It was a hard decision, leaving Harry like that. Yes, Harry was fine. Physically anyway. There was no way he was mentally or emotionally fine. Not after what he'd gone through. Sirius growled just thinking about it. But he was in good hands. The Weasleys were good people. Ron and Hermione were good people. Sirius had stayed that first night and made sure that first, Harry was actually okay and sleeping, and second, that the people who were crowding around him actually had his best interests at heart. And they did.

So, he left. He was good at leaving. But he'd be back. He wasn't going to just leave Harry this time.

For now, he had to go. Go do as Dumbledore asked. Sirius shook his head and let out a bark. It must be odd to see a big, black dog go barrelling through the grounds of Hogwarts like it was on a mission. Because he was on a mission. And he couldn't very well do it as 'Sirius Black', could he?

Oh, his thoughts were all in a jumble. So much had happened. So much was happening, he hadn't time to make sense of it all yet. Not that he needed to right at this moment. That would be for later. Now he just had to get to Remus. Which he would, if he could just get off Hogwarts Grounds. Was it really necessary to have the gates so far away from the from the castle? Sure, it looked all grand and awe-inspiring but it was a long way for a mere dog.

And there they were. Finally. Now he was getting somewhere. Or not. Sirius came to a skidding halt at the gates. The closed gates. Because of course they were. How on earth was he supposed to leave now? He couldn't very well turn back into a human and risk the chance of getting caught. Sirius didn't think he could open the gates anyway. Only Dumbledore and Hagrid could. Fantastic.

Just as he was about to seriously consider walking all the way back and asking to use a floo, Sirius heard something. Momentarily forgetting that he was in the form of a somewhat harmless dog, he jumped into some handy nearby bushes.

Huh. People. A crowd of them. He didn't recognise them but that didn't matter because Hagrid was with them and he was opening the gates. Yes! Thank Merlin for spectators and visitors and no one paying attention thanks to having the Tournament to talk about. No one at all noticed a dog slink out the gates alongside them. Easy peasy.

Now he just had to wait for them to go... why did some people have to walk so slowly? And they were gone. Finally.

He quickly returned to human form and before anyone else showed up, he apparated.

It was a good thing he had spent some time at Remus' house in the last year or else he wouldn't have known where it was. It was his parents' old home, both Lupins having since died. It was a modestly sized one, detached from the surrounding houses. Actually, it wasn't really on a street at all. Purposefully so. Which was handy because that meant that it was easy enough to apparate to, there wasn't going to be any muggles around the place. Hopefully, anyway.

And there it was. Looking furtively around him out of instinct, Sirius knocked the door. He tried not to feel too impatient as he waited. Why did it always seem like it took forever for someone to open their door or answer their floo?

There was a 'click' as the locking spells and other security spells were dropped from the door and it opened to reveal his very tired looking friend. How far away was the next full moon? He had started keeping track of that again and apparating back here when needed but the Tournament had thrown him off. Was it soon?

"Sirius, what are you doing here? I thought you were with Harry at the Tournament?"

Well, that was a nice hello. Hadn't Remus heard the results? Or was Fudge already keeping things hushed up? Sirius wasn't sure if the final task was to be covered on the radio. He knew the other two weren't. Which he understood for the second task, that would have been boring to commentate - you wouldn't be able to see anything for a whole hour. What was the radio presenter going to do? Comment on the ripples?

"It's over. Harry won," Sirius said gruffly.

Harry winning wasn't something to celebrate like he thought it would be. It wasn't good at all.

"That's fantastic," Remus said in amazement a smile briefly on his face before he noticed the look on Sirius' face. "Wait, that isn't a good thing?"

No, definitely not. But Remus wasn't to know that, was he? Not yet anyway.

"This might be something better discussed inside."

Remus blinked at him and moved backwards so he could go through.

"Of course. Sorry, Padfoot."

Sirius gave a small smile as he was led into the living room, Remus first hanging back to reactivate all the security spells. Remus' house was very much like Remus himself. A bit shabby and aging but neat and clean and well kept. It was comfortable and lived in. This was the sort of place Sirius loved. Real people lived here. Unlike his childhood home. No. The whole business of the Tournament was enough depressing thoughts for one day. He was not going down his childhood memories today.

Removing that thought from his head, be turned to Remus who had already somehow procured two mugs of tea.

"Dumbledore sent me."

That confused Remus.

"What do you mean, Albus sent you? Why did he have to send you?"

It was still extremely weird to hear Remus call Dumbledore by his first name. They hadn't managed to bring themselves to do that the first time around. They couldn't, they had always felt like they were still students. But of course, Remus had been colleagues with him. What a strange thought.

"Sirius, why did Albus need to send you to me?" Remus repeated in a more urgent tone of voice.