Little Harry

A metal plate skidded on the stone floor somewhere down the corridor. The noise brought him out of his stupor and he lazily turned his head away from the barred window which he had been staring at for quite some time. They were feeding the prisoners today. He heard the loud noises of plates dropping to the floor become clearer as the guards moved up the hallway.

He slowly uncurled the thin ragged blanket from around his dirty body and sat up in the wooden cot. His one shoulder was slummed against the moss covered wall while the other clutched at his numb feet trying to bring some warmth to them. All around him he could hear the uneasy see hurtling itself at the rocky walls of the prison and every now and then he could feel sea spray fling through the rusted bars of his window and shatter as it collided with the slippery stone floor. The endless wind whistled an off key tune through the holes in-between the massive stone slabs that formed the walls and Sirius shivered in the cold air that circulated through the cells.

A hand appeared, a clean hand, and it twisted a dull bowl so that it would fit through the bars, Sirius could see some of the slushy brown soup spill over the edge. The bowl was tilted horizontal again before being dropped with a clatter onto the slimy ground. The hand moved away disappearing into the darkness of the cell across from his.

Sirius uncurled his toes and slowly maneuvered his feet towards the ground beneath his cot. He pushed himself off from his wall and limped towards the bowl, his feet slipping on the moss and slime. He bent down and with shaking hands picked up the frosty bowl. Nothing ever seemed to stay warm in this place.

He curled himself back up in his blanket and settled himself back onto his bed before automatically raising the bowl to his lips and drinking the meal. After his first year he had learned to ignore the taste. As long as it kept him alive there wasn't much he would complain about. There wasn't anyone to complain to.

"Black." A formal voice said sharply.

Sirius looked up placing the bowl to one side immediately; he wiped his mouth with his hand and tried to keep it from shaking. "Minister." He greeted in the same cold formal voice. He looked at the dimly lit faces of the men around him recognizing a few. His eyes lingered on the icy blue ones of Albus Dumbledore, his former head master. Something was up.

"Black," Fudge said again with distaste, he looked at Scrimgoeur who nodded steadily, "you have – a visitor."

Sirius frowned, his eyes darting over to the image of a guard fumbling with his chain and retrieving a massive rustic key. He inserted it into the lock and turned it several times before a screeching click sounded. The barred door slid open. Sirius felt his brain go numb.

A visitor for him?

Warm hands clamped themselves around his thin shoulders and Sirius felt himself being lifted up. His arms were being twisted behind his back and a pair of iron cuffs were conjured around them. Sirius looked to his side to see Mad-eye's scarred face give him a stern look, daring him to try something. At the same time Moody's wand tip was pushed into his back between his shoulder blades and the tall balding man on his other side gave him a rough shove which caused him to move forewords. He stared at Fudge as he was walked out of his cell.

He had never had a visitor before. He remembered long ago hoping that Remus would maybe show up one day. The dementors however had taken that hope away from him years ago. Who ells would come to visit him?

His eyes jumped around taking in the amazing site of something that wasn't his cell. He looked back over his shoulder at the following people, hoping to catch Dumbledore's eyes again before they stepped out of the door and into the congruent hallway. It was warmer in that part of Azkaban, the maximum security wing where he spent the last seven years being the worst.

His body was beginning to warm up. The Dementors had obviously been told to stay away from the guest today. You could always tell when someone important was visiting, the amount of mutters and screams from the prisoners decreased dramatically without dementors there to force them. Sirius had wondered why things had been so quiet that morning.

After passing a few doors that led to different cells he was pulled down a flight of narrow steps, through a heavily bolted and locked door and into probably the nicest part of the prison. There were even proper glass windows that kept the weather out and provided a chilling view of the stormy ocean. It was quiet down here and Sirius almost moaned with pleasure as his numb feet began walking on a carpet. There were torches hanging on brackets against the walls giving off a warm glow to surroundings.

The auror who had been pushing Sirius through the fortress let go of his side and unlocked a giant wooden door in front of him. Moody pushed him through his wand still firmly placed between his shoulder blades. Sirius was led towards one of the two chairs that stood in front of an old wooden table. The old auror sat him down and hooked and locked the cuffs to a chain fastened to the ground beneath his chair.

"Black," he barked, "I think it is just fair to inform you that if you do not behave me and the other lad's have permission to kill you, understood? So you just sit tight and don't think about doing something stupid, your days are numbered as it is." With a rough shove that forced him into the back of his chair moody left through the open door.

Was it Remus? Had he finally decided to come and visit after seven years? Did he still believe Sirius to be guilty? Would he believe him if he told the truth about Peter? Would he forgive him? Who else could possibly want to see him? Who would request that from the ministry and who would bother filling out all the necessary paper work?

Outside he could hear a choir of harsh whispering and as the open door creaked wider to allow someone passage Sirius looked up to meet his visitor.

A boy. A small boy was walking timidly into the room. He was hugging his sides and looking nervously over his shoulder as the door closed and was bolted shut. Sirius leaned forwards trying to get a better view of the child. Could it be…

The boy had stopped walking and stood shivering midway between the door and the table, chewing on his bottom lip. Sirius tried to say something but his throat had gone dry and all he could do was to swallow the dust that lined it. His eyes were slowly watering as he took in the unruly black hair, the shape of the face, the emerald green eyes that were staring determinedly at the table top.

"Harry…" he finally croaked.

His muscles were tightening and straining against the chain pulling his shoulders closer together as he leaned into the table. There was no mistaking it. It was him. Sirius could even see the traces of his scar shining through his fringe. His mind began running with thoughts, with memories, with emotions. "Harry." He said again his voice lubricated by the need to strike up a conversation.

The little boy looked up and with uncertain eyes he smiled slightly, "Hello," he said before unfurling his arms and moving forwards to the table, "I – I hope, I – didn't want to bother you. I – I, they said." he stopped staring at Sirius's face.

"What did they say Harry," Sirius asked frowning. He refrained from staring at the walls around the room, he knew that they were watching and listening in on this conversation.

Harry swallowed nervously, "I asked them if – if I could visit you. But. But – but I didn't mean to bother you." His green eyes sparkled with sincerity. "I am sorry if – if I did. I just, I wanted to. I just wanted to – to see you."

Sirius could feel the corners of his mouth strain upwards in something that should have looked like a smile. It was certainly not something he had done in ages. "You could never bother me Harry." Sirius said trying to make his voice sound friendly. From what he could sense about the little boy, he seemed extremely scared, very nervous and unsure about the entire affair. Sirius also didn't like the way Harry spoke; the stammering gave him the impression that Harry wasn't a very confident boy. "Trust me," he said with a harsh snort, "After living seven years with your dad there isn't much that could bother me."

He had said it in hopes that it would reassure Harry a little bit, though he hadn't counted on the fact that it would bring up the image of a dead lifeless James lying on the living room carpet with glassy open eyes. Sirius felt his body shudder as he tried to push the thought out of his head.

Harry smiled slightly, "You knew my dad? They – they said you knew him really well." His little hand was skating nervously across the wooden table.

Sirius nodded closing his eyes and trying to get rid of the burning he felt build up in them, "yeah," he said hoarsely, "I knew James and your mum." Dreading the next question.

"What were they like?" he asked curiously.

Sirius sighed and looked upwards trying to remember, after so long under the oppression of Azkaban it was hard to recall, "James was a very good friend, he was, he was. He was great." Sirius looked back at Harry's hungry face, the little boy had stopped fiddling now and stared at him attentively, "James," Sirius felt his facial muscles pull his lips into a smile, "he was very kind, very clever and very brave in the end." Sirius answered shortly before swallowing again and trying to maintain his calm, "He was also a nervous wreck, when you were born." His muscles pulled harder, "I was there you know."

He didn't need to look at Harry to know that the boy was listening to every word, he took a deep breath feeling the memory come to him, he hadn't thought about it in such a long time. It was one of the happy ones. "When I arrived in the waiting room James had almost pulled out most of his hair pacing holes into the carpet and muttering to himself. Remus was sitting calmly in the corner with a troubled expression on his face and peter, well he wasn't there for some reason." Sirius added bitterly. "Anyway after you were born it took me and moony, lily and two very insistent healers to get him to put you down. He was quite taken with you."

Sirius looked at Harry, his green eyes were huge and Sirius could see questions forming behind them, "Did Remus bring you, or did your aunt bring you Harry?" Sirius asked him silently. He really wanted to speak to the man.

Harry bit his lip in confusion, "Aunt Petunia, she doesn't know that – that I am here. Who is Remus?" he asked softly.

Sirius sat back in his chair with surprise, "Remus Lupin, you know, uncle moony." There was no reaction to either name, "You don't know who I am talking about do you?"

Harry shook his head slowly, "is he my uncle too?"

"Well," Sirius said thinking about it, "Yeah, I suppose he is. You have never met him huh?"

The boy shook his head, "I – I am sorry."

Sirius shook his head, "no, you shouldn't be sorry Harry. I just thought that, you would know him." Sirius wondered silently why Harry didn't, "anyways who did arrange this then? Who brought you here?"

The boy looked back at the door, "I asked to come here and – and the old man with the blue eye brought me."

"Mad-eye?" Sirius frowned, "I don't mean to sound ungrateful or anything, but what are you doing here?"

Little Harry looked around him and spotted the chair he had been ignoring for a while. Sirius watched as the boy began to push the chair around the table and towards him. Sirius could almost hear Mad-eye cursing under his breath. The last thing Sirius thought any of them wanted was for Harry to get this close to him. He on the other hand felt his heart soften at the gesture, it was rather sweet.

The chair came to a halt at his side, and Harry struggled as he tried to climb over the chairs arms. Eventually he sat in the chair his legs folded beneath him and his elbow resting on the table. Sirius noted his other arm was in a sling and appeared to be healing from a nasty break. He leaned in, "I – I just, really wanted to meet you." He said earnestly. "they – they just appeared at my school saying that they wanted to kill you. And I had to sign this form but I didn't want to. I didn't even know who you are." Harry explained.

"they asked you to sign a form that would allow them to kill me?" Sirius repeated. "That doesn't sound very legal Harry, and it doesn't sound very fair either." As a Black, wizarding law had been forced into his head since he could read and write, from what Sirius knew, there was no such thing as death warrant in Wizarding Britain.

The boy nodded his eyes wide with agreement, "You killed people right?" Harry asked him suddenly.

Sirius looked him in the eyes, "no Harry, I didn't kill anyone." He could imagine Fudge snorting behind the wall.

"Then why are you in jail?" he demanded in a confused voice. "The man – the old one, Mad-eye? He said that – that you had killed a lot of people. That is why you were in here."

Sirius shook his head again, "I didn't kill any of those people Harry."

"So – so you have never killed anyone?" he asked confusion poisoning his green eyes.

Sirius sighed, "well, not never, I mean, I was an auror during the war. We were sometimes ordered to do things, to hurt people. Most of the people who brought you here Harry, shouldn't really be accusing anyone of murder."

He seemed to struggle with this concept, "So," he said shifting a bit, "So most of them – what is an auror?"

"It's a dark wizard catcher. Your dad and I were aurors Harry." Sirius stated slowly, "Didn't they tell you?"

Harry backed away into his chair pulling his knees from under him and sitting down with them pulled to his chest, "A dark wizard?"

"Yeah." Sirius said slowly. "It's like, you know Dumbledore is a good wizard right? Well there are bad ones too."

"I am s-sorry but. I just – I don't. Who – is Dumbledore?" Harry asked him slowly.

"He's the old man with the long white beard Harry." Sirius stated. He couldn't believe that Harry didn't know these things.

The boy bit his lip again, "Are – all, those people outside. Are they – are they all wizards?"

Sirius nodded. Didn't he know anything about magic at all? Didn't anyone tell him?

A smile lit Harry's face and he relaxed, "Like in King Arthur, are they. Are they all – are all of them like – like Merlin?" his eyes began to sparkle with a distant memory.

Sirius blinked, "yeah, something like that. You know about Merlin then?" Sirius asked quietly.

Harry shook his head vigorously, "I read all the story books in library about Merlin."

Muggle books. Sirius thought quietly. Nobody had told Harry about Magic then. He frowned as Harry began shivering again. It might have been warm to him but Sirius reminded himself that he was use to much worse. Harry had to be freezing. "So, you like books then huh? Lily and Remus would be extremely happy about that. I believe they both loved story books."

Harry smiled brightly, "What about dad? Didn't – didn't he like books?"

Sirius shrugged, "He wasn't madly in love with them Harry. He was more of an – an athlete." Sirius smiled inwardly at the memory of James streaking past him on his hunt for the snitch.

"So he played football?" Harry asked excitedly, "cause I like football t- " there was a knock at the door that caused Harry's face to drop immediately, he stared back at Sirius sadly, "I – I have to – I have to go now. I don't want to leave."

Sirius's face strained again. That was a wonderful thing to hear. "If you want to Harry, you can come visit me any time you like. They can't stop you from doing it. It's all perfectly legal you know."

He watched his godson's face twist into a confused one. "But, they said – the funny short man said, that I can only see you once."

Sirius shook his head, "No Harry, if you want to, you can ask mad-eye for a visiting form, and then you fill it out and get an adult to sign it. You're allowed to come and visit me whenever you like. If, you want to." He added anxiously.

Harry smiled as he stood up in his chair and began climbing back down, "I would – like to." He hesitated before walking to the door. "Sirius," he said softly looking into his eyes. "I believe you." He whispered.

Sirius felt tears rise in his throat again, his heart reached out to the boy and he felt a great need to hug him. He tested the chains and was brought back to the reality of the situation. Instead he gave a swift nod and turned his head away as Harry walked back towards the door that swung open to allow him passage.

Those three words coming from his mouth awoke many dormant emotions and feelings. For the first time in seven years, Sirius Black felt alive.