"Hey Harry! You want to come take a break with me?" one of my waiter friends asked.
"Sure Will, could you cover me a bit John?"
"Sure." And like that, Will and I were going out back with two small glasses of scotch we took from the bar.
"What are we doing in life?" Will asked, leaning on the back wall near the door we just exited.
"I honestly don't know." I said with a small chuckle, to my surprise, Will pulled out a cigarette and started smoking. "I didn't know you smoked WIll." I said, slightly shocked.
"Eh, it's a new habit some would say. Would you like one? It's a good stress release." When I was in school, they never told us of the dangers of drugs and I never knew just how addicting they'd be.
"Sure, why not?" Will handed me one along with his lighter and I did just as he had, placing the drug between my lips and inhaling. After my first hit I started coughing, but I tried again and again until the smoke went down as smooth as the scotch in my hand. Will was right, it really was a good stress release.
One day I was working a shift at my coffee shop, Kaffeine and I decided to take a break. It had been almost two weeks after my first cigarette with Will and I've many ever since, to the point of practically chain smoking. I knew it was extremely unhealthy, even without schooling, but I couldn't stop, I was addicted. I don't know why, but instead of smoking out back I decided to sit in the alley that faced the extremely busy street. I noticed a dog lying in the garbage, either asleep or dead, but I didn't really care, wasn't my dog anyway.
I was broken, the Order of the Phoenix had taken everything I had, my home, my freedom, even Harry. I couldn't believe they actually believed that Harry could kill Ginny, he was set to marry the girl for christ sake! He even saved her life in the Chamber of Secrets, I just didn't get it. I ran away, just like I did when I was a teenager, right after I heard that Voldemort had attacked Azkaban and Harry was gone along with all the death eaters. He would never join them, even if he spent seven years in Azkaban like he did. I was on a quest to find him, but I didn't get very far, only a hipster coffee shop about an hour from Grimmauld Place. I was sleeping near a dumpster, not my choice, but I didn't want to be found, I was in downtown London and all the hipsters were out and about. A man comes around the corner and sits down across from me, pulling out a cigarette and starts smoking it, he looked familiar, or did he? I just couldn't put a name to his face, god, this was frustrating. He looked over at me with pity in his eyes, I probably look dead to be honest, but this little shift let me see the man's apron and the name tag on it. Harry J. Potter. What?! What are the chances of me stumbling upon my outlaw of a godson outside of a muggle coffee shop. God, he was a serious hipster, with a man bun and everything, but it suited him. Last time I saw him was for the summer of his third year, right before he went to court, but he wasn't the same little boy I remember. No, he radiated manliness, like he had seen some shit, but I'm guess he had. I stood up walking over to him with my tail wagging, he looked at me with confusion written all across his face until suddenly his face went blank.
The dog suddenly got up, apparently not dead, and started hobbling over to me with his tail wagging like a crazy man. Looking closer, I'd seen this dog, and suddenly it hit me. Sirius! My heart soared, I missed him so much during my time in Azkaban, if anyone believed me, it'd be him. He was sitting right next to me, his dark blue eyes staring right into my shockingly green ones full of joy.
"Wait here, I'm almost done with my shift." He seemed to nod as I threw the little stub of my cigarette and went back inside. I was telling the truth, it was getting a bit dark and my shift was going to be over in about thirty minutes. Sure enough, when I walked out into the cold LOndon air, the dog was right where I left him.
"Come on." I said, patting the side of my leg.
I walked over to the bike stand, taking off my bike lock and placing it in my soft leather messenger bag and getting on.
"Keep up, will you?" I said with a small laugh and went slightly slower so he didn't have to run to keep up with me. After about ten minutes, we got to my small apartment. I sighed, opening the door and locking my bike to the railing of the stairs on the ground floor.
"We're going to the very top." I said in forewarning, this was a lot of exercise for a dog, even if he was practically human most of the time. My apartment was small with a huge window in the living room and no bedroom, just a living room, kitchen, and a bathroom. My bed was on top of a raised wooden platform only about ten feet from the high ceilings. Underneath my bed I had a white shag rug and a small table I had built. The only way get up to my bed was to climb up some beams which I thought was pretty cool, I also kept my dresser in the space underneath the platform so it was handy. I had another rug underneath my couch that looked out of the large window and was flanked by two of the wooden stands with a lamp sitting on the left stand. In the corner I also had a hammock that looked out onto the street four floors below. I could see the London skyline from almost anywhere in my apartment and I liked it. The kitchen was modern with marble counter tops, and I was surprised I could afford this place. Overall it was a small, tasteful bachelor pad that I was completely in love with. I even put in two tall bookshelves next to the door that I was in the process of filling up with thrift store books I'd like to read.
"Come on in." I said, leaving the door open for Sirius to walk in himself, no one was up here and there were no cameras to film him turning back into a man. I heard the door close and smiled, I was right in thinking the dog was Sirius.
"Harry!" I turned around to see my slightly eccentric godfather running up to me before I was hit with the manchild.
"Sirius, it's nice to see you." I said, letting go of him so he could look around.
"Where are we Harry?" He asked, amazed with the view.
"This is my place which you're welcome to stay at because it looks like you're homeless once more."
"Yeah, I guess so." He was smiling still, looking at me in an almost shocked state.
"What? Have I got something in my teeth?" I said jokingly, but he didn't laugh, his expression going from surprised to a soft happiness.
"Oh no, it's just… you've changed so much since the last time I saw you. Last time I saw you, you looked just like James, but now you're… you're Harry and there's also the fact that you're now twenty years old. I mean, you're practically in the grave!" I laughed a bit, doing the math in my head.
"Well, looks who's talking! You just turned forty one! If anyones practically in the grave, it's you."
"Hey! You have to admit I don't look like it, I'm a silver fox without the grey hair." Sirius said with a flourish making us both laugh harder.
"Well, silver fox, I was about to order some chinese food if you'd like some." Sirius's face went from joyful to a childish glee I had only seen a couple times before. "I'll take that as a yes." I grabbed my phone and ordered some food for the both of us from the best chinese place in downtown and we both waited slightly impatient. They got here and we both sat down on the couch, looking out on the London skyline, eating in silence for a bit.
"This is so good." Sirius said in between bites.
"I know, it's my favorite."
"It's much better than the extremely unhealthy food Mrs. Weasley always feeds us, christ, it's like she's trying to make us all into pigs!" Sirius started laughing, momentarily forgetting how they had betrayed me only seven years ago. It may have been years, but the wounds were still fresh.
"You know Harry, a lot of people believed you. The twins, Bill, and Charlie have all distanced themselves from their family because they supported you and wouldn't take everyone talking bad about you. We could and see them some time if you want, I'm sure they'd be overjoyed to see you. Bill married a french girl name Fleur and Charlie is visiting for Christmas, they refuse to go and see the rest of their family and have ever since you left so they're having Christmas at the twins loft."I thought about it for a second. The twins and I had been extremely close, closer than the rest of the 'golden trio' as most people liked to call us and it would be nice to be in their company again. I had never met Bill or Charlie, but I had always wanted to, the last Christmas I had was back in my third year, but it was fun.
"Could they come over to my flat for Christmas? I could have a tree and everything, I think it would be fun." Sirius's face lit up once more making me chuckle slightly.
"That's a great idea Harry, we could get presents and everything!" Sirius then started rambling about everything we needed and I finished my food before checking my watch.
"Oh, Sirius, I have to go to work." He stopped in the middle of talking about various colors of Christmas lights and looked at me with a wrinkled brow.
"Didn't you have work earlier?" I laughed a bit, only one job, funny joke.
"I can't afford a place like this with only one job, especially at a coffee shop. I'll get you a blanket and you can look around while I'm gone. I have some good books and some food in the fridge. I'll be back around three." I ran around, grabbing the things I would need. I dressed in some skinny black dress pants and a white button down with the sleeves rolled up. I put on some leather boots and on top of everything, my long, black wool coat, leaving it open and finishing it off with my brown leather messengers bag.
"Bye Sirius, and try to sleep."I said, giving him one last hug along with a blanket. I ran down the stairs, I was going to be late. I grabbed my bike and peddled as fast as I could, arriving at the bar just in time for my shift to start.
"Harry! I was thinking you weren't going to show up." Will said, taking the left side of the bar.
"And let you get all the tips? In your dreams!" I said with a laugh. I loved my time at the bar when it was with Will, he always seemed to make everything more lively and always had a cigarette on him if I had forgotten.
Christmas was in about a week and a half, but it wasn't the thing I was worrying about. Ever since I had gotten out of Azkaban I had wondered just where my beautiful familiar, Hedwig was and how she was doing. I could tell she was unhappy and missing me and so I decided to ask Sirius about over dinner.
"Sirius, do you know what happened to Hedwig?" I asked casually, looking at his face to see if he did. His mouth went from a relaxed smile to a frown and I could tell it wasn't good.
"Unfortunately, yes." My skin crawled with anxiety about my first friend.
"Really? What's wrong with her? Is she okay? Sirius, where is she?" I went into parent mode, I wanted to know where she was right now.
"Harry, calm down. When you went to Azkaban all your possessions were given to the Weasleys and Hermione got Hedwig." My face drained of all color, I knew she didn't treat animals right and I feared just what she had done to my Hedwig.
"Sirius, is there anyway you could sneak back to Grimmauld Place and get my things, if anything Hedwig. I don't want her to be in the hands of that monster." Sirius thought about it for a second and then nodded.
"It's not going to be easy, but I'll do it. I'll try and get Hedwig and the cloak, Ron got that, but he only uses it to spy on Hermione in the shower. He's a real creep. Did you know that they're still in Hogwarts? At the moment they're back in my house for Christmas, but there were a lot of attacks on Hogwarts that delayed their education."
"Hmm, I'd really appreciate it though. I've always had Hedwig, she's my familiar and I wouldn't want to spend Christmas without her."
"I know Harry." We continued to talk about mundane things over dinner, but I made plans in my head to go out tomorrow while I was off and get owl things.