Chapter Six
The next day was hectic as Sirius tried his hand at muggle shopping with a baby. It was pure chaos. On the upside, almost every lovely young lady he came across had words to say about Padfoot's adorable baby. On the downside, said adorable baby would not consent to being carried and ran off at every opportunity.
Sirius found an awesome wooden swing set that looked like a castle. It had two turrets, three slides, three swings, a bouncing bridge, a net to climb, and an awesome pole to slide down. Sirius thought Harry would love all the things to climb and spin on the thing. He was a physical person who needed movement to explore his world.
Sirius also found clothes and books. He bought a ton of baby food that he stealthily loaded into the trunk which was set inside the cart. It was seamless, he thought. He was proud of himself for being sneaky all day.
He bought a ton of toys and stuffed animals. He found the most awesome yellow truck that carried dirt and another that dug dirt out of the ground. The only thing Sirius couldn't get that he wanted was a television. There's no way the electrical appliance would work inside the magical trunk. Sirius vowed to take Harry to the movies often. Sirius had loved going with James and Lily. Lily's mum's house had a television. Sirius got to play with it for a whole afternoon while he was visiting Lily at her home after seventh year. He had wanted one ever since.
The one toy Padfoot was able to find for himself was a 1970 Jaguar XJ6. It was four doors and rusted black. It was long and sleek. It had plenty of room for a family but was sporty and classic enough to make Sirius' heart purr at the sound of the engine. A bunch of old and new parts for the thing and a few tools had Sirius set and ready to try to repair the machine. Sirius had built his motorcycle from the frame up. He knew he could figure this beast out as well. Just in case he bought the deluxe owners edition of the car manual with full instructions on how to maintain the beast. The leaping cat hood ornament was in pristine condition. He shrunk the giant thing and slipped it and all its accoutrement into the trunk.
Padfoot made one last stop to stock up on other foodstuffs he thought might be nice to try and then headed back to 4 Privet Drive. He stood for just a moment in the door to the shed and looked around. This was the last time he'd breathe real fresh air for at least a year. It was strange to think about but an easy decision to make. With one last look, Sirius went inside and closed the door.
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November 1982.
A year went by in a flash. Sirius was shocked at how much time and energy a baby could take up. Harry was just past two years old and never seemed to run out of gas. The car, on the other hand, never seemed to get enough gas.
Sirius had spent the last year rebuilding the beast from the ground up. He had shined and repaired, polished and buffed, begged and pleaded to get the thing up and running. But she ran like a dream now. His giant black beauty of a car purred for him whenever he touched her. She was beautiful. Harry loved to ride around the dirt road with Padfoot. He would never let him do it on the real road, but Padfoot sometimes let the little tyke ride in his lap around the dirt track. Harry adored riding in the car almost as much as he adored flying.
The precious boy had spent many an afternoon laying under the car with Sirius looking at the parts and pretending to work on things with his little plastic tools. It had been a special bonding experience for the newly minted father and son.
The little boy had literally jumped for joy when Padfoot gave him his junior broom to fly again. They spent many hours floating or racing around the house on their respective brooms.
Despite all the things that had kept him busy, Padfoot had felt more stir crazy every day. Being locked in a trunk with a baby and an elf for a year was enough to drive any sane man crazy. Even Nookie had started to show the strain. She would regularly kick both boys out of the house while she worked on cleaning the house alone. Her nerves would get frayed if they messed while she was still cleaning.
Now, a year had passed and Sirius was glad to be breathing fresh air. He and Harry were walking in the park near Number 4. It was a lovely fall day. The sun was peeking in and out of clouds. The air was crisp and smelt of fallen leaves. It was beautiful.
Despite his joy at being outside, Padfoot was nervous to be out of the trunk. Especially in this neighborhood. They could run into someone looking for Harry or even Harry's muggle relatives in the park. Sirius looked around cautiously for anyone who might be looking too hard in their direction. No one was interested in the man or the auburn-haired little boy who ran beside him. Sirius was honestly the most suspicious character in the park. He was looking around like he expected the bobbies at any second. Thankfully, the parents of many two-year olds look that way so his suspicious nature passed for normal.
Little did Sirius know that he had been spotted by both groups he hoped to avoid. Harry had been seen in the doorway to the alley by one Arabella Figg. The woman felt relief to see him. She had been starting to wonder if he was really there. Her fears alleviated; she kept a sporadic eye out for the boy over the coming years.
Petunia Dursley saw the man at the park and was one of the few to take note of his suspicious nature. Deciding the park was going to the dogs, Petunia dragged her beach ball son home with her for afternoon tea. They'd come back another day when that scruffy man was gone.
Later that afternoon, after Padfoot and Harry had returned home, Padfoot sat down to read the Daily Prophet for the first time in a year. There was some talk about the first-year anniversary of Voldemort's defeat but there was no talk of a search for a little boy or a dead Azkaban escapee.
"Well, buddy. We might just be in the clear. Best person to check in with would be Abe. What do you say, Prongslet? Do you want to go visit your Pops?" Sirius asked, looking at the little boy banging pots together on the kitchen floor.
"Go, go, go! Want to go, want to goooo!" Harry said, giving the pans an extra bang. He was in a very good mood since their morning visit to the park.
"Okay, buddy. We'll wait until after lunch and then we'll go visit."
-oooOOOoooOOOooo-
It was a little after 2pm when Nookie the house elf entered the Hogs Head Bar and Inn.
"Mr. Aberforth, sir. Can I please be speaking with you privately?" the little elf asked.
"What do you want, elf? I'm trying to run a bar here." The old man spit in the trash as he spoke. Nookie looked dubiously around the mostly empty bar.
"I be having a message from Mr. Prongsworth. He has a proposition for you," Nookie replied.
Aberforth looked surprised to hear that name. It had been about a year, hadn't it? Was the little bugger ready to come out of hiding then?
"Alright, but make it quick. Come on in here," the old man said as he walked through a door into the next room.
Nookie took the trunk out of her pocket and resized it.
"Master Padfoot says I can be watching bar while you come visit little master, if you be liking. He says you can come swing with them." Nookie looked at him like he'd be crazy to turn down such an opportunity. The old man laughed.
"I guess I'll do that, then. You watch old Vincent in the corner. He hasn't paid his tab yet. Don't let him leave without paying the seven sickles he owes." Nookie quickly agreed. The old man disappeared into the trunk.
Aberforth found himself at the top of the stairs looking down onto the dirt track. A shiny black car pulled up at the base of the stairs and honked.
"What in blazes?" Aberforth asked, walking down the steps slowly. The horn kept gently tooting to an excited rhythm. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, the old man saw the toddler jumping up and down in the man's lap.
"How you been, stranger?" A voice called from inside the car. A head leaned out and Aberforth saw a face he didn't recognize with a baby he didn't know.
Aberforth looked closer and knew. No one could smile the same Cheshire cat grin that Sirius Black could pull off.
"You little bastard. It's good to see you," Aberforth said, reaching the car. He leaned inside to take a good look at man and baby. He could see the echo of his own red hair and blue eyes in both faces. No one could miss the conk on Sirius, though it looked like the baby was blessed with someone else's nose.
"You look better than I've ever seen you, boy," the old man grinned as he said it. Padfoot laughed.
"I'm gorgeous, no matter what I look like," Padfoot responded. "It's this one that's stealing the show with looks," he said proudly.
"True enough," Aberforth answered. "He's a handsome lad. Look how much he's grown in just a year! The boy was a head taller already. He also looks more like a boy and less like a baby."
"Part of that's your fault. Made us both taller. Hope in, Pops. We'll take you for a ride in the beast!" The old man laughed but walked around to get in the other side of the monstrous black car.
Aberforth laughed twice as hard when he saw the joy the baby took in taking the ride. Such unadulterated joy was jolly good to see. The two men spent the next few hours entertaining the baby in the car, at the swing set, and finally in the sitting room floor as the tuckered-out toddler fought sleep. A quick dinner heated up by Padfoot, a nice hot bath, and the toddler was off for an early bed.
"How goes it, Abe? Been a while, my friend," Sirius said, toasting Abe with a glass of fire whisky.
"Things have been calm and peaceful since you left, Black," Aberforth said, returning the toast.
"It's Prongsworth now, old man. Don't forget it, at least not around other people."
"Cheers to that," Aberforth responded. "Prongsworth. So pretentious."
Sirius laughed, "That it is but Harry's dad's nickname was Prongs so it is a worthwhile bit of pomp. Has anyone been looking for us?" Sirius asked this bit worriedly.
"Not a peep. No one has so much as mentioned your name. They talk about Harry all the time but it's all rumor and speculation. No one has seen him but everyone is looking for him. You did the right thing changing his name and hiding him away. They are mad for the boy. Like he did something. Most likely his mum is the hero but no one recognizes it."
Sirius personally agreed with the man. How could a baby, prophecy or not, stop a killing curse? No one knew of Nookie's small part in that little drama. She never planned to tell anyone either. In her mind, it wouldn't be her place. She didn't know the killing curse would bounce back when she threw the mirror from the baby's mobile between the baby and the bad man. She definitely wasn't expecting the explosion or the wraith that exploded from where the bad man had been standing.
"So, you think it's safe for us to come out of hiding? To start building a record for Harry in the magical world?" Sirius asked.
"Couldn't hurt. Just avoid Hogwarts and you should be fine. Have you seen any magicals near Privet Drive?" Aberforth asked.
"Not yet, but I expect I will. Not sure what to do about it," Sirius responded.
"It'll probably be a squib. He likes to hire them to do things when he can and this would be the perfect chance. He'll probably set them up in a neighboring house somewhere. Keep an eye out." Padfoot agreed that he would.
"I'm going to start hunting the soul shards now that I'm back to the land of the living. I don't know how long Voldemort will be gone. I don't want to put it off too long," Sirius said anxiously.
"Do you have an idea of where or what they are?" Aberforth asked
"Yeah," Padfoot responded. "I have a sheet from a goblin seer," Aberborth snorted at the term, "I know. Prophecy and divination. This lady was more of a diviner. She saw the shard in Harry and said she saw five more soul shards." Sirius handed the list to Aberforth for him to study.
"This one, the cup. It looks like it's at Gringotts. Doesn't that look like the entrance to Gringotts to you?" Aberforth asked in confusion.
"It sure does, Abe. I was looking at it sideways and thought that was a ladder, not pillars. Alright. That's one down. I bet the little buggers still charge me to destroy it, even though it's already at the bank." Aberforth snorted in agreement.
"That one's a shack. That'll be easy to find," Aberforth said sarcastically. "This one just looks like a house." Sirius looked more closely at that one.
"Wait! I know that house. That's my house. Grimmauld Place. It's where I grew up. The Black London house. Shite. How can we get in there?" Sirius asked.
"Good question," Aberforth responded. "This one is another house. Do you recognize it?" Sirius squinted at the image.
"Maybe. It looks a little like Malfoy Manor, Narcissa's house. I went there for her wedding. This looks like the spitting image!" Padfoot exclaimed.
"That's no better. How on Earth will we get into Malfoy Manor?" Aberforth asked. "What about this one. Is that? Is that Hogwarts?"
"Bloody hell! It is! I'd know those towers anywhere. That won't be easy either. We have no idea where it's at in the castle. Is that the Grey Lady in the courtyard? Maybe she's a clue? Or maybe she has a clue? She wears a crown like this one doesn't she?" Sirius was getting agitated. This task just got so much more difficult! How would he get to these things? As Sirius Black, maybe, but as Padfoot Prongsworth, he had zero chance of getting an audience at either residence.
"This is nigh on impossible, kid. I hope you've got some good ideas to work with." Aberforth rubbed his temples as he spoke.
"No idea, Abe. I know how to sneak into Hogwarts. Maybe that's the place to start. After Gringotts, of course. They'll have to get this cup. What house crest is on that thing anyway?" Padfoot asked.
"I don't recognize it," Aberforth replied. Sirius looked closer.
"Blimey! That's the LeStrange crest!" Sirius exclaimed.
"Glad the goblins have to deal with that one. Should be easy enough to pop over and pay them off," Aberforth replied. "The rest of them, not so easy. I'll help where I can. I want to see Riddle gone for good. He's nothing but a problem. I hope you still have some of that marauder spark in you, kid. You're going to need it."
Sirius couldn't help but agree.
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