Chapter 8

Dread and fear surrounded Harry. Everything was black, so black, he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. Out of the darkness came a shape, rushing towards him, bringing the feeling of terror with it. Something was badly wrong here, unnatural, twisted and sick. The shape became clearer and Harry saw that it was a ring with a black stone in it, spinning in hypnotising circles, magnified to a hundred times its normal size. As Harry watched it, mesmerised, giant snake leaped through the middle of the ring towards him, fangs bared, screaming in parseltongue about wanting to kill.

Harry woke up with a start to the sound of chaos all around him. Footsteps were stomping up and down the stairs deafeningly, and he could hear Molly shouting at someone about running late. With a sinking feeling he remembered the fact that today was September 1st, and everyone must be getting ready to leave for Hogwarts. With a sigh, he opened his eyes and saw Ron hastily throwing all his last minute belongings into his trunk and attempting to cram the lid shut, before running from the room shouting something about forgetting his socks.

Stretching and yawning widely, Harry climbed out of bed and padded down the stairs, skirting around Crookshanks who seemed to be dodging Hermione's attempts to put him in his cage. He reached the kitchen and flopped down into a chair, observing the chaos grumpily and wishing he could be a part of it all. A moment later, the building was ringing with the sound of Molly yelling at the top of her voice at Fred and George, who had accidentally knocked Ginny down two flights of stairs with their trunks.

Harry sighed and looked around the kitchen, catching the eye of Sirius who was watching him thoughtfully from the doorway.

"Harry, come over here," Sirius called to him and walked out of the kitchen towards the library which was thankfully empty. Harry followed him curiously, wondering what Sirius wanted.

"Here, I have something to give to you," Sirius smiled at him and pulled a hastily wrapped package out of his pocket. Harry took it and opened it quickly, to find a set of two identical hand held mirrors. He look at Sirius, confused.

"Er…thanks."

"They're two way mirrors, Harry. You can have one, and give the other one to Ron and Hermione. When you say one of their names into your mirror, you'll appear in theirs, and they'll be able to talk to you in yours. Me and James used to use them when we were in separate detentions," Sirius grinned at him. Harry didn't know what to say, he was amazed. A way to speak to Ron and Hermione without any information getting hijacked? He grinned and gave Sirius a quick hug.

"Wow! Thanks Sirius! I'd better go find Ron and Hermione before they leave," he said quickly and rushed off to find them. He found Ron attempting to catch Pigwidgeon and get him into his cage, and Hermione was sitting on her trunk having a last minute read of Hogwarts: A History. Harry beckoned them into the dark pantry which was one of the few rooms left with no one else in it.

"Look what Sirius just gave me! They're two way mirrors. If I give you one of them and keep the other, we can talk to each other while you're at Hogwarts and we won't have to worry about owls being intercepted or anything," Harry said enthusiastically. He pushed one mirror into Ron's hands, who turned it over and inspected it with his mouth hanging open.

"Wow, that's really interesting magic!" Hermione said, fascinated, as she stared at the mirror in Ron's hands. "It was really thoughtful of Sirius to give you them," she added quietly with a smile.

"Yeah, it was," Harry smiled happily. He was glad he was going to be able to keep in touch with his best friends, and he hoped this would stop them growing too far apart over the course of the year. They still had Christmas and Easter holidays, Harry reminded himself cheerfully. With a much more optimistic attitude than he'd had earlier, Harry walked to the door and waved off the Weasleys and Hermione, along with Remus, Moody and Tonks who were accompanying them to the train station. Despite Harry not being with them Mad Eye still seemed to think they'd need a guard in case of ambush.

The door swung shut, and the noise of people, owls and cats was cut off immediately as they left the protection of the enchanted house. The silence was almost deafening. Harry turned and saw Sirius standing at the end of the hall, and he was struck by just how handsome he really was. Tall and slim, but well built, defined cheekbones and pale skin complimented by his dark hair which seemed to effortlessly look perfectly styled. His silvery grey eyes were striking, and they were currently looking into Harry's with a roguish glint in them.

Harry suddenly realised that number one, he was checking out his godfather, and number two, he was now completely alone in the house with said godfather. He blushed furiously at that thought and wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans. Sirius looked curiously at him, then turned and headed towards the kitchen.

"D'you want any breakfast, Harry?" Sirius called, and Harry came to his senses, following him into the kitchen. He suddenly realised just how hungry he was.

"Yeah, sure," he grinned at his godfather.

"Full English coming up!" Sirius said enthusiastically, and started gathering together pots and pans. It was the happiest Harry had seen him in a while, and he sat watching him cook their breakfast with ill-disguised interest. Sirius was completely absorbed in his work, single-handedly managing to cook sausages, bacon, eggs, tomatoes and mushrooms, and Harry couldn't stop staring. He sighed, trying to pull himself together. Was he going mad? It couldn't possibly be normal for him to be feeling these things, but then when had any aspect of his life been normal, he asked himself wryly.

Harry tried to distract himself by thinking about something different. He pondered what it was going to be like living here all the time, with no chance of going outside and flying, or just being able to enjoy the fresh air. Well, as fresh as the air got in London anyway.

He felt guilty thinking about himself, when Sirius had been cooped up in this place for months before Harry had even got here. Maybe they should sneak out…this idea filled Harry with a feeling of nervous excitement. It was one thing sneaking out of his dormitory at Hogwarts, but would it be pushing it too far to actually sneak out of Grimmauld place? It wouldn't be for long, an hour at most…he vaguely remembered passing a muggle park when he walked to the Underground station on the way to his hearing. With Sirius' animagus form, surely they'd be safe? It wasn't as if any wizards actually lived in this area. Harry was so deep in this thoughts that he didn't notice Sirius putting a full plate of food in front of him until he was poked in the ribs.

"Oi, Harry, wake up! Breakfast time!" Sirius said cheekily, laughing as Harry jumped and then started shovelling food into his mouth. "What were you thinking about?"

"Well…just an idea…I mean, we shouldn't…but it would be so…" Harry struggled to formulate a sentence, and then laughed at the perplexed expression on Sirius' face.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Sirius said with a grin. Harry composed himself and tried again.

"I was just thinking about the fact that you haven't been outside in months. I mean, everyone's gone for now and they won't be back from Kings Cross for a little while…no one would know if we disappeared for a bit…" he tailed off, trying to judge Sirius' reaction. Sirius looked dumbfounded for a moment, then a mischievous grin appeared slowly on his face.

"We'll make a Marauder of you yet, Harry! That's a brilliant idea! But where would we go?"

"I remember seeing a muggle park just round the corner. It's fairly big, plenty of sticks for Snuffles to fetch," Harry said amusedly, "and I doubt any muggles would recognise me. I'd bring my invisibility cloak just in case, anyway." Harry was properly excited now and he pushed away his half eaten breakfast, too worked up to finish it. The prospect of being able to go outside with Sirius, and the fact that they were breaking the rules to do it, was unexpectedly exhilarating. Sirius was up and walking towards the door in seconds.

"Come on then, Harry, what are you waiting for?" Sirius asked eagerly, and Harry couldn't help but smile at how happy he was. He quickly sprinted up the stairs and grabbed his invisibility cloak, arriving back in the hall to find a large, bear like dog waiting for him.

"Walkies!" Harry shouted, and Sirius gave him a look of distain before bounding towards the door and barking loudly, clearly signalling Harry to hurry up. He opened the door and watched Sirius run past him, immediately spotting a pigeon and chasing it unrestrainedly down the road. It felt great to see him so free, and Harry's stomach did it's now familiar little flip.

Harry quickly ran down the steps and followed Sirius down the road at a jog. It was amazing feeling the sun on his face, and he looked around happily at the run-down area of London that would probably have looked really gloomy if he hadn't been cooped up inside for so long. He drew level with Sirius who was busy sniffing the air and investigating everything as if he'd never seen it before, and he scratched his ears absentmindedly. Sirius barked in appreciation and then ran away again, headed into the park that Harry had remembered.

They passed a happy half an hour or so running around and playing with an abandoned Frisbee that Snuffles had found – Harry throwing it as far into the air as he could, and Sirius sprinting and jumping to catch it. After a while Sirius got distracted by something and ran to the far side of the park, disappearing behind some trees. When he didn't immediately reappear, Harry followed him curiously.

"Snuffles! Snuffles? What are you doing?" he called out, following the sound of Sirius' excited barks.

Harry pushed through the trees, noting how pretty they looked with all their blossom falling down in the gentle breeze, and found Sirius back in his human body, standing and taking in the view of a small trickling stream that was running through the park. You wouldn't know it was there unless you walked behind these blossoming trees, as they hid it from view. It was a beautiful little secluded spot, but Harry thought it paled in comparison to the sight of Sirius standing there, a look of pure contentment and delight on his face making him appear years younger and even more handsome than usual. Harry's heart raced and he blushed slightly but this time he didn't mind. It felt right, somehow, and he was too distracted by this beautiful park and the gorgeous man in front of him to care whether it was normal or not.

They sat on the grass next to the river, leaning against a tree, and watched the blossom gently fall to the ground. Harry subconsciously moved closer to Sirius, and his godfather put his arm around Harry, pulling them flush against each other. Harry blushed and rested his head on Sirius' shoulder. Being this close to him, this relaxed with him, felt so wonderful. Turning to Sirius, he giggled slightly and leaned forwards to brush a piece of blossom from his hair. He gently smoothed the hair down where he'd touched it, and trailed his hand down to rest on Sirius' waist. They were so close now, their faces nearly touching. Harry could feel Sirius' breath tickling his cheek, he was being drawn closer and closer by his mesmerizing eyes. He felt as if he could lose himself in them, Sirius' gaze was so intense, he could feel himself blushing but it didn't matter now. If he just moved forwards an inch or two…

A loud screech came from behind the screen of trees they were hidden behind, and Harry jumped violently, pulling away from Sirius and feeling his cheeks blush a darker red. He was suddenly aware of the fact that there were children playing in the park, the screeching and shouting he could hear was a game of football by the sound of it. He awkwardly looked at Sirius' feet, too nervous to see what expression was on his face, and tried to act normal.

"Er, I guess we should be getting back…" he managed to whisper, "the others are probably home by now." He had no idea how much time had passed, he'd forgotten to keep track, but they were almost definitely going to be in a lot of trouble when they got back. Harry was almost thankful for that, because it was giving him something else to focus on. At least, he focused on it for a minute or two before reverting back to his previous panicked thoughts.

Oh God, oh God, what have I done, I nearly kissed him! I was acting like we were on a date or something, Harry thought to himself frantically. He felt so ashamed of himself. What on earth would Sirius think of him now? It would be awkward, and strained, Sirius wouldn't want to be near him. It was only the first day of them living together properly and he did something like this?

These depressing thoughts ran round his brain over and over, until one small voice piped up at the back of his mind. Sirius didn't pull away…he was moving towards you too, maybe he wanted to kiss you…he was the one cuddling you in the first place…Harry thought about it carefully. It was true, Sirius hadn't exactly pulled away when Harry had moved closer to him. They had been gravitating towards each other, both feeling extremely comfortable with the closeness…but what if he was imagining this?

Harry sighed, frustrated, and turned to see Sirius transforming back into Snuffles for the journey home. They walked back to Grimmauld place, Harry not enjoying the sunshine as much as he had on the way there. After a minute or two they reached the front door and Harry tapped it with his wand, walking in cautiously and quietly in case the others were home already. Sirius followed him in and turned back into himself again, and with the sound of the front door clicking shut came an almighty roar from the kitchen.

"WHERE ON EARTH HAVE YOU TWO BEEN?" Came the furious shout of Molly Weasley as she strode into the hall, "WE WERE OUT OF OUR MINDS WITH WORRY! HARRY, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY VOLDEMORT FOR ALL WE KNEW! AND SIRIUS," she paused for breath here, glaring at Sirius with what appeared to be pure hatred, "YOU CALL YOURSELF A RESPONSIBLE ADULT? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

Harry looked up at Sirius, and saw that his face was chalk white. They both stood there, feeling immensely guilty, but at a loss for words. Mrs Weasley continued, slightly quieter this time but her words were full of venom.

"I've a right mind to call Albus in a minute and get him to take you straight to the Dursleys, Harry. This is obviously not a safe place for you to live, Sirius is a bad influence on you," she said coldly. The bottom dropped out of Harry's stomach and he felt petrified with fear.

"No!" he shouted, panicking now, "No, you can't send me back there! Look, it was my idea. I told Sirius we should sneak out," Harry admitted.

"You?" Molly said, surprised, "Oh Harry, I thought you had more sense than that," she continued, the disappointment clear in her voice. "I still think you should go back to the Dursleys. It's obvious that Sirius isn't actually grown-up enough to take care of you." She glared at Sirius again, and Sirius glared back, fists clenched by his side, clearly trying hard not to lash out at her.

"Molly, Harry is my godson and he will live here if I damn well want him to. Dumbledore isn't his guardian, he doesn't have a say in this and neither do you. It was stupid of us to go out, I admit that, and it won't happen again. But if you or Dumbledore or anyone else tries to take Harry away from me, you will live to regret it." Sirius' tone was dark and threatening, and it was clear that he meant every word. Despite the situation they were in at the moment, Sirius' possessiveness of him sent a pleasant jolt of happiness into his stomach and his heart sped up slightly.

"I'm not leaving Sirius here alone. I don't care what anyone says, I refuse to leave and that's all there is to it." Harry bravely said what was on his mind, looking a surprised Molly right in the eyes and trying to put across exactly how stubborn he was going to be on this. Sirius beamed at him and threw an arm round his shoulder, squeezing it slightly as he stared down Molly. After a moment she gave up and sighed exasperatedly.

"Fine, fine, I can see that it's going to be more trouble than it's worth trying to separate the two of you. I'm going to make sure you're not left alone here again, though," she added nastily, looking at them both suspiciously before turning on her heel and stalking back into the kitchen. They looked at each other, relieved that they'd made it out of that tight spot.

"Probably best if we don't try something like that again for a while," Sirius grinned at him. Harry laughed and nodded his agreement, heading upstairs to his bedroom. He needed time to think about things, very important things that involved a particularly gorgeous man that wouldn't get out of his mind. He ran upstairs, slamming his door behind him and flopping down on the bed. Letting out a huge sigh, he closed his eyes and allowed himself to think freely.

The main thing he was feeling was disbelief. This was his godfather he was thinking about. Okay, so they weren't related or anything but still. He was confused about how on earth his feelings for Sirius had changed so dramatically. When had he started seeing him as being attractive? In fact, since when was he attracted to guys anyway? Urgh, he was so confused right now. And what about that very nearly almost kiss? Was he imagining the fact that Sirius had been moving towards him too, was it just wishful thinking? He supposed that if Sirius had noticed anything and been put off by it, he probably wouldn't have argued so forcefully about wanting Harry to stay here with him.

These thoughts continued to plague him throughout the day, and he was unusually quiet at lunch and dinner. Sirius looked concerned, but Harry just told everyone that he was missing Ron and Hermione. They all looked understanding, and left him to this thoughts. Harry trudged back up the stairs after a late dinner, and lay down on his bed again to think.

There was no going back now, Harry realised. He wanted to be close to Sirius, wanted to cuddle him, to kiss him. Thinking it that plainly made him blush, and he couldn't help but imagine it happening…how Sirius' lips would feel on his…Harry's stomach flipped, his heart raced and he almost felt light headed. As he was desperately trying not to think about Sirius, and failing miserably, he suddenly heard what sounded like Ron's voice calling his name. He sat up, confused, and saw Ron's face reflected in his two way mirror. Harry quickly grabbed the mirror and looked into it.

"Ron!"

"There you are Harry! Wow, this thing actually works," Ron said in amazement.

"Apparently so, yeah," Harry grinned back at him.

"Hey, Hermione, come over here! The mirror works!" Ron called over his shoulder, and a second later Harry could see both of his friends looking at him in the mirror.

"How's it going at Hogwarts so far, then? Anything interesting happened?" Harry asked them eagerly. He saw them exchange a dark look, and felt his stomach sink. Surely something bad couldn't have happened already?

"Well, to start with Hagrid isn't here," Hermione began, and Harry could detect the worry in her voice.

"What? But he's always there!" Harry said, confused. "You mean he wasn't at the feast?"

"Not just the feast, Harry. That Grubbly-Plank woman is here instead, she's come back to teach Care of Magical Creatures." Ron sounded worried, and Harry couldn't help but feel the same.

"I hope he's not hurt," Harry said quietly, and the looks on the faces of his best friends reflected his thoughts.

"I hope so too, Harry, I really do. That's not the only thing that's happened, anyway," Hermione said.

"Yeah, we saw our new Defence teacher at the feast and she's horrible. Wore a load of pink, and looked like a toad. Spoke to us like we were all five year olds. She made some speech about…progress being prohibited…or something like that…" Ron tailed off and Hermione took over.

"She said 'progress for progress's sake must be discouraged,' and ''pruning wherever we find practices that ought to be prohibited!'" Hermione said indignantly. Harry was thinking about Ron's description of the teacher.

"What was her name?"

"Professor Umbridge," Ron said with a disgruntled look on his face, and Harry gasped.

"What?" Ron and Hermione said together.

"Umbridge was the name of the woman at my Ministry hearing! She was short and fat, and definitely looked like a toad…" Harry said, fuming. How on earth was a Ministry official working at the school? Hermione looked grave at this news.

"Well, it looks like the Ministry is going to be interfering at Hogwarts," she said quietly, and they all looked at each other worriedly. "Oh by the way, Harry, Cho Chang was asking about where you were…I think she definitely likes you," she added with a grin, obviously trying to lighten the mood. Harry had completely forgotten about his feelings for Cho. He thought about her, pictured her face in his mind, but now he felt nothing. He sighed, resigning himself to the fact that it was only Sirius in his thoughts now.

"I don't really like Cho anymore Hermione," Harry said awkwardly.

"You don't? Oh. Is there someone else you like then?" Hermione said eagerly, and Ron looked on with a smug grin on his face, obviously amused at how embarrassed this conversation was making Harry.

"No!" Harry replied, too quickly. He couldn't fight the blush that appeared on his face, and he saw Hermione's eyes widen.

"There is someone, isn't there! Who is it?" Ron asked, laughing at the expression on Harry's face.

"No, there isn't!" Harry said, getting redder by the minute. "Look, I have to go. I said I'd…help Sirius clean the…kitchen…" Harry said lamely, saying the first thing that came into his head. "I'll talk to you later!"

"Fine, Harry, whatever you say," Ron laughed at him, and Harry scowled back.

"Bye, Hermione," he said, trying to preserve what dignity he had left, and he tapped his wand on the mirror to end the call. Harry laid back on his bed, his mind racing with all the information he'd just received. Even though he wasn't there any more he hated the idea of that Umbridge woman interfering at Hogwarts, and he wished he could be there so he could curse her right in her stupid toad-like face. With that satisfying thought, Harry closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

There's the next chapter for you! Stay tuned for something that I'm sure people have been waiting for in the next chapter...;)