Thanks so much for all my reviewers! I hope I won't disappoint you ;)
Anyway... on with the next chapter!
Chapter 3: The Thief.
It was dark when he woke up. Looking at his bedside clock that lighted up in the dark, he saw it was around midnight, so he'd slept an hour or nine. Knowing himself, he was sure something had woken him up, as he wouldn't have woken up out of himself at this hour. Straining his ears for any sound, he kept absolutely still...
There it was again!
It was the floor that creaked slightly... it didn't do that on it's own.
After a while, the person entered his bedroom, as Sirius now could hear the suppressed ragged breathing of a person. Slightly opening the eyes he'd closed when he'd started listening, he saw a dark shadow searching through his things. A thief!
Sirius waited untill the thief was moving again, he was moving towards his bedside table... good!... Sirius waited... five steps... three steps... two... one... NOW!
In one fluid motion, Sirius had the thief in his arms, not intend on letting go. The thief was surprisingly small though, no smaller than a child...
Slightly startled at the realization it was only a child, gave the thief a small chance of escape, which it took without hesitating. A quick kick at Sirius' shin was enough to escape and it took off... fast.
Growling, Sirius changed his form into his more natural one and chased after the little thief. He managed to tackle the small child at the door. It immediately started to try and wiggle away, but Sirius had no intention of letting go a second time, not even when he felt the swipe of sharp claws at his side.
With a growl and a curse, and a bit more wrestling, Sirius had the kid securely by the wrists and pulled the little thief towards his bedroom again. That was no easy feat to manage and silently, Sirius admired the kid that had this much strength already. Back at his bedside table, he picked up his wand and used charms to tie the ankles and wrists of the kid together then lighted a few lamps so the room was baded with light.
If one would have looked into the room now, they probably would have though to be in either a movie-scene or gotten crazy. For you didn't see a jaguar-like man and a wolf/cat-like boy staring at eachother every day.
In shock, Sirius looked at his capture, while a look of shock adorned the boy's face too, though for different reasons. Sirius was shocked that the one he'd tried to help the night before, had been caught by him now. While the wolf-boy was shocked to find not a man, but a black jaguar-man in front of him.
"How are your wounds?" Sirius asked, not only to his, but also to the boy's astonishment. 'Why am I asking this? He just tried to steal from me!' Nonetheless, Sirius waited for an answer, not knowing why he expected the boy to understand English.
"W – What?"
'Guess he does know English...' "How is your chest? How are your wounds? I saw you fighting yesterday night."
"F – fine... Sir."
"Are you sure? Your breathing is rather ragged..."
"Why are you asking me this? Aren't you going to alert the police?"
"Police...? Oh, right, those Muggle law-enforcers... No I'm not going to alert them. But I do like to know your name. I'm Sirius, by the way."
It was silent for quite some time, Sirius even surprised himself with his patience.
"I'm not sure..."
"Don't worry, you can tell me."
"No, I mean I'm not sure what my name is..." The boy said trailing off at the end.
Again, silence...
"You're not – Then what does that man you were with call you?"
"M – Master? He calls me 'mutt', I guess, or 'the Wolf-boy' when he's talking to others..."
'I need to have a little conversation with this 'Master'...' Sirius thought.
"Please let me go Sir!" The boy then pleaded. "M – Master will kill me if he found out I talked to you!"
'Oh yeah! I definately need to talk to Slytherin-guy!' "Do you want to go back to him?"
For the third time, silence reighned. The boy was looking bewildered, his eyes darting all over the place, finally settling on Sirius again.
"I – He's my Master! Where would I go?"
"You could stay with me..."
It was silent for quite some time... again.
"Why are you doing this? Why don't you call the police or hit me like the others? Why are you so nice?" The boy asked desperately, trying to find a semblance of anything familiar.
"Because I – feel like I know you, kid. Why don't you tell me who your... Master is and I'll talk to him about it."
"T – Talk? No! I can't! He'll kill me! Please, just let me go!"
"No-one will kill you as long as I'm around, kid." 'And if the guy tries I'll kill him!' "Tell me, do you know you can turn into a human-form, kid?"
"I – I can? How?"
"With a lot of practice, you can do it yourself, I could help you with that, but there's also a spell... you do know about magic, right?"
The boy nodded.
"Say, how long have you been like this... like a wolf-cat?"
"Not sure... since I was five... I think..."
"Have you always been with your 'Master'?"
"Um, no... he took me from my Aunt and Uncle a few weeks after I had changed... but why are you asking all this?"
"I'm sorry, I must seem really inquisitive... the thing is... I'll be honest with you, alright? I've got the feeling I know you, and I'd like to take care of you, unless you want to stay with your 'Master' that is. But you give me the feeling that you don't really like it with your 'Master'."
The boy bowed his head, which was enough for Sirius.
"So you'd let me take care of you?"
"I – I don't know... I really like you, I think, though I'm not sure... I think I want to..."
"I promise I won't disappoint you. But in order to take care of you, I need to talk to your 'Master'. Or I could go to court and try to fight for you. And seeing as you don't seem to fond of the man, I think it's best not to send you back to him. Though there might be another way... if you're certain he's never seen you as a total human, I could make you change back and he wouldn't recognize you. So what do you say?"
"I – " The boy stopped abruptly, his ears pricking up, his nose sniffing the air. "Oh no! He's coming! He's gotten impatient!"
Sirius smelled the air too, and could smell the prescence of another man, though the smell nearly made him cough.
Quickly stuffing all his belongings in a bag, and hastily putting on some pants, Sirius said: "I'll try talking first, alright? But if he won't listen, we'll run and after we've lost him, I'll change you back and he won't know where to look, allright?"
"O – Okay..." The boy stuttered, seemingly bewildered at what was happening.
Glad he'd managed to get the boy's trust to a certain level, Sirius swang his backpack, which held all his shrunken stuff, on his back, then muttered the counter-spells for the boy's binds, before taking him by the hand, his wand in the other hand. He extinguished the light and let his eyes get accustomed to the dark.
Leading the boy to the living-room, where the man was, Sirius kept alert.
As soon as the man saw two silhouettes in the dark, the little one with his hand in the other's, the man barked: "Get back here you ungratefull mutt!"
The boy tensed, Sirius could feel, and his sensitive ears picked up the almost inaudible whimper.
Sirius squeezed the boy's hand assuringly, before growling, then saying: "Watch what you're saying to my son!" He then lighted a few lamps so the man could see them properly.
It had the desired effect, as the man was properly shocked at the appearance of a large jaguar-man, who currently had his lethal teeth bared.
Surprisingly fast, though, the man was over his shock.
"Dragondung! The wolf-boy's mine! I payed enough for him!"
Now Sirius was seriously mad. He payed for a boy, like he was an animal or something! "You did what! I should kill you right here!" Sirius took a step forward.
The man, however, suddenly pointed a wand at the two.
Sirius reacted like lightning. He could probably defeat the man, but he had the boy to think of too, so he extinguished the light, jumping him and the boy aside as he did so. A jet of purple light striking the wall behind where they had previously stood. The wooden wall caught fire almost immediately. But Sirius didn't hang around to watch it spread, as he picked the surprisingly light boy up and ran towards the window. Just before he jumped through, he blasted the window away with his wand and a second later was outside, hearing the curses being shouted behind him, both magical as Muggle.
In another few seconds, Sirius was with his motor, just as the man exited the burning cottage. Ducking another curse and shooting one of his own, Sirius started the bike while mounting it.
"Hang on kid!" Sirius said and he felt the lithe, yet strong, arms tightening around his chest, the small form pressing against his chest.
Ducking low over his motor, Sirius shot off, zigzagging to avoid the jets of light, protecting the small body of his new charge with his own.
The jets of lights seazed to come, but Sirius raced on nonetheless, which was a good thing, as soon the sound of a second motor could be heard behind them.
Trusting the speed of his bike, Sirius was glad he wasn't in the middle of a city, as he didn't want to endanger, or alert, anyone. He could hear he was slowly gaining ground, and he didn't even fight the urge to grin. The were now racing along the edge of yet another jungle, when...
Splutter
'Oh, shit!'
Looking at the meter that told how much fuel he had left, he cursed again, loudly... The most they had left was a minute or three...
Taking the only option he saw, he yelled: "Hang on, kid! It's gonna be bumpy!" before stearing right into the jungle.
They didn't even last the little bit of fuel that was still left as a particularly high root stumped the motor, and the two of them went flying off. Instinctly, Sirius curled his body around the smaller one that was still pressed against his chest.
With a thud, he felt a sharp pain in his back, before all went black...
Hope you all liked it... And please do this author a favour and leave a review...