Chapter 2: Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own my cat, a piece of gum, and some pocket lint... Harry Potter I do not own.

Eyes Closed Tightly

Chapter two

Sirius liked to think he was a smart man, catching criminals and serving justice. But there was something bothering him. It all started with a call of gunshots heard at Number 4, Privet Drive. So as usual he and his partner Remus dispatched to the house and knocked on the door. When there was no answer the two called for backup before busting the door down and walking into the crime scene.

Stunned at the discovery they stood there. Remembering they could be contaminating the scene they backed out of the dining room. Soon the whole place was swarming with officers and crime scene specialists. Sirius stood in front of the house and watched as an officer put up the yellow tape. Neighbors peeked through windows. The more curious came out to see what all the commotion was about. Some asked what happened only for them to be told 'to return to their homes', which most either ignored or went back to staring through the windows.

"Sirius?" The dark hair man turned looking into the golden brown eyes of his partner. "You alright?" Remus moved closer, reaching out to put his hand on the others shoulder. With years of swift reflexes Sirius avoided the hand.

"I'm fine Remus, never better. Did they find anything in there?" sand colored hair shook as Remus confirmed a no.

"They only found a little hideaway under the stairs, I figure the boy liked to play fort but nothing else." Making a humming noise Sirius turned and made his way towards the house.

"Do you think it could be…?" He trailed unsure if his should finish or not.

"We're not sure the family fit the descriptions, but the way they were killed, well it was too fast. If it was 'him' he didn't have enough time. Or something went wrong." Sirius nodded, his foot in the doorway when he could hear a woman fussing over by the police tape. Sirius walked over to the frantic woman watching her scream at the poor man in front of her and holding a cat to her chest. Remus was curious and not too far behind.

"What seems to be the problem?" the woman stopped and turned towards the new officers, the one being yelled at took his chance and fled. She looked at them before she started her hysterics again.

"What happened? Is everything alright?" Remus was the one to take a step forward. He was better with hysterical people.

"No ma'am I think it best if you go back to your home, we are doing everything we can." She paled and clutched her cat, tears streaming.

"Oh goodness this is bad. Are they dead? The child is he dead?" she cracked letting out sobs. Remus reached out taking hold of her arm and tried to sooth her as she let out heart breaking sobs. "Not Harry, such a bright boy." Both head snapped to her eyes wide.

"Ma'am, did you just say Harry?" she nodded causing Sirius to come in closer. "Wasn't the boy's named Dudley?" she sniffled looking into his dark gray eyes and tried to hold back her tears.

"Dudley's their son; I'm talking about Harry their nephew." Both looked at one another puzzled then back at the woman.

"There were two boys living in that house!"

"Yes, did you only find one?" her eyes lit up at the possibility of the child being alive.

"Mrs.?"

"Arabella Figg."

"Would you please come with us and answer a few questions? We would like to know as much as possible about Harry." She nodded and was led away. Both officers had a dreadful feeling for a small, now missing child. At least now they knew why 'he' was rushed.

~o~

Harry's arm had started to hurt. They had been walking for quite some time. Tom was taking on a quiet persona as he dragged Harry to places unknown. Green eyes watched the older man. It was weird the boy thought, he should be afraid of the man holding his hand but he wasn't. He knew that Tom had killed the Dursleys and that was very bad. It was against the law.

Tom sped up when he heard the sirens. They were far away but they were close enough to get a murderer to speed up.

They sped down an alleyway. Harry tripped and fumbled over the garbage. This made Tom stop and let him catch up. After avoiding a few more falls Tom growled out, snatched the small boy up and placed him on his hip. Harry shocked at first, quickly wrapped his legs around Tom's waist and his hands griped at the dark trench coat.

"Mr. Tom?" Red eyes looked into his green ones. "Where are we going?" he was being jostled in Tom's arms as they ran, making them lose eye contact momentarily.

"We are going to shelter." They made it out of the alleyway but Tom didn't put him down. It was faster to carry him. The tilt to Harry head was enough to show he needed more information, but Tom stayed silent.

"What's after shelter?" Harry ducked down his head as they passed by a rowdy group of men on the street. They laughed loudly watching the pair. One slapped his friend as he was going to call out, cutting off the man before he even started. Tom dashed into another alleyway, this one longer then before and had a lot more turns. It was darker but that didn't scare Harry. He was used to darkness.

"Hey! You! Mr. Trench coat!" Tom stopped and looked ahead of him, seeing a big man blocking the way. "Give me your money!" the mugger had pulled out a gun. Harry stared, wide eyes looking back and forth. "Hurry up! You want the kid to get hurt?" There was a long pause. Harry was placed on the ground. Tom looked at him and leaned down whispering.

"Close your eyes." Harry did as told and put his hands over his tightly closed eyes. Tom stood and smirked at the man, who stumbled back. "You chose the wrong day, wrong time, and most definitely the wrong person to mess with." Tom didn't pull out his gun; it was too risky the noise would draw people. He walked up, watching the man point the gun at him his hands shaking.

"Come on don't be stupid. I have a gun!" Tom's delighted smirk widened and made the mugger more nervous. Tom was but a foot away, the man's hand wavered. He looked into blazing red eyes and was about to pull the trigger when the gun was snatched from his hand, twirling in Toms more experienced ones.

"How did that happen? Wait!" the gun was pointed to his face. Tom smirked cruelly. "d-don't. I wasn't really gonna hurt you!" he was starting to get noisy Tom had to end this soon.

"It's too late to say sorry." He put the gun in a safe place and struck, a knife slipping from his sleeve. The mugger saw Harry and thinking it his only way of surviving, he reached out for the child. He still had his eyes shut, but now his hands were clutched over his ears, trying in vain to muffle what was going on around him. Inches from grasping the small child's arm he was violently pulled back, the knife sliding into his back. He let out a shriek as the knife twisted and shattered his spine.

"You shouldn't have done that." The words ghosted across his neck filling him with fear and pain, crashing to the ground, his legs now useless. The raven haired man stepped over him and grabbed Harry. "Keep them shut" he was picked up and Tom stepped over the mugger and walking further down the alleyway. The mugger was gasping in pain, a relieved sigh left him, being paralyzed was better than being dead.

His blood froze as he heard the child's feet hit the ground, he snapped his gaze towards them. Tom was making his way back. With horrified realization he knew he had crossed paths with the wrong person. He looked up at the man, the red eyes mercilessly looked into his frightened ones. He was going to die. Hands shaking and he tried to grip the pavement, the smirk on Tom's face widened making him look insane. Tom raised the knife, the man screamed as it was brought down over and over. At first not hitting anything that would kill, but as the scream escalated Tom decided he was making too much noise and ended his life by slashing his throat.

He stood and watched the mugger choke and gargle before finally dying. He leaned down and carved the letter 'V' into the dead man's cheek. Standing tall he made his way to Harry taking the boy's hand, he reminded the child to keep his eyes closed as they made their way out of the alleyway. Tom did not want Harry to see all of the blood he was covered in.

~o~

Grey and golden eyes stared down at the photo of a child that Mrs. Figg had given them. There was a small description.

Name: Harry James Potter.

Age: 10

Sex: Male

Height: 4'2

Hair: Black

Eyes: Green

They looked back to the photo seeing a very small, timid smile upon the child's face, wide bright green eyes looking up and messy dark hair. This was Harry, a small 10-year-old boy possibly in the hands of a serial killer. There was little time and too much unpredictability. They had to find Harry.