A boy sped swiftly past the trees; the wind whipped past his ears as the small lad used all his strength into propelling his tiny legs forward. He could hear them, hollering for him, screaming for his blood. "Come back Potty, we just want to play," giggled his cousin Dudley sadistically. His band of ten-year-old thugs, all seven of them yipped in excitement and agreement. A game that's what they called it, beating him till his right eye was so swollen it was useless for vision, till his nose had crunched, broken, under their violence. The boy pushed himself faster, hoping to outrace his tormentors.
"We just want to play!" Piers Polkiss yelled with childish glee that most kids would reserve for the joy of eating something as mundane as sweets. The boy's mouth was set in a sneer more fitting for a rat than a young child. He was Dudley's first friend, the first to join in the hunting, the first of many. He was lean compared to the other boys of the gang; he was the fastest too which was why he was leading the charge in this chase.
"Hit him with the slingshot Dennis!" Dudley yelled from the back of the semicircle his tormentors had formed hoping to catch the small boy, within their grasp. His red face was covered in sweat, his large stature meaning that he needed to place more effort in catching up to his cousin compared to his gang. A lanky boy on the right of the semi-circle fiddled with the aforementioned object as he ran, pulling a stone from his pocket and loading into the catapult. The boy pulled back the sling of his weapon, whilst taking aim at his fleeing target. The small sharp, solid mineral punctured the air before hitting its intended prey. Harry let out a yelp as pain blossomed across his right shoulder, causing tears to prickle in his one good eye and making him stumble. Harry only made it a couple more steps before he was tackled from behind, forcing the wind out of him.
"I've got him boys, I have him!" Piers screeched in victory. He wrestled his victim to the ground, pinning the smaller boy beneath him. The trapped child tried his best to spin around and block the offending limbs with his right arm whilst feeling around with his left on the forest floor, searching for something to fight back with. His hand found perches on a thick piece of wood, which Harry slammed into his attacker's face, hearing a both satisfying and relieving crunch as he did so. This loosened enough the other boy's offending clutches; Harry took the chance offered to him and made a break for it. The small hope that had settled in the young lad's heart was snuffed out quicker than it had arrived, it seemed during his bout with Piers the rest of the would-be hunters had caught up to them. Seven pairs of arms had caught the boy in their snare, before he even had the chance to resume his fleeing.
Harry was cast to the ground by the band of his blood thirsty peers, they wasted no time in beginning the onslaught of fists and feet upon the smaller boy. Harry couldn't help but think to himself as he was laid into, what did he do to deserve this, what did he do to warrant such hatred from the other boys. What he did to warrant such hatred from everyone in his life, he was quite sure his uncle brought him on this trip just so the other boys had a punching bag to begin with. Why, why, WHY, WHY!? What did he do to deserve this!? This constant torment in his life. The child screamed in his mind.
"Think you could escape us you bloody git!" roared his cousin as he brought punch after punch down on his own blood, as the other boys backed away. "You're nothing! Just a freak! Just an animal, like dad says! It's your job to be prey, prey to us predators!" He mocked through his strikes.
Prey that word struck the young boy, as his vision began to fade due to the pain, prey? Is that all I am? Prey to these supposed predators? His thoughts raced, repeating those two words over and over. Prey and predator. Something snapped in the child at that moment he began to change, his higher brain function fading being replaced by something more dangerous, something more primal. His right arm swung up, cracking his cousin in his chest, and sending him sailing a good few metres till he struck a tree; the force appearing to render the large brat unconscious. I WILL SHOW THEM A PREDATOR. Was the last conscious thought that Harry had.
The sound of cloth ripping, bones cracking brought the seven other juveniles' attention back to their would-be victim. Where once the runt they hunted stood was a wall of flesh and midnight fur, a beast. It stood quadrupedal towering over them, blocking out the sun. It resembled a wolf in stature, if a wolf stood over four feet tall and was wider than a semi-truck. The creature's large maw was pulled back revealing its torso-sized ivory white teeth to the adolescents. A low rumble vibrated from the creature's throttle, sounding like it belonged more to rolling thunder than any living creature. The seven children stood frozen in shock, unable to move as the colossal wolf eyed them hungrily. The great beast opened its jaws and struck the children before they had a chance to even think.
Bigby's eyes snapped open, his heart was pounding like a drum of war in his chest, his body covered in a cold sweat. Releasing a weary sigh, he dragged his hand down his face. "Shit" he whispered to himself. He hated that dream, that memory. No matter how hard he tried to bury; it was always unearthed to the forefront of his mind. With grunt Bigby arose from the loveseat that was his bed the night before, his eyes scrutinised the room Sirius had chosen the night before. The drawing room he had called it, Bigby couldn't help but think how pretentious such a room was, a whole room larger than the bottom floor of most people's houses. He caught his reflection in the mirror secured to the wall above the mantelpiece. His hair stood in disorder atop his head, his earthly green eyes had dark circles enveloping them, and the look upon his face was of one burdened by the weight of the world. "Look like crap," he declared to himself. With a grunt he continued his scan, the spot his godfather had occupied the night before on the sofa was empty. Bigby drew a deep breath through his nose, a flurry of smells hit him all at once; filtering through them he found what he was looking for. 'Roja cologne, firewhisky, and L'Oreal shampoo' never change Sirius.
Following the scent, he was led out of the drawing room into the hallway leading to the kitchen. Since they started living together after the summer of third year, Sirius had gained an obsession with cooking. Bigby put it down to Azkaban if he had to eat the gruel they served every morning, he would also gain a craving for the finer cuisines in life. A craving that led him to cooking. Standing in the doorway of the kitchen, Bigby watched as Sirius danced around the kitchen doing what seemed to be a thousand things at once. "Morning, son" Sirius spoke through the grin upon his face. "I got Kreacher and Dobby to give the kitchen a good clean. The place looked more fit for burning than cooking. Had to fight Dobby for the right to cook in it though. He was going on about how Great Harry Potter Sir's godfather should not be cooking this and that. A lot of energy that one, wonder how much coffee he drinks." he finished his sentence musing with his eyes squinting in thought, as he raised his own mug of caffeine to his face. Bigby rolled his eyes before allowing them to wander the kitchen; it did in fact look remarkably clean he noted to himself. Even the saucepans suspended from the utensil racks from the ceiling were cleaned to perfection, even the ovens that looked centuries old, which they were, shone looking brand new.
He was brought back from his thoughts on cleanliness of kitchenware by a rattle from the marble kitchen counter by Sirius. "Eggs benedict, with my own little twist" he gestured to the plate which now sat on the counter. "Eat up, I was thinking whilst I wait here for the delivery truck, you can explore Jericho. Maybe make some new friends?" Sirius questioned his eyebrow raised. Bigby's elegant reply was to grunt and dig into the golden breakfast. Letting out a sigh, Sirius dished up his own and began to eat. Looking at his godfather out of the corner of his eyes, he couldn't do anything to stop the sense of guilt that washed over him.
"You gonna drop me off at town, or am I walking?" Bigby inquired between bites of the delicious food that may have swung how he felt on the matter of going to the decently sized town. Sirius' face quickly morphed from disappointment to excitement in a heartbeat.
"Actually! I have a better idea!" Sirius exclaimed gleefully, moving from the counter, and heading out of the kitchen door. He returned not even ten seconds later with three parcels in hand. Sirius placed them down on the marble counter with a triumphant look upon his face. Bigby merely raised an eyebrow in response to his dogfathers antics. "They're gifts for you!" he stated with a grin plastering his features. "Here open this one first" Sirius said whilst nudging the smallest parcel over. With a huff of amusement directed at Sirius, Bigby picked up the hand-sized package. The wrapping paper was decorated with tiny wolves and held together with twine; the other two parcels were wrapped similarly he noticed. Undoing the twine, Bigby began to unwrap the small object. When all the paper was gone, Bigby held a small wolf medallion attached to a key, but not just any key. Bigby recognised this key.
"The key to your Triumph?" Bigby questioned in confusion, not quite sure what his guardian was getting at.
"You mean the key to your Triumph" Sirius corrected with a cheshire grin. "That's the whole reason I removed that sidecar, would be cramping your style driving around with that thing attached." Bigby was speechless, he knew how much that motorcycle meant to him, Sirius and Bigby's Dad, James had made and enchanted that thing from nothing but scrap they found in a normal junkyard together.
"Sirius, I-" taking a deep breath to steady himself Bigby continued. "Are you sure? I mean you love that bike" he asked his godfather, his brow scrunched up in thought.
"Of course, I'm sure. I mean, it doesn't exactly suit me anymore" Sirius combed his hand through his hair in thought. "I have the pickup, plus the Porsche that I've decided to treat myself too, so the bike is all yours son." Sirius smiled warmly with mirth in his eye, at his son in all but blood. Bigby couldn't beat back the grin that spread across his face in response to the elder black's comment. "Come on, open the next one. Sunlight is burning." Fake impatience in his voice as he gestured to the largest package out of the two remaining parcels. With a small chuckle Bigby unwrapped the gift, it was a jet-black motorcycle helmet, with an emerald visor. His godfather had also let him know about the spare helmet in the satchel attached to the triumph. 'In case you meet any girls you wanna take on the back of the Triumph, ladies dig guys on motorcycles' his godfather stated and assured him.
There was only one gift left, this one was about half the size of his torso, it also had a surprisingly deceptive weight to it. As he began to strip away the wrapping paper the object was revealed to be a mahogany brown custom leather biker jacket. There was a zipper on the right breast of the jacket, on the left breast was a stylized black letter M on a black patch. There seemed to be three sets of zippers on the inside. One that seemed to belong to a charcoal cotton lining that was detachable with the use of another zipper, the lining also seemed to have a hood attached to it. The last zipper was to close the leather jacket itself; the shoulders of the jacket had a ripple effect that reached the mid bicep. As he turned it around in his hands, he couldn't stop the sharp intake of breath he took even if he tried.
On the top back of the jacket there were two words sticking out of the leather in bold: THE MARAUDERS. Underneath the writing stood a collection of beasts in a square with Hogwarts proudly behind them. A proud doe and stag stood next to each other on the left side, on the right was a large scruffy hound stood hunched next to it was what clearly was a werewolf although it looked on the skinnier side of its kind. In the middle was a titan of a wolf, it sat on its hind legs looking forward and next to it was a honey badger. Above each animal was a correlating name, he recognised the original marauders names; the names that stuck out the most to him were Ratels above the badger and Bambi above the doe. His own name, Bigby, was above the mammoth sized wolf.
"Do you like it" whispered Sirius, searching his godson's downturned face. "I remembered the summer after third year, I overheard you two talking about Animagus forms and how you figured out Cedric's was a honey badger. Ratel Is another name for one. He was a true Hufflepuff, you both were Bigby" Sirius finished with a wry smile. Without saying a word Bigby gently placed the jacket delicately back onto the counter, he turned around to his godfather and brought him into a bone crushing hug.
"I love it, Sirius. Thank you" Bigby spoke quietly, tears prickling in his eyes. After regaining his composure, he pulled back from the hug and thumbed the tears out of his eyes. "I'm sorry for being such an asshole lately, I just haven't felt right since the battle. You're right this change, this move and the new school…...it's probably for the best" Bigby huffed.
"Well, I'm glad you're coming around Harry" Sirius snickered in amusement. "I mean you were going to nevermore either way, but your compliance is appreciated" chuckled Sirius.
"Harry" murmured Bigby under his breath, with a breath he continued "Bigby is supposed to be a restart, a new name for new life you know? But you're my family, so is Remus and Tonks. So, when we are home just call me Harry. If Nevermore and Jericho is supposed to be a restart, people can't know I'm Harry Potter. I want an easier life here Sirius, a quieter one."
"Well, the principle knows who you are! So do the legacy families I think, Oh and some of the students from the hallway that heard me talking to the principle" Sirius spoke cheerfully.
"God dammit Sirius" Sighed Bigby pinching his nose, with his eyes screwed shut attempting to fight back a headache.
A/N: sorry this took so long! it was my Girlfriends Birthday last week so I did not really have the time to write. I make no promises on the speed of chapters. But I promise I have no plans of letting this story die. I am also switching carriers which will affect my speed