Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
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AN: THXX to all who have reviewed! I havent expected such a good response... I felt surprised, delighted and honored! Hope that this chapter can meet your expectation. Again, huge thanks to my beta-reader, Kaidan's Quill, who made this much more neat to read. Now, read and enjoy and review!
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Chapter 2 A Storm and Three Death Eaters
Harry charged down the road without any idea on where he was heading. He didn't care where he was going. He didn't care that he had, for a third time, broken the Decree for Restriction of Underage Sorcery. His heart was pounding heavily against his ribcage and he thought he would die of breathlessness if he didn't stop soon. But he carried on running, because wasn't going to get himself killed exactly the point of rowing with Lupin and escaping the house afterwards? However, he was at the end of his physical strength. His wary feet skipped and inevitably Harry's bony body came into contact with the tough ground. The impact knocked the non- existent breath out of Harry's lungs, and he rolled over. For an everlasting minute, Harry just lay on the cold and coarse ground and listened to his thundering breaths. Any second now . . . at any moment Death Eaters would spring out of nowhere and finish him off . . . then he could finally join Sirius or even his parents in the other world.
Will they welcome you with open arms if you let yourself be so stupidly killed? Snapped a mean voice at the back of Harry's mind. Harry couldn't help but admit that the nasty voice was right.
Do you know what you look like now? Lying 'bonelessly' on the ground, waiting to be picked up by your godfather's strong arms? Yes, Harry dejectedly admitted that he was a mess. He was a terrible sight to behold. Surely the Death Eaters would find quite a laugh when they found The–Boy–Who– Lived sleeping on the ground. Harry noticed for the first time that he was lying in a remote part of Little Whinging. Came to think of it, it was lucky for him to have come when he had no idea where he was heading. He could have very well been being hit by Ms. Figg with her bag of cat food if she had come across him and had seen what a mess he was. Harry pushed the thought of the mad old lady out of his mind and stared to the bottomless and starless sky above. The drifting of the thick clouds was hastened by a strong wind. Harry shivered at the cold wind that cut into his exposed bare skin without mercy.
You were mean to Professor Lupin, you know. The accusing tone of Harry's mind voice was lowered. What could Harry do but agree? Lupin must be furious now. What had he said to Lupin anyway? Had he really meant it? He didn't know.
Let me very humbly remind you that you have just angered your last link to your deceased parents, and not to mention the last remaining link to your godfather. The voice sounded almost sympathetic now. It must have been the cold wind that dampened the voice's, no, his anger. But without anger Harry would very soon be overwhelmed and drowned by his own grief . . .
Before Harry could drown in his grief, he was almost drowned by rain. As Harry watched, small droplets of silvery water floated gracefully down from the bottomless sky. The wind that was mounting in intensity made the feather-like rain descend from the sky like a curtain, or perhaps a veil of the fine silk. Harry shuddered at the thought of a veil, but a downpour of heavy droplets soon replaced the image. It extinguished the fire that flared up when Lupin first uttered Sirius' name back in the bedroom. Harry pushed his upper body up from the ground and found his way towards a broken. He sat on the ground with his back leaning on the post. His glasses were wet, and he could no longer distinguish the rain with tears. His heart felt as if a fresh wound had been inflicted upon the unhealed and not so old one, causing it to bleed all over again. Yet his mind had not been as clear since Sirius' demise. A flash of lightning flickered across two storm clouds, illuminating the pitch-black street for a fleeting second. Thunder followed and was so loud that it shook Harry's frozen spine. Didn't that particular thunder sound like the roar of Sirius? Sirius was mad at him . . . he didn't want Harry to mourn for him. Perhaps this rainstorm had been sent by Sirius from above so as to snap him out of his stupor. Perhaps it was from his parents. How he could possibly know . . .
Suddenly, his cleared mind registered one fact – someone, or something was watching him. The realization hit Harry hard. This feeling of being watched was reminiscent of another encounter before . . . In the interval of another flash of lightening, Harry stood up, still leaning on the lamppost to support for his wobbly legs. But he was not fast enough, and by the time he was steady on his feet and had spun his head wildly around for the smallest trace of any living creatures, the area had once again been immersed in total darkness. Yet the feeling of being stalked prevailed. A powerful surge of feeling flooded his body and left Harry dizzy and light-headed. He clutched his chest with his trembling hands and swayed on his feet. It was almost too painful for Harry to hope – but the feeling was unmistakable. He could not be wrong. Harry's heart was pounding hard. He squinted his eyes to get a better view of his surroundings. The rain and the darkness were making it very difficult to see beyond a meter away. It reminded Harry of only one thing – the Quidditch match during his third year when Dementors flooded the stadium and when He watched him. But it didn't make sense. If he (Harry then was afraid of even thinking of his name for fear that the hope would be so ruthlessly squashed) was really here, he would certainly have revealed himself. He had no reason to hide from Harry. But that was if he really had been there . . .
Another flash of lightning lit the sky. Harry noticed several things as the lightning illuminated everything with a bright electric blue light. First, the thing watching him had moved and Harry couldn't feel it as sharply as before. His focus on it wavered and dispersed. Then he noticed that the thing wasn't the only living creature around the deserted street. During the momentary flash of brightness, three dark and tall silhouettes flashed distinctively out on the other end of the otherwise empty street.
Harry had no time to let the situation sink in. Tremendous thunder reverberated in the air around and in the ground beneath Harry's feet. Another flash of lightning closely followed, revealing that the three tall and ghastly silhouettes were already halfway across the street. Only then did Harry realize how sluggish his arms and legs were and how void of strength his body was. His numb and clumsy fingers closed around his wand. That was all Harry managed to do before ducking behind the lamppost with an equally clumsy movement. Three blasts of coloured light scorched the ground where he stood moments ago, scarcely missing the target.
Harry's attackers were not daunted by the fact that their first assault had missed their mark. It egged them on and urged them to send another round of curses in Harry's direction. Harry erected a shield around himself to block all the nasty curses, and sprinted down the street. The presence he felt just before the attackers interfered sustained Harry's determination to survive. He certainly could not let himself be killed. Not before he found out what the presence was. Not before he saw him again.
The thought of him stirred something enormous within Harry's body. Emotion swirled, and a sensation of warmth germinated at the deep within his body –a feeling of hope. The warmth soon was overflowing Harry's whole being and even deep within his veins. The feeling was so alien to Harry – he hadn't haboured such a feeling ever since the incident at the graveyard. The feeling swelled as his feet pounded onto the slippery ground, and exploded as lightning illuminated the area. For a fraction of a second, his gaze met the gaze of a pair of pale eyes in the dark alley ahead.
"Potter! We won't stop until you're dead! " The menacing bellow was hardly heard over the noise of heavy downpour clashing against the ground. Harry swirled around and stood his ground with his legs apart and crouched in a fighting stance. He was ready for anything. But what greeted him were only the endless curtains of rain and their splashing sound against the pavement. He squinted his eyes and swept his vision down both sides of the street without spotting the slightest trace of the three Death Eaters. All of a sudden, Harry felt how exposed he was in the empty street.
"Scared yet, Potter?" A taunting voice rang behind Harry. He stopped dead in his tracks and turned abruptly. Yet there was no sign of the owner of the voice.
"There is nowhere to run. No one is going to save your hide this time, " another taunting voice said from the same direction Harry was facing. Harry turned and could hear muffled laughter in the dark. They were laughing at him, a cornered prey that couldn't escape from the hunters' trap, yet so desperate for salvation. Harry couldn't pinpoint the source of the laughter. The rain was dulling his senses. Where were they hiding?
"Give up now, Potter!" The voice squeaked with apparent excitement to Harry's right.
"Surrender yourself!" Another voice shrieked to his left.
"Just stop fighting! Surrender yourself to us! " Three relentless voices chanted through the rain and they seemingly coming at Harry from every direction. They were closing in on him. The darkness was closing in on him and the hopelessness crushed his overloaded mind. Where could he run? Who could he turn to? But Harry forbade himself to be scared. He forbade himself to give in to their bait and he suppressed the fear that threatened to overcome his logic. Giving into fear was exactly what the enemies wanted . . . he wouldn't fall for such a wicked trick, because the feeling of hope had not been extinguished yet.
Ignoring the taunting voices, Harry shifted his legs and his body, senses alert for any movement in the dark. Finally his back came into contact with the solid wall of a building. Either the rain had increased in intensity so that voices could not be carried over a distance, or his attackers had the sense to shut their mouths, because Harry could no longer hear his pursuers.
Without any forewarning, blasts of bright lights announced the advancement of curses towards Harry. Harry blocked them with a shield. He sprinted crouching along the wall while hurling stunning curses towards the direction of the curses. Harry couldn't devise any practicable plan to take out the Death Eaters. Perhaps the more sensible approach was to hurry back to number 4 Privet Drive, where there was the protection that Dumbledore had set up. Harry decided that would be his objective as curses after curses followed Harry's trail. But Harry soon realized that before he could get out of this street, he would most likely be cursed to oblivion. 'If only I could make out their position, ' Harry thought to himself.
As if answering his thought, a loud yelp was heard through the splashing sound of the rain. It was roughly several meters to the front right of Harry, and he, without further contemplation, yelled "Stupefy!" and pointed his wand towards that direction. It missed its mark, but the Death Eater was forced to roll onto the ground to avoid being hit. And soon Harry spotted what caused the Death Eater to yell in the first place with the help from the faint lamp light from the far end of the street – it was something flying. For a wild moment, Harry thought that it was Fawkes, but soon he realized that the thing diving and jabbing at the rolling Death Eater on the floor was none other than his beloved owl, Hedwig. Harry had no idea how she had gotten there, but as the Death Eater kept yelling and cursing madly at his loyal owl, Harry knew he had to act fast.
"Out of the way!" Harry yelled over the rain, indifferent to the fact that he may as well have marked his position with a bright sign. Hedwig took the hint and flew upwards for several feet, and Harry took the chance. "Stupefy!" He directed the curse at the still disorientated Death Eater on the ground. Without seeing if his curse reached its target or not, Harry rolled over onto the pavement and immediately a red light flew above his head. Harry rolled sideways again as curses flew towards him from all around. His stunning curse must have missed.
Another loud yelp erupted from behind Harry; the culprit was without doubt Hedwig's faithful beak.
"Petrificus Totalus!" Harry shouted towards the direction of the commotion. The commotion was smothered and Harry knew that this time he finally hit his mark.
"Bloody owl!" another angry voice roared very close to the fallen Death Eater. What happened next nearly stopped Harry's heartbeat – through the curtain of downpours, Harry made out a faint shout of something akin to a curse, then, a blast of light that was unmistakably green – the colour of death. After a loud and distancing shriek, Harry could no longer discern the faint outline of his beloved owl in the air.
"Hedwig! No!" Harry cried out in desperation, his legs carried his body towards the direction of his fallen owl. "Hedwig!" He shouted, oblivious that he was heading straight towards the enemy.
"Noooo!" Harry yelled with all his strength, his voice saturated with grief and rage. Something slashed across his back – a curse – hit Harry in the back at that moment, but it bounced off from the shell of Harry's grief. Due to the combined effect of his exhaustion and the impact of the curse, Harry fell to a kneeling position, his eyelids squeezed shut in agony.
"Yes, Potter. That's the spirit. Bow to the inevitable." Harry lowered his head, staring at the ground in a daze. A few seconds later, the hem of a dark robe drifted into his blurred vision. Harry's hands lay uselessly at his sides. He didn't want it to end here. He couldn't bear the irony of the situation. He, The–Boy–Who– Lived, survived encounters with the Dark Lord himself so many times, only to meet his sticky end at the hands of three stray Death Eaters. An end that was so pointless, just like that of his godfather . . . he didn't want it to end here. He didn't want to go without seeing his face again. He didn't want to be extinguished without first seeing what was the presence that he felt . . .
"Stun him," the Death Eater behind Harry muttered, the cruelty and the satisfaction in the voice apparent even from Harry's position on the ground. The rainstorm was lessening. The surrounding cleared up, but that was of no use to Harry then.
"My pleasure." Harry could sense the Death Eater standing right in front of him raise his arm. Harry knew he ought to be filled with panic – he ought to fight. He had to do something to stop them. But he couldn't raise his wand arm. He had nothing left inside of him. For what he believed to be the last time, Harry shut his eyes.
Sirius . . . ! His mind screamed.
"Stu - " the Death Eater uttered when abruptly his voice rose by an octave and a surprised shriek replaced his words. Harry jerked his head up, and immediately felt rather than saw a great dark shape leap just behind his back. Harry knelt transfixed as his eyes were glued to the great bear- like creature that jumped clear off his head and collided solidly with the surprised Death Eater. The momentum of the collision was so enormous that both Death Eater and the creature fell to the ground in a disarray of limbs and rolled, struggling against each other, for several meters before coming to a stop.
The rain stopped.
And the clouds shifted.
Silvery moonlight fell from the half-full moon that escaped from layers upon layers of dark grey clouds, illuminating the surroundings with a gentle glow. It was as if nature was bent upon Harry's will –to see clearly what was happening, his will to lay his eyes upon the one thing he desired above all, his will to prove that they were all wrong, his will to prove that his godfather was not forever gone. It was a wish so deep-rooted and desperate that Harry's body and mind were bursting with rampant emotions once the wish was fulfilled. He stared unblinkingly and unwaveringly at the large black dog that was growling and slashing the three Death Eaters with its powerful paws. One moment it was scraping at the nearest Death Eater's arm so that he dropped his wand in agony, the next moment it had already leapt headlong into the chest of another Death Eater and crushed his body against the ground with a cracking sound. The dog was about to sink his pointy canine teeth into the Death Eater's neck when the third one was already upon the dog's back. Before the dog could turn around, it was thrown off the Death Eater's body by a curse from the third. It landed on the wet ground after flying for a short distance.
As if bearing a will of its own, Harry's body rose from the ground. His legs started to move with long strides towards the three Death Eaters and the dog.
The third Death Eater had already jumped over the semi-conscious Death Eater on the ground and headed towards the dog. Yet the dog was only whimpering under its breath and made no move to stand up and defend itself.
"Inpedimentia! Expelliarmus! " Roared Harry with a voice so unlike his own. It was deep and calm, and yet so close to the breaking point. The two curses left his wand tip with a force so large that Harry staggered from the recoil. Fast as lightning, the curses found their targets. With his wand blown meters above his head, the Death Eater was sent flying through the night air and crushed to the ground with an unceremonious thud.
The dog was on its feet then. With his rampant emotions swelling to the bursting point within his chest, Harry was dying to run towards it, but it stopped him with a warning bark. Only then was Harry aware that the first Death Eater was advancing towards him with his wand raised in his left hand, his right hand bleeding and limping uselessly on one side. Without much thought, Harry turned his wand upon the intruding Death Eater and issued a stunning curse at almost the same time as the Death Eater. Two red lights met in mid air. The Death Eater's was knocked off course. However, Harry's wasn't and it forced his opponent to duck and roll onto the ground. With the intention of finishing the remaining obstacle between his godfather and he, Harry cast another stunning curse. But the effort behind the curse was too much and Harry's hand was forced slightly upwards from the recoil even before the curse was completely off his wand tip. The blast of red light strayed from the intended path and missed the crouching Death Eater by less than an inch. By then the Death Eater was ready. He leapt and flung his body at Harry with his wand outstretched.
But not only the Death Eater was ready to strike. The black dog had already gained its footing and closed the distance between them as Harry and the Death Eater exchanged curses. Not even a second after the Death Eater leapt, the dog's powerful jaw connected with the Death Eater's robed leg in mid air and with a wild spin of its giant head, pulled the Death Eater back.
The unmistakable sound of bone cracking was immediately followed by the anguished and inhuman-like howls of the Death Eater. The dog jumped off before the Death Eater could crush upon it. The Death Eater then fell onto the ground, the heavy impact splashed rainwater up in every direction. He kept howling and withering, his unwounded left hand clutched his crushed left leg tightly as if willing the pain to go away.
All that was unimportant to Harry. His attention was undivided on the large black dog. The dog's long black hair was limp and stuck to its body; its mouth was open and its tongue was out panting for breath. A long tooth in its partially opened mouth still dripped with blood. Harry held his breath and he didn't dare to close his eyes even for a millionth of a second, for fear that the creature before him would vanish if he so much as dared to disrupt the silence between the two of them or let the dog out of his sight. Harry, his body still shaking, approached upon the dog and knelt down. With his hand quivering madly, Harry reached out for the dog. The dog did not move or blink. Harry's hand moved closer and closer towards the dog's head. His shivering fingertips were only several centimeters away from its snout now. Just a little further . . . just a little further and Harry could touch Sirius once again . . .
"Harry!" Someone shouted from behind. It shattered the magic moment and Harry's body jerked at the intrusion. Just for the briefest moment his attention wavered, and the next moment, the black dog was no longer within his reach nor his sight. Harry spun his head around. After a few panic- stricken seconds, Harry spotted the dog standing ten meters away from him. Then emerald eyes met pale blue eyes.
"Sirius . . ." Harry croaked weakly, his hand still outstretched. "Siri-" Harry tried to shout, but was stopped as the dog shook his gigantic head. Harry couldn't understand. Why did Sirius back away from him? Didn't he know how much Harry miss him? Didn't he know Harry couldn't live without him? . . .
Harry's mind drifted away. Numbly, he registered the fact that his world had been enveloped in blackness and his head had collided with the stone- cold ground. He welcomed the coldness as it eased the pounding in his scull. His strength and his emotion were fading fast with the increasing cold.
Strangely, the coldness was lifted and the equilibrium of his world was broken. His world was shaking and shifting up and down in a gentle rhythm. Harry realized after a full minute that someone was carrying him. His head no longer felt the coldness because it was resting on the warm shoulder of someone.
"Sirius?" Murmured Harry weakly as he, with great effort, lifted his lead- filled eyelids. Through his blurred vision, however, pale blue eyes or black hair were nowhere to be found.
"It's ok now, Harry. " It was the familiar hoarse but gentle voice again. Not the voice of the one Harry had hoped. "Rest. We are getting home," said the voice stubbornly.
Harry complied.