Disclaimer: Sadly, I own nothing. It's J.K. Rowling's Magical world. I'm just renting residence. Heh.
Chapter Summary: Harry's rescue; Sirius and Remus' first encounter with Harry's Elemental Power.
A/N: Thank you all so much for your reviews. They are the best morale boosters. Siriusly! Thanks to that, I thought I'd post the next Chapter today, enjoy!
Chapter 2: Prongslet
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"…What if he doesn't like me, Moony?" Sirius asked his friend uncertainly, speaking up for the first time since the two had apparated to Privet Dr.
"He's Prongs' Son, Padfoot! Of course he'll like you!" Remus reassured him as they walked up the walkway of Number 4. Sirius gulped nervously and nodded…hoping this was going be another of those times where Remus was right. Merlin knew the bloke was rarely if ever wrong…most of the time to Sirius' annoyance.
Sighing, Remus reached out and rang the doorbell. Pounding, running, slamming, and angry shouts of, "Get in there boy!" could be heard before a fat purple faced man came to the door.
"Yes?" He demanded, annoyed at having visitors at this unearthly hour of 9:00 A.M. On a Saturday, of all days! Sirius, who did not like this man (who wouldn't after what James had told him when the hazel eyed Potter and Lily had gotten back from 'trying' to visit the Dursley's shortly after their wedding?), got an extra feeling of foreboding as he glimpsed inside the house.
"We're here to see Harry, sir," Remus answered, always the politer of the two.
Mr. Dursley's demeanor changed instantly, now looking edgy and nervous rather than pompous and snobbish.
"H-Harry? There is no H-Harry here, sirs. …Good-bye," he stammered, hastily trying to close the door in their faces. Sirius, however, was quick to reach up and stop the door from closing, anger getting the better of him. These people had done things to Harry, and now they were trying to hide it!
"Why, how dare you!" Mr. Dursley said, out-raged, still trying to close the door on them. Sirius whipped out his wand with his free hand - he wanted to get this over and done with sooner rather than later - and pointed it directly at Mr. Dursley.
"We know he's here, Dursley, and if I were you, I'd let us in before you regret not ever doing so," Sirius growled dangerously, sounding very much like a growling dog indeed. Mr. Dursley's eyes contracted with sudden fear at the sight of the wooden stick in Sirius's hand.
"Y-your one o-of…them," he stuttered knowingly, fear showing in his eyes. Sirius merely smirked, filled with immense satisfaction that Vernon understood the situation.
By this time, Remus had whipped out his wand as well and was also pointing it at Mr. Dursley.
"I'd move if I where you Dursley, you don't want to give Sirius or I more reason to hex you into oblivion than we currently have," Remus informed the man calmly, though Sirius noticed the faintly laced menace in his friend's tone. Mr. Dursley quickly backed away from the door, abandoning all hope of keeping the two wizards out, and ran for the kitchen.
"Careful, Moony, I think I'm rubbing off on you," the young Black grinned. Remus smirked at his friend.
"Don't fool yourself into thinking you're the only one who is mad at these Muggles, Padfoot," he replied truthfully. Sirius nodded understandingly. Of course Remus felt just as he did about the Dursley, but was just way better at not losing his temper. And with that, they entered the house.
All three Dursley's now coward in the kitchen as the two wizards searched every inch of the house. Not one picture of Harry hung on the walls, not one indication said another child even lived here beside that of the muggles themselves…and that was not helping the intensifying foreboding that was filling the two men. When they were sure they had checked every nook and cranny and had found nothing, they returned to the kitchen.
"Where is he?" Sirius demanded heatedly, trying to suppress his rising panic. The Dursley's seemed too frightened to speak.
"Fine, have it your way," Remus said coolly, controlling his anger and panic better than Sirius, but having it none-the-less. "Petrificus Totalus," he said, wand pointed at Mr. Dursley - who became as stiff as a board and fell face first onto the floor. Mrs. Dursley shrieked, terrified, as she covered her mouth, and Dudley fainted at the site.
"How unlike you, Moony!" Sirius acknowledged, teasing his friend good-naturedly, but wishing he, himself, had don't it first…if not something else or worse. "You need to show your skillfully hidden Marauder nature more often."
He…deserved it, Remus thought to himself, choosing not to reply to Sirius, as he turned to Mrs. Dursley.
"Tell us where Harry is, now, or the next spell won't be as kind," Remus advised the pale looking Petunia. She fell to here knees next to her son and husband fearfully, one hand still covering her mouth while her other shakily raised and pointed past the two men toward the staircase. They both whipped around, and for the first time, saw the cupboard that was inconspicuously located there. There seemed to be a faint whimpering coming from inside the small door. Sirius and Remus shared a last worried look, a last nod, and then rushed to the locked cupboard door and got on their knees in front of it.
How could they do this to a child? Sirius thought furiously. James's son no less!
"Alohomora," whispered Remus, pointing his wand at the lock, and the door easily swung open.
There sat, arms around his knees, holding them to his chest, face buried in them, sobbing silently, was none other than Harry James Potter.
To say the least, Sirius and Remus were thunderstruck at the sight. The boy wore torn clothes, and had innumerable large and small bruises, cuts, and scrapes. From what they could see of the top of his head, he had raven-black hair that was extremely untied. If it was not for him being so young, they could easily have mistaken him for James Potter. The boy and his father would have been like twins if James where still alive. Harry was practically his father's clone!
Their chests tightened at the thought of their late friend and how this boy was going to be a constant reminder of him to them from now on - a comforting yet frightening thought at the same time –but…this was the last connection to James they had…and they were not going to lose him.
It was more than a little clear that Harry had been severely mistreated; it was all too easy to tell. A hatred rose in the two friends that they had not had since Peter Pettigrew escaped, but it was quickly overcome by the worry they had for their new charge. His welfare was what they needed to think of first, and they both knew that.
"Harry?" Sirius spoke gently, stretching out a hand to touch the boy.
The raven-haired child's head shot up at being addressed, eyes clouded by tears tried to find the source of the voice that he had never heard before, but landed first on the scary hand that was inching ever closer. Immediately, as though he had been hit, he recoiled from the 24-year-old's touch. The two men then realized that the boy's tearstained face and bright green eyes, shining with tears, were fearful.
What did these Muggles do to you? They both thought to themselves.
Absentmindedly, though, they did notice the one thing of James's Harry did not have; the hazel eyes that always had a glint of mischief in them. He did not have the hazel eyes of his father but the emerald eyes of his mother, Lily Potter.
"It's alright, Harry, we aren't here to hurt you," Sirius murmured soothingly. This did absolutely nothing to un-tense Harry; on the contrary, he tensed all the more, as though expecting a harder blow than he had expected previously.
"The Dursley's won't hurt you ever again Harry, we're going to take you away from here," Remus said gently. Harry's looked at them incredulously. No one had ever spoken to him so softly before…well, only in his dreams. He wanted desperately to believe them, they seemed so nice, but…no, no one was ever truly nice to him. He was a freak and it was only a matter of time before these men realized it and did the same to him that Uncle Vernon had. How could these men honestly be here to rescue him? It was not believable.
"W-who…w-who awe y-you?" Harry inquired, apprehension and fear evident in his young voice, as he slowly - close to reluctantly - released his knees.
"I'm Sirius Black, and this, here, is my good friend Remus Lupin. We were close friends with your parents," Sirius explained, smiling warmly, happy Harry was at least talking to them, albeit fearfully.
Were they weally fwiends wif my mummy and daddy? Harry thought curiously. The raven-haired boy smiled slightly, uncertainly…almost shyly. Sirius and Remus smiled warmly back at him. Harry wiped his face on his sleeve, doing his best to rid himself of his tear, but wincing as though it pained him to perform the action. Both men reached out at the same time, concern causing them to act without thinking first. Harry instantly tensed again, eyes snapping tightly shut. Not a millisecond has passed when Sirius and Remus' hands felt as though they had just touched a wall of blazing hot fire, even though they had actually touched nothing at all, having never made contact with the young boy.
"Pwease…don't…don't hit me…" Harry whispered, pleading evident in his voice.
The two quickly withdrew their hands and looked at each other, shocked, for they recognized what had just occurred for what it actually was. Harry had just preformed Elemental magic. And a high level one at that, the Element of Fire was said to be the hardest to control…and the rarest to have.
"Harry…Prongslet…we would never, ever hit you," Sirius stated truthfully as he reached out again and gently cupped Harry's face in his hands. Harry wanted desperately to lean into the touch, to allow himself to trust enough to be comforted, but…he knew better. The young boy tensed against Sirius' touch and the canine Animagus felt that quickly becoming familiar burning sensation in his hands…but he refused to let go. He had to prove to Harry, to his Godson, that he was trustworthy. That he cared deeply for him.
He rubbed Harry's cheeks softly with his thumbs, soothingly, and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he felt the emerald eyed boy relax slightly into his touch. Sirius could not help but smile softly. It was a small step, that it was, but a step…was a step none-the-less.
Harry slowly opened his eyes, which were shining with new tears, and looked into Sirius's bluish-gray ones as though searching for something. He wanted so badly to be treated like this, but it seemed too good to be true. It was too good to be true. Surely this was not happening!
"Remus and I love you Harry. More than you'll ever know. Please don't be scared of us," Sirius said almost pleadingly. Harry seemed to have found whatever it was he was looking for in Sirius' eyes for he unexpectedly threw his small arms around Sirius' neck and sobbed into his shoulder, body shaking something terrible with the heaves. Sirius wrapped his arms around the child's overly thin frame - oh…he wanted to kill those Dursley's… - and hugged him comfortingly. Remus smiled at the sight of the two, fighting his own tears that wanted to come to his eyes.
"Don't leave me…" Harry whispered quietly into Sirius' shoulder.
"Never," Sirius responded softly into Harry's ear. Harry tightened his grip around Sirius's neck as though scared of letting go, for if he did he felt it would all turn out to be a dream. Sirius kissed the top of Harry mess of black hair, picked him up gently - the boy tensed ever so slightly before relaxing again…being picked up…it was so…so foreign… - , and both men stood. Harry, who had never been treated so lovingly before could not help but love the hugs, kisses and being spoken to so gently. He wanted nothing more but to trust these two men completely and fully, but he could not help but still hold a certain amount of fear and cautiousness of them.
As they left the Dursley's house, hopefully for forever, the Potter heir fell into a well needed, peaceful, sleep in his Godfather's strong arms.
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A/N: Please review, it makes me want to update a lot faster. And thanks again to all who did review! –Gives a cookie to everyone who reviewed-