as it was the first time he 'd used magic at home, and put Hedwig's cage and trunk in his pocket.
Running back down the stairs, the sight that greeted him made his jaw drop. Sirius was standing there with an extremely satisfied smirk on his face, whilst staring at three very large frogs. One had a slight purple tinge to it, another had an extremely long neck for a frog and the other, well the other was just plain large.
"Sirius! Are they the Dursely's?" Harry asked incredulously
"Yep! They paint quite a picture don't they? You ready kiddo?"
"I-I think so. Will they be alright?"
"They'll be fine! Let's go then! Really is a foul house you know" Sirius said with a grin.
Stepping outside Sirius promptly grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him behind the house, saying quietly "Hold onto my arm tight now okay? I'm going to do a side apparition, seeing as you haven't done your test yet" Harry vaguely nodded too excited about leaving the Dursley's and trying to imprint that picture of the three frogs in his memory forever.
However this got kicked to the back of his mind as he suddenly felt the familiar sensation like he was being compressed from all sides, black dots started to invade his vision as his eyes felt like they were going to explode from the pressure, all his muscles started to go weak from the lack of oxygen he was receiving and just as his legs started to buckle, it all vanished. The dots receded into nothing and all his muscles jumped back into action.
"I am never going to get used to that!" Harry sighed, and was greeted with a bark like laugh from his godfather.
"Well never mind, welcome to your new home Harry!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly. Harry looked up and gasped. He was standing in front of the most beautiful cottage he'd ever seen. It was quite small with red bricks and beams running through it, making it look very Victorian, there was a white fence surrounding the garden, which was so overgrown and wild that you could hardly see inside it. Aunt Petunia would have screamed if she saw it, but to Harry, it was perfect. "Do you like it?" a nervous voice asked him, as he hadn't said anything for quite a while, just simply staring with his mouth agape.
"Oh Sirius I love it! Thank you so much!" Harry jumped up and crushed Sirius with a huge bear hug "Where's Remus?" Harry said breathlessly once he'd let Sirius go.
"Inside I think, waiting for you" he said with a smile not in the least fazed by Harry's sudden outburst, as he watched him practically skipping down the path.
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Harry gradually came back from unconsciousness as he stared up into his room. It was a classic Gryffindor room, all the walls were painted in red and gold, with Quidditch posters covering all the walls, waving back at him, among these posters were pictures of all his friends laughing and joking. Remus had explained that Ginny and Hermione had been sending them photos for months before his birthday so they could prepare it for him, something that deeply touched Harry as he had never really encountered people that would spend so much time over him. His floor was scattered with books on 'How to become an Animagus'. Harry grinned like a Cheshire cat from his massive four-poster at the thought, he hadn't yet even managed to transform but Remus and Sirius said he was well on the way to getting there. He could hardly wait!
It was the 30th August, one day before he was due to return to Hogwarts and he was planning to get the most out of Remus and Sirius as possible before he left, so crawling out of bed he quickly grabbed some clothes and headed down the stairs to the smell of bacon.
"Hey Moony!" he said as he came into the kitchen "How was last night?" Yesterday evening had been a full moon and so Remus and Sirius had succumbed to the forest behind the cottage, and as Harry had not yet finished his animagus transformation, he was not allowed to accompany them. A fact he detested with a vengeance.
"Tiring I'll say that much" Remus said with a smile "I no you want to come, honestly I do, it's just far too dangerous without your animgaus form, even with the wolfsbane potion. I can't risk it!"
"I know" Harry murmured gloomily. At that moment a very rumpled Sirius came padding into the room and muttered good morning with a grunt. Harry had learnt through experience in the past couple of weeks that it was best not to disturb his godfather when he was in this state, which was about every morning, so excusing himself he went quickly to the bathroom to wash up. On his way back however he heard something that made him stop.
"Do
you know how dangerous that could be? What if you're seen! And worse what
if you're seen by death eaters! Padfoot you know that finding you and
Harry unguarded flying through the sky would be the ultimate prize
for
them! I can't allow it!"
"Moony!
It's not as if were gonna light up a beacon saying 'Boy-who-Lived
here!' are we? We'll have the invisibility icon on! No
one
will see!"
"Sirius this is Harry's life you're gambling!" Harry eyebrows shot up at this and strained his ears to hear better
"I'm well aware of the consequences Remus but don't you see? Harry won't even have a life if he can't get some fun once in a while! It'll be good for him, plus we're aware of the risks - we'll be careful!" Sirius whined, "Harry has hardly had any fun in his life, and -" his voice dropping so Harry could hardly hear it "who knows how long he's got left, I believe in him 100, don't get me wrong, I know he can do it but he deserves to live life to the full! Just in case. His life's been dictated by that damn prophecy for too long moony!"
"I see your point I really do Padfoot but...it's just such a risk, wouldn't it be easier to go on the Hogwarts express?"
"NO! this is my treat and I want it to be fun. Plus think about this logically Moony, who is the bigger target, me and Harry flying invisibly through the sky, or a well known train ploughing through the countryside with hundreds of children on board? One of which is suspected to be the Boy-who-lived! How would they even find out anyway? Only you and me know!"
"Oh fine! But it's on your head Sirius Black!"
"Thank you Moony!"
Sensing this was a good time to stop eavesdropping Harry came back into the kitchen pondering over what he had just heard. He was flying to Hogwarts? Cool!
The rest of the day passed by extremely quickly, and was filled with playing Quidditch, laughing, playing wizards chess and laughing a whole lot more. For the first time in Harry's life, he actually didn't want to go back to Hogwarts, living with Sirius and Remus had been so much more fun than he ever would have expected and they had been so supportive whenever he got depressed about the prophecy, he couldn't quite fathom how much he was going to miss them.
"Wake up Harry! I have a surprise for you!" Harry groaned
"Sod off!" He mumbled into the pillow
"Ok that's it, you asked for it!" Harry shrieked as a bucketful of ice-cold water came gushing over his head
"What the hell was that for!" He screamed as Sirius
"What?" Sirius said very innocently "You weren't getting up. Now come on we need to leave if you want to get to Hogwarts on time and I have a special surprise for you! Now hurry up!" with that, Sirius bounded out of the room, leaving Harry very excited, as he knew from having overheard the conversation yesterday that he would be flying to Hogwarts, he only hoped that he would have a better landing than the last time he had flown, as he had crash-landed into the Whomping Willow with Ron. An incident he would be very happy to avoid again.
Once he was up, dressed and washed he dashed into the garden where Sirius was waiting for him with a huge grin on his face, but stopped short at what he was standing in front of. It was gleaming, beautifully polished motorbike.
"Meet Gloria! Isn't she beautiful?" Sirius sounded like a giddy schoolboy who'd just won a new play-station or something "Hagrid gave her back to me last week, seeing as how I'd been freed and all. Do you like her?"
"Sirius, she's gorgeous!" Harry exclaimed "Are we flying to Hogwarts on her?"
"Yep! Wait, how did you know that?"
"Oh, I just heard you say something about flying, but I never dreamed it would be on this! Wow!" Sirius grinned
"I shall see you at Christmas Harry ok?" Remus said as he came out the cottage to say goodbye, turning to Sirius "remember what we talked about? Be careful! And for Merlin's sake don't let yourself be seen"
"I know, I know, now hurry up and give Harry a hug so we can go" It was quite clear to everyone that Sirius was just itching to go for a ride, so Harry gave Remus a huge bear hug, exchanged a few parting phrases, minimised his trunk and Hedwig's cage before stuffing them in his pocket and hopped on the bike behind Sirius.
"Hold on tight Harry!" Sirius pressed the invisibility icon and they shimmered into nothing. Harry waved at Remus as the motor started running but as they were invisible Remus couldn't see so he quickly gave up and wrapped his arms around Sirius' waist.
"Here we go!" Sirius shouted above the engine, as it started hurtling forward down their cottage path and very gradually rose like an airplane until they were way above the clouds.
Harry sighed with contentment as the clouds around them formed a blanket over the earth so they couldn't see beneath them. The familiar feeling of belonging filled him as they travelled along the skyline. The wind whipping his face as Sirius pressed down hard on the accelerator, his hair flying into Harry's face as it had come out of its messy ponytail, not that Harry minded much. Hours went by as they flew, content with the silence that had covered them, splintered only by the purring of the engine. Harry eventually found his eyelids beginning to close as they continued, the gentle vibrate of the seat as they moved and the gentle brush of wind sending him to sleep.
When he woke, it appeared they were descending as he could just see the outline of turrets signalling that Hogwarts was near. However as they got closer, Harry noticed he could see lots of people running around, at first glance he thought it must be students but looking at his watch, it was time they should be in the great hall for the sorting. Upon closer inspection as they touched ground he could see that in fact they were aurors! What the hell are aurors doing here? He thought.
It seemed that Sirius was thinking along the same lines as Harry because as he came to a stop and turned off the invisibility icon he said "Leave your trunk and stuff with me Harry, and go straight to the sorting. I'm gonna find out what the hell is going on" and with that he quickly took the miniature trunk and owl cage from Harry's pocket and strode off to find Dumbledore, leaving Harry alone.
Still utterly confused and getting slightly more worried with every step he took he quickly made his way to the great hall. Opening the doors, he was shocked at the sight People were bleeding all over the place, Madam Pomphrey, it seemed had set up shop in the great hall and there were unconscious students on stretchers everywhere!
Completely panicked, Harry scanned the crowd for any red or brown bushy hair, and finally, he spotted a red head over in one corner, running as fast he could he dashed over to them.
Spotting him Hermione yelped "Oh Harry! You're okay we were so worried! Dumbledore said you weren't coming on the express but we didn't know if they'd got to you! Thank Merlin you're alright!" she literally flew into his shoulder as she gave him a fierce hug
"Will someone please tell me what's going on!" he yelled looking wildly around suddenly he noticed 'hang on'– "Where's Ginny?"
Ron made a strangled sort of choking noise as he went even paler at this statement.
"Oh Harry! It's the express! It was attacked! Thankfully no one was killed but th -they" she stammered as Harry's heart started thumping so hard he thought his chest would break as he dreaded what she was going to say next
"Oh H-H-Harry! They took Ginny!"
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Author Note: No, the summary is not wrong, Harry is taken – all will be revealed soon! Thank you very much to my beta 'Whatapotter!' Please review! I need them!