Not proof-read. Too tired. Sorry. Beware of typos.
Sirius slunk out of the motel the next morning before the first light had even sprung and without paying. It was of little concern or consequence to him, though. The city streets were as dark, crumbling, and flooded as ever. At this point, who was going to sound the alarm on something like a man stealing a stay in a dirty motel room?
Sirius ran a hand through his grungy, now-blonde hair, wishing that the water from the shower head hadn't run pitch black last night when he'd tested it. In a weird mood, he started off down the street. There was no one else in sight.
It was time to think carefully. Where would Regulus have gone? Sirius ground his teeth. How could he know so little about his own brother? He would never find him wandering aimlessly around the tattered alleyways like this. He needed to track his brother, but for that he needed to use a wand, and he couldn't risk using his own.
A sick feeling settled in Sirius's stomach. He could only blindly hope that Regulus had had the sense to stop performing magic as well. The last thing he needed was the Dark Lord swooping down on his brother, and by extent realizing Sirius must be alive too.
Or perhaps Regulus would come searching for him? It was an unlikely chance, but Sirius had no doubt Regulus could locate him in a flash should he desire to. After what Sirius had done to him last night, though, he supposed he'd be lucky if Regulus wasn't actively hiding from him. This thought crushed Sirius more than it should have. His mind wandered back to the potion Regulus had given him, and the emotions that had come boiling to the surface. A part of him wondered if they'd actually fully died back down again.
"Hello, there. Are you lost?"
Sirius skidded to a halt and whipped around. It was hard to see too far through the murky atmosphere. Sirius squinted, and slid out his wand.
From around the corner he heard the slick clicking of new shoes and eventually a well dressed young woman appeared, coming to a halt only when she was less than two feet from Sirius's face. She had a slim face, pointed nose, and small shiny eyes. Sirius thought she looked not unlike a teenage boy who had slipped on his grown sister's hand-me-downs.
"Oh, I wouldn't use that if I were you," said the woman, eyeing Sirius's wand. "You don't want to get yourself into even more of a bother, now would you? Won't do you much good hiding if you're using a traceable wand."
Sirius didn't lower his wand, and eyed her suspiciously. "How did you know I was hiding?" he demanded slowly.
The woman readjusted her glasses. "Did I say that?" she asked innocently.
Sirius swore under his breath.
"What do you want?" he asked aggressively.
"Nothing," said the lady bluntly. "Actually, you're lucky you ran into me, because I can help you!"
"Oh really? How so?" Sirius eyed her suspiciously.
"Well," she drawled. "You need to leave the country, and I just so happen to know the people to get you out."
"No thanks," Sirius said. "I don't need your help to leave England."
"Oh, I'm sorry, were you planning on apparating? Because that's traceable, you know."
Sirius clenched his fists. "Who the hell are you anyway?" he demanded. "What's your station?"
The woman's face fell into a slick smile. "So pushy…all right. You can call me Sadal. Sadal Melik."
Sirius quirked an eyebrow. "I do not believe for an instant that that is your real name."
"Oh, really, Sirius Orion, you're one to talk!"
Sirius conceded his ground and started to back away. "H-how do you know my name?" he blurted before realizing this might have been a good time to assume a different identity.
Sadal smirked. "Vain people always are the worst at disguising themselves. Never willing to give up their looks…"
"Listen," Sirius insisted again. "I'm not interested in your help. Leave me alone."
Sadal raised an eyebrow. "Last chance, Sirius," she said. "Let me lead you out of the country. I could maybe even help you find that wayward brother of yours."
"Regulus?" Sirius demanded skeptically.
Sadal nodded eagerly. "You can't use your wand to find him, but I could."
"How do you know all this?" Sirius hissed.
Sadal tapped a finger to her temple. "I used to work for the ministry," she explained. "Legilimency."
A Ministry official? No good. Sirius shook his head vehemently. "No, goodbye. I'm leaving." And with that he turned on his heel and sprinted off into the smog. Behind him he heard Sadal yelling.
"You fucking idiot, you're going to get caught!"
Sirius half-expected the woman to follow him, but thankfully she either didn't or couldn't find him. Panting, Sirius came to a rest among some overflowing trash cans and what appeared to be a dead dog. Frustrated and closer to crying than he'd been in a long time, Sirius slid down the alley wall and buried his face in his palm. Just how was he going to get out of this mess? This was all Regulus's fault. Sirius could almost have growled out loud. As soon as he found that little creep he was going to make sure he was okay…and then he was going to throttle him again. Sirius had always on some level feared punishment from his master, but never before had he feared for his life. He was beyond the point of forgiveness now, if he were caught it would be all over, wouldn't it? A loyal servant would not have ignored the Dark Lord's call last night.
Sirius gagged. The dead animal next to him was relatively fresh. He covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve in an attempt to filter the air a little. What was it exactly? Some kind of mixed breed mutt no doubt. Probably had no owners—
Sirius suddenly straightened up. How stupid could he possibly be? It would be ten times easier to locate Regulus if he transformed! He'd left Regulus somewhere within the main district of the city, he knew that much, and Regulus couldn't apparate away. If he turned into a dog he'd have a chance of picking up Reg's trail at least! A dog's nose would work against Regulus's nifty little invisibility trick as well. Sirius grinned. This would work out after all.
He hadn't been a dog in a while, more than a year, but the change was a smooth as he remembered it. What he sacrificed in eyesight, he more than made up for with his sense of smell. Suddenly all manner of different trails were floating around and above him, easy to follow. Confidence renewed, Sirius trotted back out into the main street. He stretched out his muzzle, searching for any sign of Regulus or pizza (he had left Regulus in an Italian restaurant, hadn't he?)
He circled the block, making a mental note of landmarks and streets in an attempt to go about this with some semblance of organization. He hadn't been searching an hour before he caught a familiar scent. It was so close to Regulus's that he paused, head tilted in question. It seemed so similar to Regulus but was just different enough to make him second guess himself. In the end Sirius followed the trail. He had no other leads, and besides, how long had it been since his dog-form had been anywhere near his brother? His memory could be off.
Sirius found himself back a few blocks away from the Ministry in a skinny alleyway. Nervously he padded forward. Through the increasing fog, he could just make out a slim figure messing around a door.
Sirius changed back. "Regulus!" he yelled. The figure twitched. Sirius surged forward, and the person disappeared. Sirius blinked. Had he imagined it, no, he couldn't have.
"Hey, you, what do you think you're doing here?"
Sirius grimaced and turned around. Three Ministry wizards were jogging up to him. Sirius could have sworn.
"I'm…uh, looking for someone," he stuttered.
The tallest wizard, a woman with platinum blonde hair was someone Sirius recognized as one of the Dark Lord's more trusted officers—one of Lucius Malfoy's cousins.
"You're looking for someone five feet from the Ministry's back entrance?" she asked disbelievingly. In a second, she and the other two had drawn their wands.
Sirius bit his lip. Was that where he was? He'd thought he was a little further away than that. He felt a slight bump against his arm stumbled a little. The three Ministry wizards all raised their wands higher.
"Listen," Sirius tried to placate. "Yes this looks bad…"
"Who are you?" one of the two men asked.
Sirius began to worry. He had no plausible pseudonym to give these people! He was spared having to think of one, though.
"Fine, we can do this the hard way. Malfoy, stun him, we'll take him in with us for questioning."
"Questioning for what?" asked Sirius frantically.
"About the fact that you're here skulking around the Ministry so soon after the attack of Evans and her cronies," explained Malfoy calmly. Then she raised her wand high, presumably to stun him.
Sirius had to act fast. Not yet desperate enough to use his wand, he flung himself sideways, out of the way of the jet of red light that flew from all three of the officials' wands. They seemed honestly surprised at his move and he managed to punch one of the men squarely in the face before the other two regrouped.
Three armed Ministry officials against one tired man too scared to use his own wand were not good odds in Sirius's eyes. Taking advantage of the dirty fog, he backpedaled until he was out of their sight. Before they could surge forward to look at him, he changed back into a dog and ran faster than he ever had in his life. He could hear them yelling, and several random spells narrowly missed him.
Sirius could only pray they hadn't been able to get a good look at his dog form, it would have been a dead giveaway. The Dark Lord knew he was an animagus, and if any of the three of them mentioned sirius's transformation, Voldemort would know in an instant he was still alive. All those who could take the shape of an animal were registered, and with Minerva McGonagall dead and James Potter on liaison in Portugal, there wasn't another animagus for a hundred miles.
Sirius skidded to a halt several miles away in somebody's backyard. Well, it might have been somebody's backyard. Similar to the overgrown weedgarden Regulus had led him into the other night, Sirius found himself in a tangled mess of dying plants pressed up against a dilapidated building. Sirius waited a good twenty minutes before he changed back into a man. If the Ministry was going to sneak up on him again, he'd like to already be a dog when they found him. It would be easier.
Sirius scratched at his face and was a little startled to find that he was bleeding. Angrily, he wiped the blood away from his cheek. He had almost had Regulus, he was sure of it now. That had to have been his brother in that alleyway. He'd made himself invisible and sneaked past Sirius when the three wizards had arrived, Sirius was sure that was what he'd felt brush up against him.
"There you are."
Sirius almost jumped out of his skin when he heard Sadal's voice.
"Fuck, you again?" he screeched, staggering back to his feet. He whipped out his wand again even though both he and Sadal knew he had no intention of using it.
"Yes, you're awfully hard to follow when you've got twice as many legs as I do," Sadal said. She walked up to him. He held his wand against her chest. Idly, she slapped it away.
"I can see you've really been using your head," she nodded. Sirius swore and wiped more blood off his face.
"Are you ready to accept my help now?" Sadal asked.
"I don't need—"
"I've already sent Regulus on ahead."
"What?" Sirius said.
"I'd have sent you with him, but you wouldn't come with me and I'm sure the portkey's left by now. You'll have to hop on the next one."
"What are you talking about?"
Something slithered through the gnarled grass at Sirius's feet. Sirius jumped, but Sadal leaned down calmly and pulled a four foot black mamba out of the foliage.
"Here," she held it out. "This must be for you."
The snake wriggled in Sadal's grasp and tried to lean towards Sirius.
"Take it," she insisted. "Your brother sends them to look after you."
Sirius eyed her disbelievingly, thinking of all the terrible instances when snakes and spiders had swarmed him back at his and Narcissa's manor.
Sadal shrugged. "And maybe sometimes just to fuck with you."
"How do you know that?" Sirius asked. "I didn't know the snakes were Regulus's fault…you couldn't have gotten it from my head…"
"He told me," Sadal explained. "Now let's go." She let the snake fall. It disappeared before it hit the ground. Sadal grabbed Sirius by his wrist and pulled him back into the streets.
"It's a bit of a walk, sorry," she said. "But you've been running rampant all about town for the last three hours so it's really your fault we're so far away."
"Where are we going?" asked Sirius.
"Northern Norway," Sadal said. "At least for a while. You two'll be safe there."
Norway...Sirius's parents had always considered sending him to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts, but ultimately decided against it when Regulus had pitched a fit about Sirius being so far away.
"How am I to get to Norway?" demanded Sirius. "And how can I trust you?"
"I told you, idiot, I'm taking you to a portkey. And if you want to get out of London, or ever see your brother again, then you've really got no choice, have you?"
They walked in silence for a long while before Sirius asked another question.
"Why do you have multiple portkeys to Norway at the ready?"
"Do you always ask so many useless questions?" Sadal snipped. "I've been helping people sneak out of the country ever since I left the Ministry."
"Why did you leave?"
"Difference of opinions," said Sadal shortly. "Anyway, you're going to be my last one."
"I…am?" Sirius stopped walking and Sadal had to pull him by his collar to get him moving again.
"Yes. I'm taking off with you on this last portkey, which'll be leaving in…" she glanced at her watch. "Twenty minutes, great. Walk faster."
"Sorry," Sirius panted, jogging alongside her. He had never been an athlete.
"Don't be sorry, be faster," Sadal pulled him along. They zigzagged down streets and jumped small property fences. The fog seemed only to be getting worse.
Sirius lost track of time, but some time later they stopped in front of an abandoned home. Sirius was completely lost by that point, but he house looked uncannily like the one he and Regulus had sneaked behind two nights ago.
Sadal kicked open the door and sprinted up the rickety stairs of the apartment building. On the third floor she busted down another door. Sirius came rushing in behind her. There in the very center of an otherwise empty room was a small incense burner.
Sadal glanced once more at her watch. "Fuck," she muttered. Then she yanked Sirius forward by his sleeve and threw him to the ground. "Grab it!" she yelled. Mindlessly, Sirius obeyed. Sadal crashed to the floor beside him a second later and then they were spinning away.