Harry awoke early the next morning. He sat up in bed and turned to see Zhar sleeping peacefully perched on his headboard, her head resting under a soft red wing. As he pushed himself off his bed and padded towards the bathroom for a shower, the events of the day before came back to him. Oddly enough, it was exciting having Sirius Black stay at the manor. Harry had spent so long in the old mansion with just Reginald and Zhar for company. It would be nice to have another person around.
Harry quickly stripped and stepped in to the shower, throwing the water on and grabbing the soap. Someone had told him once that showers were relaxing, but he had never thought so. He supposed the soothing part was the warm water. Harry had read that vampires were constantly 'cold', but he never really knew what it meant. Turned vampires said that they lived a half-life, never being able to feel warmth. Harry was a born vampire, though. The concept of temperature was lost on him. In his younger years he had once asked Reginald to describe it to him, but the weathered old man had told him that he couldn't. Harry understood now that it was impossible to describe a sense, but as a young boy that answer had been like a rejection. Like he was missing out on something huge that everyone else in the world was in on.
Harry finished his shower quickly and stepped out of the bathroom, noticing that Zhar was now gone. It was strange that she was, as she rarely strayed out of line of sight to Harry. Even when he attended muggle school, she had sat in the back of the classroom, watching over him. If muggles could see magical animals it would have been a serious problem, but luckily the teacher had simply seemed baffled about how bird droppings continued to get in her classroom.
Harry dressed and left his room, heading one door over to where he had left Sirius the night before. As he opened the door and spotted the man coming out of the bathroom in only a towel, he wondered if he should have knocked. Reginald had always been in the habit of locking doors when he wanted privacy, so Harry wasn't accustomed to asking permission before he entered a room. As he took in the sight of Sirius, he strongly wished that he had knocked. The man seemed half starved. Yellowed skin stretched tightly over his weak frame exposed every rib on his chest. If he had ever had muscles, he definitely didn't now. He seemed, quite literally, just skin and bones. Harry shuddered thinking what he must have looked like before he showered.
"Good morning Sirius!" Harry covered his distaste with a cheerful greeting. Sirius seemed slightly embarrassed.
"Harry...you're up early." The man responded awkwardly, moving to sit on the bed.
"Well, we've got a lot to do today. Heading to Diagon Alley to get my school supplies." Harry responded, smiling. "We should probably get you some robes, as well. I'm glad to see that you found the shower. I didn't want to be forced to inform you of how much you reeked. I attempt to avoid awkward situations whenever possible."
Sirius laughed weakly at Harry's forwardness. He seemed still in a daze from the shock of leaving Azkaban so abruptly, but Harry thought that he was warming up to him.
"Now, I should probably get you some robes to wear out today. You'll have to borrow some of Reginald's, so you have a choice of black with grey trim, or black with black-" Harry was cut off by a bright flash of blue fire in the center of the room that signaled Zhar's entrance. The bird flew to Sirius and landed on his shoulder, dropping heavy black robes on his lap. "Well, looks like Zhar has decided for you."
Sirius smiled at the phoenix and picked up the robes, holding them out in front of him. Out of them fell what appeared to be a stack of folded parchment. Sirius picked up the parchment curiously and his smile immediately faded, his eyes going wide. Harry approached Sirius and bent his head to read the parchment upside down. It was a copy of The Daily Prophet, and a large picture of Sirius was on the front page. The picture was obviously of him when he was first taken in to custody fifteen years ago, as he looked much younger and healthier. Sirius was actually quite a good looking man before his stay in Azkaban, it seemed. It made his present appearance seem even worse.
Sirius numbly handed Harry the paper and he turned it around to read it. The headline read 'DEATH EATER BLACK ESCAPES AZKABAN: WORK OF THE DARK LORD?" Harry skimmed the short article that had some how managed to take up the entire front page and found nothing surprising. It spun the story to make it look as if this was an act of the Dark Lord, freeing his second in command. People would probably believe the story, despite it's obvious flaws. As if Voldemort would go through the trouble of infiltrating Azkaban and then free only one of his imprisoned Death Eaters. He would probably take the Dementors with him as well, Harry mused. Reginald had recently uncovered that Voldemort had at least a few Dementors on his side already.
"Where the hell did you get a newspaper? You don't have any money." Harry raised an eyebrow at Zhar, who still stood perched on Sirius's shoulder. The bird made an indignant noise and turned away. Harry laughed and turned back to Sirius, "You're not a metamorphmagus, are you Sirius?"
"No," Sirius shook his head. The man seemed to be slightly shocked that he was now considered the most dangerous Death Eater alive, and the entire wizarding world was looking for him.
"Right, we'll have to see Reginald about getting you a proper disguise then. Can't have you going to Diagon Alley looking like yourself with the entire wizarding world on the lookout for you."
Twenty minutes later found Harry and Sirius standing in front of one of the many fireplaces in Potter Manor. The two had sought out Reginald, and Sirius was now glamoured to have tanned skin, brown hair, and hazel eyes. Sirius had received the same foreboding feeling from Reginald as before, although the man didn't seem aggressive towards him.
"Okay, we've got a couple places to go today, but we'll start with Diagon Alley." Harry said cheerfully, reaching for the pot of floo powder on the mantle. The boy's hair was now blood red and his eyes were brown. Harry grabbed some floo powder for himself, and then turned to offer the small pot to Sirius. Sirius reached in for some powder, but before he could grasp any Harry's hand abruptly began to shake violently. The pot fell to the ground and hit the black marble with a reverberating crash, breaking and spreading floo powder everywhere. Harry's eyes were now wide, and he clutched his stomach tightly with both arms, falling to his knees. His entire body was shaking slightly, as if he were having a seizure.
"Harry?" Sirius dropped down next to him, unsure of what to do. Zhar burst into appearance on the mantle of the fire place, but she made no move to approach Harry. After a few seconds, though, Harry's body ceased shaking. It appeared that whatever had taken hold of him had passed. He maintained his position with his arms hugging his stomach for a few moments, taking in shaky breaths.
"Sorry about that," Harry finally spoke in a falsely cheerful voice. Harry stood and helped Sirius up. He drew his wand and gave it a small wave, and the pot of floo powder repaired itself. The floo powder scattered along the floor all began to float off the marble ground, high in to the air around them, and then it all shot back into the pot. The pot flew to Harry's waiting hand, and he offered it to Sirius again.
"What just happened, Harry?" Sirius asked. He wearily reached towards the pot again, this time successfully grabbing a small handful of powder.
"Oh, slight stomach ache. I'm hungry, as I'm sure you are as well." Harry replied, smiling. "I'm afraid we'll have to change our destination, though. I need to pick something up in Knockturn Alley. I had planned on going later, but I think it would be best if we did it now. After that we can find a buffet somewhere, you look starved."
"I am," Sirius grinned weakly, "Can't wait to get some real food."
"Yeah, real food." Harry said with a strange smile. He then turned and tossed the floo powder in the fire, "Knockturn Alley!"
Sirius quickly moved after him, tossing his own powder in and calling out his destination. He wasn't met with the familiar inside of the floo system, though. There were no other doors to exit, and he just seemed to be falling through green fire with no end. Harry was no where to be seen amongst the flames, and for a moment Sirius feared that he might be lost, falling through flames forever. Then he looked down and spotted what appeared to be the end of 'the line'. It was a wall made up purely of hot red flames woven together, and Sirius was falling straight towards it. He stared down at it as he approached. The wall looked solid, but there was nothing he could do to avoid it. He shut his eyes, first feeling the heat of the red flames on his legs, and then his chest, and then his face, and then it was gone. Sirius looked up in astonishment, but the wall was no where to be seen amongst the green flame above him. He viewed this new area and found doors surrounding him, woven in to the flames. He had entered the floo system he was familiar with.
A moment later Sirius stumbled out of a small, cramped fireplace and into Knockturn Alley. Cold hands caught him, and Sirius looked up to see Harry's warm brown eyes. "Fun, isn't it? We only have a one-way floo connection, and it's not exactly 'on file'. I probably should have warned you. Sorry."
"It s'alright" Sirius slurred, slightly dizzy from his trip. He brushed the soot off his robes and followed Harry down the dingy street that was Knockturn Alley. Harry didn't seem to take notice as they passed all the strange things that one could only find in Knockturn Alley. A hag with a large platter full of shrunken heads, a shop that buys and trades toe nails, a book store with a single severed hand in the display window, and then a rival nail store that sold finger nails. Harry's gaze stayed straight forward, as did all other lone wizards they passed. There seemed to be an unspoken mind-your-own-business rule.
Harry abruptly stopped and Sirius distractedly ran straight in to the slim boy. It was like hitting a brick wall. Sirius stumbled back at the sudden impact and fell to the ground. Harry turned to help him with an amused smile, asking if he was okay. Sirius gave a short nod that Harry seemed to accept as an answer, because he turned to look at a shadowed area on the wall of the alley. On closer inspection, Sirius found that there was actually a small door there. Above the door hung a small wooden sign that may have had something written on it at one time, but was now covered with a red substance that was disgustingly similar to dried blood. Harry continued on straight through the door, and, against his better judgment, Sirius followed him.
The store was small, extremely dusty, and completely bare. There was nothing inside but open space and a wooden counter in the back with a short pale man behind it. The man had stringy white hair and yellowed teeth that made him look similar to a hag, and Sirius began to wonder if he was even a man at all. As Sirius followed Harry up to the counter, the man's eyes flicked between the two of them, but he said nothing. Harry didn't seem put out in the slightest.
"Hello," he greeted cheerfully, leaning forward onto the dirty counter. Sirius expected him to continue, but Harry just stood there with a smile on his face. The man eyed Harry for a moment before reaching a hand under the counter and withdrawing a small brown paper bag. He placed the bag on the counter and pushed it to Harry. Harry unfolded the top of the small bag and looked down inside. "This is the correct amount? It doesn't look like much more than the usual."
"Aye, it's enough for you, half blood." the pale man responded in a low, scratchy voice. Sirius raised his eyebrows at the comment, but Harry didn't seem to take it as an insult.
"Right. I would like to enlarge it and take a look. May I use your back room?" Harry asked politely. If the man was insulted that Harry didn't trust him to deliver the correct 'amount' of what he was selling, he didn't show it. He simply gave a small nod followed by a disgruntled look when Harry slid over the counter instead of using the small latched door. "I'll be just a moment, Sirius." Harry called as he went through the door behind the counter, closing it behind him with a soft click.
Sirius was left alone in the bare, dusty shop. At first he attempted to avert his eyes from the short, ugly clerk behind the counter, but there wasn't much else to look at. He stared at a particularly dusty corner of the shop for a moment before chancing a glance back at the man. The clerk was now wearing a heavy cloak. He withdrew a strange, twisted key from his pocket that seemed to be carved from ivory and walked around the counter towards Sirius. Sirius flinched slightly as the man approached, but the clerk stopped a few yards away and turned towards the back door that Harry had disapeared through, staring at it blankly.
A few awkward minutes passed that way, the two of them standing there, waiting. The clerk didn't move in the slightest the entire time, he simply continued to stare at the door. Sirius was deciding if it would be less uncomfortable to stay and wait for Harry here with the clerk, or out in Knockturn Alley, when the door finally opened. Harry stepped out, stowing the brown paper bag safely in his robes. He smiled as he approached the pair, nodded to the man silently, and gave Sirius a soft push towards the door.
As they emerged from the store Sirius considered asking Harry what he had purchased, but decided against it. The boy was very forward about things, and if he was willing to tell Sirius what he was buying, he most definitely would have said something already. Harry was walking in front of him now in the same fashion that they had traveled through the alley before. As they strode in the direction of Diagon Alley, Sirius inconspicuously took a look behind him. The ugly little clerk had followed them out of the store and was now locking the door with that strange key. A moment later Sirius heard the sharp crack of the man disapparating.
Five minutes later found the two of them entering Diagon Alley. Harry slowed his pace slightly and fell in to step beside Sirius. "Where do you want to eat?"
Sirius abruptly became aware of how hungry he was, but he feigned indifference. "Where ever you want to go is fine with me." he responded with a shrug.
Judging by Harry's grin, he had seen straight through him, but the boy didn't comment on it. He simply steered Sirius into a buffet style restaurant, smiling brightly at the hostess and requesting a table as close as possible to the buffet. Distracted by the warm aroma of food, Sirius vaguely noted that the young girl seemed quite taken with Harry as she led them to a spot directly across from the long table that housed the buffet.
AN: Thanks for reading! Please hit the review button below and tell me what you think! If I get more reviews for this chapter than there are people on the alert list for this story, I'll make next update twice as long as the usual. :)
Also, I've seen other stories where readers were allowed to vote on what would happen in the next chapter. I have a pretty good idea of how everything will happen in this story, but I've always thought that letting the readers vote on things was pretty cool. So, there are a few new characters that have yet to be introduced to the story. I thought it would be cool allowing readers to decide on names, since those have no direct influence on the plot. If this goes well, I have some ideas on other things that readers can decide, but we'll start with this for now.
If the next chapter is twice as long as usual (review!), a new character will appear in the second half. I have a name for him, but maybe you guys have some ideas as well. At the end of your review, put the best male bad-guy name you can come up with. It can be a first-name, or something like 'Voldemort', but it can only be one word. If yours is the best fit for the character, it will become a permanent fixture in the story! All I ask is that you give me some feedback in your review as well, don't just put a name.
Thanks again for reading!