A/N: If any of you find any glaring plot holes, point them out to me and I'll try and cover over them and work them into the story in the next chapter. K thx.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and any affiliated people/characters/places, etc. don't belong to me.
The door slamming shut behind him shook Harry from his anger-induced haze. Looking around at the darkened street, he began trudging along at a stilted pace.
'I really didn't mean to,' he thought to himself mulishly. 'She just made me so angry. Could've been worse, I suppose. She could have said something about Sirius...'
Earlier in the summer Harry had accidentally mentioned Sirius while watching the news about an escaped convict who shared the same name. His aunt had happened to be within hearing distance and he had never seen her face turn so white so quickly (bar their visit from Hagrid two years ago). Finding out that his aunt and uncle had known about Sirius, knew what he was to Harry, and had never told him (while unsurprising) made him livid. The ensuing shouting match had the neighbours calling the police on them for disturbing the peace and Harry was locked in his room for half of August.
Huffing, he turned another corner and sat down on the curb to try and gather his wits.
"Come on, Harry - WWHD; what would Hermione do? Well, Hermione wouldn't have blown up her aunt for starters..." He grinned wryly to himself, but winced when he imagined the inevitable verbal punishment he'd receive once Hermione found out. 'She may even hit me this time.'
It was quite cold for a summer night, and as the cold seeped through his jacket and trousers Harry really started to worry. What, in the name of Merlin, was supposed to do now?
He stood up and started to pace back and forth, shaking his head at every discarded thought. 'I could fly to the Leaky Cauldron; what's another bit of underage magic? The Ministry's probably already after me, so a lightening charm can't hurt...'
He set that idea to the back of his (very small) list of ideas, marking it as a last resort.
Another twenty minutes went by and he still hadn't thought of anything better. Just as he had sighed and raised his wand towards his trunk to perform the charm, he heard a rustling noise from behind him.
He glanced over his shoulder and turned slightly. The light from a flickering street lamp caught against two somethings in the dark gap between a row of bushes and a garage. Harry stared into the shadowy blackness for a minute, trying to discern what the glinting was, when it moved - toward him, to be exact.
'What the...' He thought. 'Although, considering my life so far, this is kind of underwhelming.' He mused to himself as he turned fully in the direction of the glinting somethings.
And then, the glinting somethings rose higher than he was and picked up the pace. Just as Harry was about to turn and run, the glinting somethings passed underneath a street lamp, illuminating the silhouette of a man. A very familiar man.
"Sirius?" Harry whispered, not quite daring to believe it. He's only recently found out that his godfather was actually recent, having received visual confirmation from his aunt, and not something he's conjured up but he didn't actually expect to see him here.
It had been a long time since he'd seen Sirius in a dream, and he'd been worrying non-stop for the whole summer.
As the man drew even closer, Harry could make out his features more clearly.
"Merlin, Sirius!" He strode forward and met him halfway, not sure if he should pull him into a hug or...?
Turns out he didn't need to choose. Sirius reached forward and wrapped Harry in a desperate hug, burying his face in Harry's hair. He was shaking; they both were.
After a while, Harry drew back and whacked him on the arm.
"Ouch, Harry! Merlin, what's- Stop bloody hitting me!" Sirius had caught one of Harry's hands and was trying in vain to reach the other to stop the onslaught of slapping he was receiving.
"You were in prison?! You were in prison and you didn't tell me! Sirius, what in the name of Merlin? Why were in bloody prison?"
Breathing heavily, Harry stopped his attack and stepped back slightly. Sirius was staring at his eyes, watching as the sparks of anger and worry lit the green up from within. 'Merlin, he's more like his mum than I thought. Not good for me.'
Sirius blew at a piece of hair dangling in his face and mentally prepared himself.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you where I was Harry. It's not like it would've changed anything, anyway."
"What do you mean 'wouldn't have changed anything'? I could have visited you, you prick!" Harry's eyes had lost a bit of their spark and were now beginning to glisten slightly as a few tears of frustration started to well up.
"Visited?" Sirius snorted. "They wouldn't have let you visit Harry, trust me. I was high security." He spat out the last part, staring up at the stars bitterly.
"High security? Blimey Sirius, what'd you do?" Harry was starting to feel a bit desperate now. He knew his godfather and honestly couldn't believe that he'd done anything that bad.
"I trusted the wrong person." Sirius wandered over to the curb and sat down heavily, sighing and tugging at his hair.
"Listen Harry, we don't have much time. I'm running, and there's a fuck-tonne of security charms placed around here -" He cut himself off abruptly, staring at Harry's trunk in confusion.
"Harry, why's your trunk out here? More to the point, why're you out here?"
Harry's cheeks coloured and he bit his lip, mumbling his reply.
"Sorry, didn't catch that Harry. Speak up a bit." Sirius' tone had gained a falsely cheerful hint to it, covering the stern edge; it made him nervous.
"I, er, I may have blown up my aunt." His voice grew steadily faster and quieter, rushing his sentence, until he whispered out the last word. Harry glanced at Sirius, sinking down to the pavement as well.
Sirius was... well, surprised.
"You blew up Petunia? Merlin's beard, Harry!"
"N-No! Not aunt Petunia. Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge." He spat out her name, as if the very word left an acidic taste in his mouth.
Sirius shuddered, trying to block out the mental image that had popped up in his head. 'Female Vernon.'
"What the bloody hell did you do that for?"
"She said things. Things about mum and dad." Harry would have said what they were but cut himself off when Sirius' face grew darker and he growled. Sirius glanced down the road in the direction of Privet Drive.
Catching on to what Sirius was thinking, Harry said quickly,"She's not there anymore Sirius. She's, well ... She's around. Somewhere." He stared up at the sky pointedly and grinned slightly as Sirius barked out a laugh.
"Wait, so why are you out here?"
"I did underage magic. After last year, the Ministry said I'd be expelled if I did that again. Besides, I'm not exactly very wanted back there at the moment." 'Or ever', he thought to himself sourly.
Sirius looked over at him and shook his head.
"Look at us. Both on the run from the Ministry... Lily would have our hides, I hope you know." He tried to lighten the mood after he saw Harry's face fall when he mentioned getting expelled. "Besides, you're the Boy-Who-Lived; like they're going to expel you. Trust me Harry, you'll be going back to Hogwarts. Dumbledore wouldn't let you get expelled for this." He smiled as he saw Harry's face lift, but cursed himself internally when his head snapped over to him, indignation painted across his face.
"You're stalling!" He pointed an accusatory finger at Sirius. "You still haven't told me why you were in prison."
He stared at Sirius expectantly and lowered his finger. Sirius sighed, again.
Alright Harry, but this'll have to be a rushed version, okay? Have you ever heard of the Fidelius Charm?" When Harry shook his head he carried on.
"It can hide anything. So long as the Secret Keeper stays quiet about the location of whatever it is they're hiding, then no one can find it. It's how we hid you, Lily and James. Dumbledore cast the charm on the house and they made me Secret Keeper. But a week before they died, I had an idea. I knew that I was the obvious choice for Secret Keeper, so I thought, why not use someone they'd never suspect."
He glared angrily at nothing and paused before swallowing and moving on.
"Moony was off on a mission for the Order, so I told James to switch to P- to Wormtail. I thought it was the perfect plan. Until, of course, I went to check on him. He'd been absent for the last few meetings and no one had heard from him, so I went to his hide-out to check on him. Only it was empty. Next place I went to was yours. Almost crashed my bike five times. When I saw it, I knew. I knew what that rat had done."
Sirius had to take a minute to breathe, anger bubbling at his surface. Once he'd calmed down enough, he continued on.
"So I chased after him. Left my bike and followed his apparation trail. When I finally caught up to him he yelled out how I had betrayed James and Lily, blew up the street behind us, cut off his finger and ran away. I was charged with the murder of thirteen muggles, one wizard, and for conspiring with Voldemort."
He looked over at Harry, who'd stayed pretty quiet all through his recount.
"How did he escape by cutting off his finger?"
"I told you about how I can turn into a dog. He can do the same, but he turns into a rat. He cut off his finger to make it look like I blew him up too." Sirius was shaking again; he hated thinking about his mistake, let alone talking about it.
Harry could see how upset Sirius was after talking about it, so he shifted the topic slightly. "So how'd you escape then? Wouldn't there be wards to stop you from leaving?"
"I transformed. The prison guards are blind, you see. They detect the prisoners through their emotions, but a dog's are less complex. It confused them for long enough to let me slip out. And now here I am."
Harry contemplated that silently for a minute before he picked up on a slight flaw.
"But why didn't you do that sooner?"
"Along with detecting emotions, they sort of suck all the happiness from the place. Leaves the prisoners weak and blocks off most of your magic. But anger - they can't take that. They feed off of positive emotions, and that isn't positive. But it's not really wholly negative either. It's strong though, and I've been building up my anger for twelve years."
They stayed pretty quiet after that, both jumping when a cat knocked over a bin.
Harry was reeling from the information he'd just gotten. No one else would tell him about that night, bar what Hagrid had told him when they first met two years ago. He'd had no idea that his parents had died because someone had betrayed them. If he hadn't told...
"Harry, I need to leave pretty soon. The Ministry will be close to tracking me. But listen, I'm definitely going to see you again this year. I have some unfinished business at Hogwarts. Do you reckon you can do me a favour?"
"Depends, I suppose. What d'you need?"
"Look out for any rats."
Harry was confused at first, nut then remembered what Sirius had told him about Wormtail. He nodded, and leaned over for a hug, clinging to his godfather.
"You will see me again Harry, I promise. I won't be far. And if you wait by the Whomping Willow after sundown on your first day back you'll see me."
Harry just nodded again, throat thick from the effort of holding back tears.
Sirius stroked his hand through Harry's hair before stepping back and smiling slightly. He was about to turn back into Padfoot and start for Hogwarts before he remembered something and turned back to Harry, who was standing there looking slightly lost.
"Where're you planning on going now?"
"I was going to fly to the Leaky Cauldron and stay there for the rest of the summer." Except that he couldn't now, could he? He needed to be at Hogwarts for his third year, so he couldn't do anymore magic.
"You know, if you stick out your wand once I'm gone, you'll be to take the Knight bus. Bit bumpy, but always fun."
His smile widened partially as Harry, confused, nodded at him and started to raise his wand arm.
"No, no! Once I've gone! I don't fancy getting caught again just right now."
Harry flushed slightly and kept his wand at his side, watching Sirius.
"Goodbye, Harry. I'll see you soon."
"Definitely."
Sirius' smile widened a it more, and then a great big, shaggy black dog stood in his place. I barked once and then turned back to the dark gap and began running.
"See you, Padfoot." Harry whispered to himself, before raising his wand and flinching back at the loud BANG that rang through the night.