Not mine

Chapter 21- Man's best friend, or is he?

There was nothing the Dursley's feared worse than people finding out they were connected with anyone abnormal. So they were in hysterics when Vernon's sister Marge showed up for a surprise visit. She had met Harry once before when he was an infant before he was adopted so she knew he existed and she didn't like him because of his small thin build, but beyond that she knew nothing about what he was like. Least of all that he was a wizard. The Dursleys could only pray that nothing out of the ordinary happened and Harry and Remus could only be glad their stay would be over soon.

Trying to avoid Harry's relatives as much as possible, father and son ended uphaving their supper in the living roomwith the television on. Normally neither of them cared much for television and they didn't have one at home, but it helped drown out any negative comments from the others. Most of the time the two just talked or worked on Harry's homework, ignoring the television, but one night Remus stopped talking mid sentence and turned his full attention to the news when he heard what the reporter was saying.

"The public is warned that the escaped convict Sirius Black is armed and extremely dangerous."

A photo of a man with a face that looked like it belonged to a corpse and eyes that were equally as dead came onto the screen. The man's hair was in a filthy tangle and came to his elbows. The look of him would probably have been enough to scare even those who didn't know about his past.

"That isn't-?" Harry started to ask, and Remus nodded, looking as if he were in shock.

"Yes Harry. That's the man who betrayed your parents. Although if I hadn't heard his name I never would have recognized him, and I never would have guessed he could have escaped Azkaban. But then I never would have guessed he'd betray his best friends either."

Harry heard the hurt in his dad's voice and knew he blamed himself for not realizing what kind of person Sirius was.

"There were signs," Remus continued. "His whole family was up to their necks in the dark arts. His brother was a death eater and one of his cousins is completely insane. But we all thought he was different. He ran away from home and moved in with James when he was sixteen. Couldn't stand the pureblood mania the rest of his family had anymore, or so he said. When I heard what he had done, I thought there had to be some mistake. I just couldn't believe he'd do such a thing. I knew your first parents had asked him to be their secret keeper though. There would have been no way Voldemort could have found them unless they were betrayed. And then poor Peter-"

"You had no way to be sure Black wasn't what he seemed to be Dad. You couldn't have done anything."

"I'm not going to take any chances on anything happening to you now that I do know," Remus said after a moment. "I'm sorry but this means I can't sign your Hogsmead permission slip. I can't risk him getting to you."

He hated doing that. He knew how much Harry had been looking forward to seeing Hogsmead.

"But Dad-"

"No son. Black killed Peter and twelve muggles with just one spell. He lost everything the night Voldemort fell, and since everyone sees you as the reason he was defeated, Black will most likely be after you for revenge. Now promise me you won't do anything like the last two years."

Harry knew there was no arguing the point.

"I promise."

Remus decided it was time to change the topic.

"How about some help with that essay you've been working on? What subject is it for?"

Harry frowned. "Potions. I finished my History of Magic essay earlier.

"On second thought I'd better not help then. I was always terrible at potions. I think at one point people were taking bets on how many cauldrons I'd melt before I graduated."

"So how many did you melt?"

"Never mind."

Both laughed, and for the moment Sirius Black was forgotten.

The last night they had to stay at the Dursleys,' Marge seemed determined to get in her last remarks about the two wizards, coming deliberately into the living room so she could be heard over the television. It was late and very dark or Remus probably would have taken Harry for a walk to get away from her, but with Sirius on the loose he didn't want to take the chance at night.

"It's all to do with blood. Bad blood will out."

Harry tried thinking about the letter from Ron about what the Weasleys were doing on vacation in Egypt while Remus forced himself to remember Harry needed the blood protection.

"What did the boy's real father do again?"

"Er-" Petunia avoided looking at Remus.

"James went into law enforcement almost as soon as he was out of school," Remus said, coming up with a story that was fairly close to the truth. He was barely keeping control over the anger in his voice.

"Surprising," Marge said, downing her brandy. "Hard to imagine someone in that field getting drunk and dying in a car crash."

"Maybe that's because he wasn't drunk and they didn't die in a car crash," Harry said, glaring at her. "He and my mother were murdered."

"They were killed in a car crash you nasty little liar. Your aunt and uncle said so."

As she spoke the glass in her hand shattered. Harry hadn't meant to do magic, especially after what happened last year. But hearing his first parents talked about that way made him so angry he couldn't help himself. He looked at his dad and could see he was barely holding his temper himself. And Harry knew for him, loosing his temper was rare. Thankfully Marge thought her glass had only broken because of her grip. Not so thankfully, she went back to talking.

"Actually it has more to do with the mother. If there's something wrong with the-"

That was all Remus could stand.

"There was nothing wrong with James or Lily and there's nothing wrong with Harry. You have no right to say things like that about them."

"How dare you speak to me that way! Let me tell you-"

They never did find out what she was going to tell them. The finger she'd been pointing at Remus started to swell, and the swelling spread to the rest of her until it looked like she was blowing up like a balloon. She started lifting out of her chair and Harry knew he was in trouble now. If he'd gotten a warning letter when he hadn't even done magic, he was certainly in for it now. He quietly slipped out the door while his dad was muttering a series of spells to undo the damage. As much as Remus felt Marge deserved what she got, he had no choice if he wanted to keep the trouble Harry would be in to a minimum.

Harry knew he shouldn't really be outside, but he couldn't stand being near that woman for another second He stayed in the light from the porch watching the shadows move, but one of those shadows was moving more like it was alive. It moved a bit closer and Harry could see that the "shadow" was actually an enormous black dog. It's shaggy black fur was filthy and matted and it was so thin that if Harry had wanted he could have counted the ribs. And those eyes-. There was such a dead look in them even though somehow they were the part of the dog that seemed most alive. Harry would have felt sorry for the dog and called it over, but there was something in those eyes that was- human? He had seen those eyes before on the news, and he suddenly remembered what form a certain Animagus took.

"Dad!" At that word, if Harry had noticed, a strange expression came over the dog's face. If he had been in human form it would have been one of puzzlement mixed with something like hope. "Come quick! Sirius Black!"

Remus was at Harry's side in a second, pointing his wand where Harry had been looking, but the dog was already gone.

"I should have done something. I just stood there. I can't believe it." The man who had betrayed his first parents was right there and Harry hadn't even lifted his wand. He hadn't thought the convict would be insane enough to try attacking him at the Dursleys.

"You did the right thing. Peter tried going up against him and the biggest piece of him they ever found was his finger. I'm glad for once you didn't try to handle it yourself."

They were at the apartment the next day telling Dumbledore what had happened at Privet Drive, leaving out the part about Sirius being an Animagus and in dog form.

"It seems that our fears about him being after Harry were correct. I've already been approached by the Ministry and they will be placing some of their guards around the school while the rest of them are out searching."

Well, extra guards made sense, Harry thought, but Remus immediately protested.

"Not the Dementors! They'd be just as likely to attack a student as they would Black."

"Attack a student? But if they're guards-"

"Harry, they aren't like regular guards," Remus explained. "They're beasts that suck out every happy thought and pleasant feeling a person has. They feed off them. Our pain becomes their power."

"I'm against having them around the school myself," Dumbledore said. "But they won't cross the threshold while I'm headmaster."

"Just having them at the entrance will be bad enough," Remus said. "I just hope they catch Black before long."

"You'll be riding the train with Harry then?"

"Yes. Hopefully nothing will happen, but between Black and the Dementors it would be best to have an adult on board. Personally I'd rather take the train than use floo powder or the Knight Bus anyway."

Dumbledore nodded. "Until September first then." He left using floo powder and after he was gone Harry couldn't help thinking the way they'd talked about the Dementors made them sound almost worse than Black.