Thank you for all your reviews, I hope this lives up to your expectations – finally we see a glimpse of Harry, and thus the start of their relationship.
To anger a Black – He was nervous to be on Hogwarts grounds again already, but he had unlocked magic so he should be fine. He cast a 'notice me not' charm on himself as he strode across the ground, the front doors opened to allow him access. He considered paying a visit to Dumbledore but quickly shook off that idea, no, as powerful as he felt he was not ready to take on the quite possibly most powerful man of the era, now was not the time. He would come here for what he wanted and that would be all. It was too late for the students to be up, of course this did not mean that students would not be up, but it made the charm on his person practically effortless if there was no one to notice him anyway. He headed straight to the dungeons and Snape's private quarters.
Again, as soon as he approached the doors, they opened, no password required, and with a smirk, he entered. It briefly entered his mind that he was a stone's throw away from a sleeping defenceless Severus Snape, the man he had had a ridiculous rivalry with at school. But he was over that grudge; it was a childish act of bullying on his part that should have never even started, nothing more. If anything, he should be apologising next time he saw the man, not hex him. The man would never accept his apologies and he accepted that for he had very nearly killed him, he'd been prepared to. When he was fifteen he'd been prepared to kill, that was even scarier, and he had no remorse over it then. Now he knew what happened to murderers and had a feel of death, he felt the remorse, eight years too late, but he felt it.
Severus was a slimy boy who followed them around trying to get him and his brothers into trouble and he had grown up into a slimy man who played for both sides and was confused himself which party he actually had loyalty to. He was too curious for his own good which was why he took Sirius' advice and tried to get through the whomping willow to see where the boys he despised so much disappeared off to once a month. Death had been such an uninteresting subject to him, even with a war going on, and with recent advances in medicine brought on the aftermath of the war of course it meant nothing. Severus dying had not meant much as he felt dirty for cheapening such a final happening now, but when he was fifteen the war meant nothing. Avada Kedavra meant nothing, he'd lost no one, he hadn't been through Auror training, he hadn't seen death so it didn't have any effect on him.
He went straight to the man's private stores, it had not changed since Slughorn was professor, indeed Severus was his successor and in memory had not changed the layout of the dungeons. He and the marauders had been here before to steal polyuice potion so they could go around school as each other for the day for a laugh. It seemed almost silly now, all those reckless things they did 'just for a laugh'. He'd been here to steal dreamless sleep potion because he kept having nightmares about his family, and Remus too, kept waking up in the night screaming about wolves, and the lies he had tell the dorm mates so they would not get suspicious. Except he was not here for those potions, he was there for something a little rarer, more expensive, something you could not buy even in knockturn alley for a ridiculous price.
Severus was a smart man, organised, sometimes Sirius wished he could see inside his mind and see if it was like an encyclopedia like his external image seemed to be, or whether he was more human. Sometimes he thought about him, for some reason during his stay in Azkaban Severus' face came to him for he had seen as much of him as he had his brothers and he wondered what his brain was like. For some reason he doubted he would see a jumble of thoughts and questions and images swarming and crawling over each other tucked beneath his eyes where all his fucked up, confused cognitions could hide, it did not suit him. He did not want to be mistakable for one of the normal population; there was no superiority in that and Severus had always had some sort of complex with that, he had always been proud of being set apart some way.
No instead he imagined it would be all organised, his thoughts and principles all lined up in alphabetical order on some polished bookshelf. His potions, which he was skimming through, now, were all in alphabetical order. There were little labels saying things like 'Monday morning' and 'Wednesday evening'. These were potions for class. As he passed through to the pain relieving potions and other medicines the name Poppy crept keeping up, these were for the hospital wing, he had not known he was on first name terms with her. He had only been working her about two years he thought, but then again they had been close when he was still a student, though he did not know why, Severus spent time up there for recreation and helped out where he could, if she let him, she was as possessive over his hospital wing as Pince was over the library.
This was his personal chamber, he could not help the thought that he was peering into that mind of his. Everything was labelled and clean and packed away into sections complete with sticky labels and pieces of parchment so even a fool could follow it. It was not at all like him, maybe that was why they had hated one another from the get go. He reached F, this was first potion he wanted 'Felix Felicus,' a rare potion that takes forever to brew, it hard to keep and can very rarely be bought for an affordable price, and if you wanted it to be good quality – well there was really no way to know. It was dangerous to take it often, but this was the first time in his life and he only planned to take it occasionally, its small dosage made it powerful.
He had always wondered how this worked; it was a potion that played with fate and put you under some form of the imperius curse so you could move and talk the way you needed for good fortune to come to you. This was why he loved that potion, it showed him how he should act, but the brilliant thing right now was that he did not feel he needed luck, he had power now. He guessed it was like medicine, take too much and you build up a resistance, play with fate too much and it will stop laying back, as went the conundrum that was life. He grabbed Polyjuice potion too because he was way too recognisable and he would like to see daylight with his Godson, who was also far too recognisable. He took everything he might need, but he did not indulge, he would not steal stuff to sell it on, this was a matter of survival.
He took no pleasure from breaching Severus' perfect planned little world and would rather not think about the consequences of potions going missing and he just hoped some poor Griffindor he did not like did not end up taking the fall. It really was not because he disliked Snape at all, it could have been Regulus who was potions master and he'd have done the same thing. The fact was, for his plans of revolution to work he needed supplies. There were only two places he knew of where he could access the potions he needed and be rest assured they were good quality and reliable, even for the potions that were not rare, he could hardly walk into the nearest apothecary and purchase them, even disguised, sometimes you needed a licence. These were Hogwarts and the stores for the ministry of magic; one was much easier to break into than the other.
He packed them all into the little backpack of Gate Master that he had not surrendered even when coming across much nicer bags in Grimmauld place. He cast a quick charm so they would not break along with a feather light charm and slung the bag back onto his back. "I'm sorry Sev," he muttered, meaning it, "but I have to find Harry, he's all I have." Like Arnold, one day he would find a way to make it up to him, and for Severus, he had a lot of making up to do. He snuck back out of his quarters and considered his next plan of action, now he was stocked up his next priority was getting Harry. This could prove rather difficult as he did not know where Harry was, and neither would it seem did Remus, and Remus really should know where he was, seeming as he was a Godfather, and despite his furry problem, should also be considered his guardian.
He was not going to kidnap some random Order members in the hope of gaining information if only a select few people knew. He was not going to stick around to find Dumbledore, or allow the man the chance to see him, not yet, not today, not when he was tired. In order to find out where his Godson was he would really need to go to an Order meet, and with any luck the location will be mentioned, several meetings should be held in quick succession to discuss him no doubt. However when one is an escaped convict one does not get invites to order meets which meant him finding out what he needed was profoundly more difficult. No, he had plenty of time, hopefully Harry was not going anywhere – and if he was it made no difference to him seeming as he did not know where he was, and he trusted Dumbledore, he was a smart man, Harry was safe.
He would forget it for now; he would go home and eat whatever Kreacher had made, it was always nice, and he would take a hot shower and let it all wash away from him, he had to keep it to one task a day, he did not want to overdo it and land up in hot water. He would have a good night's sleep and then he would go back to Hogwarts and hope to overhear a conversation between Dumbledore and someone about his Godson. Of course this was a lot to hope for, it would be a wonderful and unlikely coincidence but it would be a coincidence all the same, it would just be a coincidence he would make happen with a little help from Felix Felicis. There was method to every move; Harry would be with him very soon.
He was glad for this power, another upside was that the anti apparition wards were no longer very effective, he did not need Kreacher to apparate him to Hogwarts or out of Hogwarts. This was a great convenience for him because it meant Kreacher did not have to follow him around everywhere to act as a taxi, that was what they were called in the muggle world and could get on with other things (although, being his personal elf, and a very adoring one at that he would much rather stick with him). As he lay in bed waiting for sleep to capture him a troubling thought came to mind. "Kreacher, how have you survived these past three years the house has abandoned with no money to buy food? I gave you twenty galleons to stock up a couple of months ago but I've realised that we've run low on nothing and I haven't given you anymore money."
"While I am tied to you, I can draw money from your vault," he answered, "it doesn't matter whether or not you are in jail, just if you're dead, in which case it would go to your heir or next of kin, as would I. Seeming as you are the last Black you have your late mother's, father's and brother's fortune combined, estimating near to two million galleons along with this estate, their holiday home in the Bahamas and myself." Sirius grinned.
So the next day, ready and prepared he apparated back to his old school, turned into a dog and cast a notice me not charm on himself just for good measure, downed the luck potion and hid in the long grass outside Hagrid's hut, waiting for the opportune moment to act. He knew Hagrid was shaken by his visit and he was not sure if Remus would keep it confidential or not but he seriously doubted it because had tied him to a chair, smacked him and made him bleed. With Hagrid he had turned him upside down and taken his motorbike. He had given him warm rock cakes as a peace gesture but he doubted they were really going to cut it. Truth be told, for someone trying to prove his innocence, he was not doing a very good job.
Something out of the corner of his eye from where he was laying low in the bushes, waiting, caught his highly sensitive eye; it was a silver lion... Remus' patronus, so he had finally decided to tell Dumbledore of their encounter. He expected it to fly to Dumbledore's office window, but it did not; it flew into Hagrid's hut, barely missing his head. Surprised, he trotted along to the window and peered inside, Dumbledore was already in there, that was why. He zoned out through Remus' garbled explanation of what happened and his worry about Harry's safety, and waited for Dumbledore's answer. "Calm down Remus, my boy, calm, there is nothing for you to worry about, the blood wards are still strong, Harry is perfectly safe with his relatives." He went on to explain more but that was all he needed and with another grin he disappeared.
James did not have any living relatives, both his parents had passed away when he was a young man; they never met Harry, which meant Harry was being raised by muggles. He was surprised he had not thought of it sooner, it was just the sort of idea Dumbledore would think ingenious. He had obviously totally disregarded the fact that he would be completely ignorant of the wizarding world until he started school. Lily had saved him with her love, falling to the killing curse to mark her infant in the way only a true matriarch can, so it would make sense he was protected with the same means, there was a possibility he was being raised by blood of Lily's. She only had one living relative, the only remainder of the Evan's family too, and that was her sister, Petunia.
Here in lay the biggest flaw in Dumbledore's plan. From what he remembered of Lily's descriptions she was not a fan of magic, therefore not a fan of Lily, he remembered her running to him once, he was the only one around, because her sister's parting words to her on the train off to her third year were 'good riddance, freak', needless to say, she was not a very nice person in general. There had been a time when the children had adored each other but when Lily got her acceptance letter Petunia decided her powers were freakish and prided herself instead on being normal. Still, that had only been childish jealousy; Sirius could only hope that she had grown up and would not carry the grudge over to the innocent little boy. It may be very difficult to get Harry away from a blood aunt without a fight.
As vile as he remembered the woman being, she was not a monster, so would not go so far as to actually harm an innocent child, much to his surprise, she had actually gotten married and had a child of her own and was now living somewhere Surrey. Creeping along the cobbled streets of Surrey, trying to remain in the shadows because he had seen wanted posters of his face up (although now he had cleaned himself up he looked different), Sirius considered the plan for action. He could not very well check every house in the area so he did the next best thing; he checked the local nurseries, he was arrested when Harry was 1 and a half so he'd be almost 4 now. He was going to start with the most prestigious, as Lily had once mentioned Petunia and her new husband were doing well for themselves and he would work his way down.
He took a bus to the first school, not feeling like walking any longer and tried to figure out the story he would tell. The blunt approach would do, he was an attractive man, he was not afraid to use all of his attributes. A smile was enough to get him a meeting with the headmistress and later that afternoon he was sitting the opposite side of the desk from a strict looking woman who was doing her best to smile but was not doing a very good job. "Good afternoon Mr Tanner," she said good naturedly, "are you here to request about placing your child here?" She did not sound very pleased about this probable case, he knew this school was oversubscribed despite the fees, but for some reason she did not want to turn him down straight away.
He decided to act upper class and mysterious, if the woman was intimidated and confused she would have no choice but to obey. "An understandable deduction," he allowed with a nod, "but I'm afraid not, no. I have been sent here by the... government," he almost said ministry "to look for a certain child as all we know is that he is in Surrey so I figured the best way to go about this was to ask for the cooperation of the schools in the area." He held conviction in his voice and eyes so the woman did not ask questions. She looked a little unsure and Sirius sent her a little a magic to persuade her to agree so she did not ask for credentials. After a nerve wracking couple of seconds she smiled a tight smile and agreed.
"None of my students are in trouble I hope?"
"I do not know if he is one of your students, but I assure you the child I am looking for is in no trouble." The woman relaxed considerably. "Do you have any children with the surname Potter, first name is Harry? He'd be in nursery."
The woman looked through some files but after a couple of minutes she shook her head, "no the name is not familiar and he is not the waiting list either. I'm sorry."
"That is ok madam," then a chord struck within him, "how about Dursley?"
"Yes we do have a Dursley." Sirius dryly noted that she did not have to look through any files when she said this, "troublesome boy even though he is just in reception."
"Hand me his address please," he said holding out his hand expectantly, polite and triumphant smile on his face, he sent a little more magic her way.
"May I ask what business you have with him and/or his family, and the Potter you inquired about?"
"I'm afraid not," he replied shortly and resisted the urge to kiss her for practically handing him his Godson before thinking to hell with it and pecking her on the cheek, "thank you very much for your cooperation," he said while she turned beet red and he committed the Dursley's boys address to memory before handing the file back to her. "I would greatly appreciate it if this conversation remained confidential, I'm sure you understand."
"Of course," she said a little breathlessly. "Err, Mr Tanner, would you like to go for a coffee, the school day finishes at 4..."
Sirius forced himself not to laugh at her tone, "hitting on government officials during work Miss Barton?" He leaned closer and wondered what to say in response. He could hardly agree, that was just not going to be possible, but that did not mean that he did not want to. His missed human contact, he knew he did because only then would he consider considering Rita Skeeter. The woman was a little old for him but he did not really care, still, he was going to have to pass up the offer. "Your interest is flattering madam, but that is not going to be possible." She looked down at her desk, disappointed. He tilted her chin up with his fingers and kissed her, this time on the lips, paying no attention to how unprofessional he was forcing her to be.
Fifteen minutes he got a taxi to take him to a hotel. It was a Friday; he would spend the night there and head to the Dursley residence in the morning. He could not sleep that night, he was excited and also nervous – what if he was recognised, what if Harry did not want to have anything to do with him, what if his aunt was protective? No, he would not let that stand in his way; he would not let anything stand in his way. He waited until eight o clock not wanting to arrive ridiculously early; he wanted to make a good impression on this family. On his way outside to get into a taxi to take him to Privet Drive he bumped into a policeman who stopped him as he was apologising.
"You know, you look familiar," he said musingly and Sirius sent him some magic urging him to drop it and let him pass on his way but damn it this man was strong. "You look like the man on the news everyone has been searching for, that Sirius Black."
Shit. Sirius grimaced, then smiled, "I know, I get it all the time. But hey, I'm not changing this gorgeous body because some crackpot looks like me."
As expected the policeman laughed, "I would change it, someone might become prejudiced towards you for it."
Sirius just smiled again and got into a taxi that was to take him to his Godson. The drive took fifteen minutes, he found the little street marked Privet Drive just as the sun was rising over the horizon. The morning of that day saw him thanking and paying his driver before he walked along the short street, 1, 2, 3... 4 and he stalked up to the house. This was it, he was here, his godson was almost in his arms where he belonged. It was quiet, he rapped on the door and after a few moments of silence the door swung open to reveal a slightly plump boy with blond hair.
"Who is it my boy!" Called a slightly unfriendly voice from the lounge.
"Don't know!" The kid called back.
He sank to the child's level, "my name is Adam Tanner," he said kindly, "and what's your name little one?" The child looked at him shyly and seemed like he was going to answer but heavy footfalls sounded behind him signalling the appearance of his father his presumed, the thumb went back into his mouth – hmm, strange. He straightened and stretched out his hand, "good morning, Vernon Dursley I presume?"
Vernon took his hand cautiously, "yes, and may I inquire as to who you are?"
"My name is Adam Tanner, I'm a policeman."
The man looked at him disbelievingly, "show me your credentials."
"Why?" Sirius was beginning to cool towards the man before him. He was so rude. He got no answer and he knew it was within the man's rights to see them anyway so he drew out the badge he had stolen from the policeman he had run into earlier.
"What do you want?"
"Can I come in?"
He thought for a moment before stepping aside, "sure."
"I have been receiving complaints from a neighbour of yours about possible abuse," he said off the top of his head because he had no idea what would warrant a police house call. "Now I'm sure that you are a respectable family but we must look into every case, I'm sure you understand," he continued, thinking on a whim. He had no idea where he was going with this but while he was here he may as well check for that, though he doubted it was going on, at least he hoped. He did not miss that Vernon and Petunia shared a quick look before wearing an expression of shock.
"Abuse?" The woman, Petunia looked aghast at the idea, "but we would never hurt our Duddy dums," she said, wrapping her bony arms around the child.
"I was not referring to your son;" he smiled tightly, "I was referring to your nephew."
"Nephew?" She asked in question, but her face flickered for a second, betraying her. There was an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, why would she deny it?
"Your nephew yes, Harry Potter."
Her face flickered again, "nobody by the name of Harry Potter lives here." He grew angry; she had no right to keep his godson from him.
"Do not lie to me woman!" He snapped, facade rapidly falling, "where is he?"
"Hey!" Vernon pushed in front of him, glaring at him trying to appear menacing, "you have no right to speak to my wife like that!"
"I'll speak to her any way I wish you fat oaf!" He was surprising himself that even though he was getting angry his voice was not rising in volume, simply getting more venomous.
"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?"
"A fat oaf!" He hissed.
"HOW DARE YOU INSULT ME IN MY OWN HOME!" He roared.
"We can step outside to continue this if you prefer, I shall ask one more time, where's Harry!"
"You're not really a policeman are you?" Petunia cut in.
"Congratulations you worked it out," he sneered. "Take a good look at my face; do you seriously not know who I am?" He said cockily.
They peered at him, Petunia recognised him first, gasped, and sent her son to his room; Sirius did not spare him a glance as he left. Now it was clear he was not part of their world as only magical beings could want to see Harry so much Petunia dropped the facade, "what do you want with Harry, you murderer."
"So he is here, where?"
"He's out with friends," her eye twitched.
"He is not yet four years old, you do not seriously expect me to believe that textbook answer do you?" Not wanting to torture them just yet because he was not sure what their crimes were exactly yet he held up his hand, "point me Harry Potter," he whispered and he was drawn by his hands out of the room and towards a staircase. However as soon as he moved up the stairs the glow on his hands started fading. The dark foreboding feeling in his stomach grew as he saw the cupboard under the stairs had a rather heavy duty lock on it. Surely not. With a twitch of his will the door flew off its hinges and the sight that greeted his eyes stopped his heart.
A small boy who looked no more than two and a half was lying on the floor clutching a holey, dirty blanket, it was the blanket he'd had as a baby he noted. He was awfully skinny and pale, and he seemed to be more unconscious than he was asleep. Every inch of him was covered in bruises and cuts, his rags were so ripped he could see his back was crisscrossed with scars and welts. One of his legs was discoloured and stuck out at an odd angle. He knelt down and touched the boy's cheek, it was cold, he was sick, but he was alive. For one heart crushing second he felt overwhelming sadness that someone could do this to a child – his godson. He shed one tear and mumbled a quick apology to the unaware child for not coming for him as soon as he broke out of prison.
He had believed Harry was safe and happy, so he had not thought to come for him as soon as he was able. He had not been expecting this; he had to wonder what Dumbledore had been thinking leaving him with people who would do this to him. He felt renewed anger at Remus for not taking him in, fighting for custody, because this child was his godson too and he had been left here with these monsters. As soon as the sadness and the guilt came, it receded, being replaced by an emotion he was all too familiar with. He was overtaken by rage and before he could reign himself in he let out an ear piercing scream for arriving too late that shattered the windows and he felt his magic bubbling within him angrily, 'let them know what it means to anger Sirius Black.'
Sirius stalked over the walrus of a man and raised him into the air with one hand wrapped around his throat, casting a freezing charm on the woman so she could not run or alert anyone. "Look me in the eyes and tell me you did not do this to my Harry," he growled. He was so close to casting the killing curse on the man and was utilizing all of his self-control to refrain from doing so. he did know why, it was probably to do with his wrongful imprisonment, he was excited in weird way by having someone admit their wrongdoings, he liked to make people confess. "ANSWER ME YOU IMBECILE!" Sirius screamed and slapped him across the face. "I'LL KILL YOU!" Sirius barked and sparks began to accidentally fly from his hands like they did from the tip of his wand when he had one, power was radiating from his whole body.
"No! I've never done that! Please, don't kill me!" Vernon pleaded. "Please…I've never touched Harry …it wasn't me!"
"YOU DID DO IT YOU FUCKING LIAR!" Sirius screamed again at the top of his lungs, anger flooding his system making him unable to think straight. "YOU DISGUSTING FILTHY MUGGLE!" He threw him to the ground and paused as he considered his next action. Without thinking, he did the first thing that came to mind. "CRUCIO!" He waved his hand and blasted the man with the strongest, most powerful Cruciatus curse he could muster. Bright blue light flooded from his palms and onto the man rolling around on the ground in agony.
Vernon screamed as he writhed on the ground in pain, tremors taking over his entire body. After about five minutes of torture, Sirius withdrew the curse and pointed his palm above the man, lying on the ground, still shaking in tremors. Maybe the crucaitus curse was overkill, no, five minutes was nothing compared to what he had evidently been putting poor Harry through these past couple of years. Sirius bent down and leaned over his face. "You are a disgusting excuse for a human being." He paused for a few minutes, carefully gathering his next words. "You. Will. Listen. To. Me." Sirius whispered coldly, leaning over Vernon's frightened face. "If I ever find out that you tried to touch, go near, harm, or even try to find Harry ever again, I will torture you for hours until you can no longer feel your own skin. Then, I will proceed to torture your wife."
He hesitated and took a step back as he tried to regain control of his anger. 'Kill them, kill them, kill them, kill them!' His magic called for it, longed for it, thirsted for it, and he kept thinking 'why the hell shouldn't I kill them?' But they had a kid, an innocent kid, the boy was just young enough to be innocent, and he could not look at a child without the vision of Harry standing up in his crib crying, his parents dead on the floor. They deserved to die, both of them, painfully, horribly, maybe he would one day, but all that could wait. Right now he had a godson who was in terrible shape and needed medical attention, desperately. He could still scare them, scare them so much they didn't talk for weeks – he was a Black – this he knew how to do.
"Then, once I am sure you have both been tortured enough, I will proceed to lock you in a cupboard for a week without food or water. Then, I will continue to beat you until all of your bones are severely broken and you lose enough blood to cause unconsciousness. Then, I will strip you down to nothing but your fat, naked body and will hire someone to come and rape you, preferably some sort of massive unearthly magical beast. And then, only after I am entirely, one hundred percent, certain that you have suffered enough, will I finally kill you myself. Do you understand what I'm saying?" The only reason he was not killing them yet was because he did not want to orphan a child. Vernon nodded and shut his eyes, hoping and praying that the scary man would disappear. And so he and his nephew did.