Chapter One: Harry's Dilemma

I know I said I was taking a break, but my muse is a pushy bitch. I don't know if I'll be updating this faithfully, but I'll do my best. Hopefully this will be a short story. Muse pending.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

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Harry was sitting alone in his room at #4 Privet Drive. He had been sitting there for a while now. It was Yule break of his fifth year, and he had been sent home to 'relieve' him from the torments of Umbridge. He was supposed to have gone to Sirius's house, but Dumbledore had wanted him to go and connect with his family, or some such rot. That had not worked out well for him.

The Weasleys were at St. Mungo's after he had saved Mr. Weasley from Nagini. They were supposed to have come and rescued him from this torture, but he had not heard from them. He was at his wits end. He had not heard from Sirius either.

Now, he had been locked in there for some misaligned punishment or another. Vernon had locked him in there five days ago. He was being fed through the cat flap again. However, the food stopped three days ago. He had water from some bottles he had stored up just for this purpose.

There had been some rumor in the news about a virus going around, but the Dursleys had ignored it. They had gone about their lives as normal. Not that it would have been any different if they had listened, Harry found out later.

Now, the quiet was unnerving. He hadn't heard anybody say anything for two days now. Three days ago, he had heard the coughing. Two days ago, it was quiet. He had started shouting two hours ago. Nobody answered.

"Come on, answer! Somebody, please!" he shouted through the door one more time. He slammed his fist on the wood and kicked it for good measure. Finally, he gave up and used magic. Bugger the Statute of Secrecy. Casting the unlocking spell on the door, he opened the door and went into the house.

He went down the stairs and saw Vernon, Petunia and Dudley all sitting in front of the TV dead. They look like they've been dead for two days now. They were pale white and frozen solid. They were all wrapped up in blankets looking like they were trying to bundle up against the cold. Like they each had the flu and were trying to stave off the fever.

"Shite," he said as he ran to the phone to call 999. But when he got there, he picked up the receiver and found that there was no dial tone. "Shite," he said again, slamming down the receiver. He was confused about that, since there should have been one. The electricity was still on, so there should have been a tone. However, the phone was dead.

He ran outside and noticed that there was no noise out there either. There were no cars, no people, and funnily enough, no birds. There were no dogs or cats running about either. It was eerily quiet.

He ran back inside and noticed that the person on the news looked a little ragged and was reporting that the virus had spread throughout the UK and that the population had been reduced to 22% of itself. It had come so swiftly, and it was deadly. It killed within 24 hours of contact. Only a rare few were immune. A Happy Christmas indeed. There was even Christmas music playing in the background, which was just morose.

"Shite," he said again, watching with morbid fascination.

He didn't know what he was going to do. He didn't know who was alive and who wasn't. Was Hermione alive? Was Ron? Was his family? Was Sirius? Was anybody that he knew alive? He didn't know, but he was going to find out.

He ran back upstairs and started frantically writing letters. He needed to know if anybody was alive. They needed to get together so that they could survive. He wrote five letters. One to Hermione, one to Sirius, one to Ron, one to Dumbledore, and one to the ministry. He attached them to Hedwig and sent her on her way.

Then he went downstairs and started planning. He didn't know what he was going to do with his relatives. He was too small to move them. They were all so fat, bar Petunia, but she was an adult. So, he used the levitation charm and put them out in the backyard. He wanted to burn them, but he didn't want to deal with the smoke. At least they weren't zombies. That would have been a nightmare.

He went back into the house and took note of what kind of food was left in the house. There was a lot of junk food. There wasn't much of what would be called normal food. Well, there was, and thank goodness it was all in cans. The feast from Christmas dinner was still in the refrigerator, so he had some of that. He hadn't been invited to partake in the meal itself, but it was delicious now. There was duck, ham, turkey and the many side dishes. Petunia never left anything out when she cooked for her men.

At least the electricity and the gas were still on, so there was that, though he didn't know how much longer that would be with the population reduced down to 22% of what it was.

He went out into the garage to see if there was a camp stove. Vernon never was one for camping, but he was a survivalist, when he wanted to be, so he wanted to see if there was anything in there that he could use if the power went out. It turned out there was a propane stove, thankfully. There was also a small propane tank that was mostly full. Dudley must have used it. There was also a large tent, which he didn't think he would be able to use. Though there was a fishing pole, which he snagged. There wasn't much else in the way of survival gear. Vernon wasn't very good at gathering things.

He took what he could find back into the house and put it with the non-perishable food. He would hole up here and stay hidden as long as he could. He found Vernon's shotgun and barricaded himself into the kitchen.

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It took a day and a half for Hedwig to come back. The only person who answered him was Sirius.

Harry,

Don't move from where you are, I will come to you.

Sirius

Was all the note said.

Harry was very thankful that there was at least somebody that was alive. And he was also glad that it was an adult. As much as he loved Hermione, he didn't think she would be useful in a time like this. No, that's not true. She would be very useful in a time like this, but he was still thankful it was an adult that was around. He was very sad that she did not answer him. He did not know if that meant that she was dead, or alive and just too far away for Hedwig to find. He recalled that she was supposed to be in France for the holiday. Maybe Hedwig just couldn't find her.

He heard on the news that the virus was worldwide. He hoped that she wasn't as alone as he was. She was a smart girl though, she would know what to do. He hoped.

He got a note from the ministry telling him that they had it all under control. He scoffed at it and burned it. Those idiots wouldn't know what to do if they had a guide. He had no idea why he had written to them in the first place. He must have had a brain fart.

The smell from the backyard was getting to be too much, so he banished his relatives' bodies to wherever banished items go. He thought the cold weather would have kept them 'fresh', but it was unseasonably warm this year.

Sirius must have followed Hedwig because he was there shortly after she showed up.

There was a pounding on the door, and Harry cautiously went there and asked, "Who's there." He didn't trust anyone at the moment. He wasn't a trustful bloke to begin with.

"Harry, it's me," Sirius said from the other side. Harry could hear the relief in the man's tone.

"Sirius?" Harry said, swinging open the door and slamming into the other man. "I thought I was the only one alive," he cried into the other man's shoulder. He hung on for dear life. He had been alone too long. He was so scared but hiding it under a tough exterior. Even from himself. The horrors he had been through this year were bad enough, he really didn't trust many people, but Sirius was one of them.

"I thought I was too," Sirius said, clinging to his godson. He would have come sooner, but he was caught up in trying to see who else was alive. He thought Harry was safe here. He had no idea that the muggles were affected. He thought it was only the wizarding world that was dying.

"What are we going to do? Everybody else is dead," the younger man asked, looking at him with such hopeful eyes.

"First, we don't know if everyone else is dead, so we're going to find out who else is alive, and then we're going to band together and do what we can to survive. What have you been doing here?" he asked, guiding his godson back into the house.

"Mostly just gathering things I think we need to survive. We can't stay here. I don't want to stay in my relatives' house," Harry said, leading him into the kitchen. He showed him all the canned goods, the can opener, the fishing pole and the propane stove.

"What's that?" asked Sirius as he saw the stove.

So Harry proceeded to explain to him what the stove was and how it worked.

"Harry, we're magical. We can create fire." He laughed at the poleaxed look on Harry's face. Sometimes he forgot that his godson was new to magic.

"Oh, right," said Harry, looking sheepish. He felt like an idiot. Of course, they could use magic. He had been thinking just that all along. Why hadn't he thought of fire.

"Don't worry about it, kid. It was a smart idea. Who knows, we might need it someday. Keep it. You were smart to keep all these canned goods, though. I can put a statis charm on the other food as well. Plus, we might need to go around to the other houses and pick up what they have there too. I'll make a non-detectable expandable bag. We'll put as much as we can in it," his godfather said, looking over the cans and seeing a lot of stuff he'd never heard of before. That was okay, if Harry said they were edible, then he'd eat them.

"I'm not sure I feel comfortable going around raiding my neighbors' houses," the teen said, uncomfortably. They weren't nice to him, but they'd be there. Dead more than likely. All sitting or laying about. Just dead. It was unnerving.

"They're dead, Harry. They're not using it. It's just going to sit there and rot or be used by other people who are not as amenable as we are," Sirius said, trying to be reasonable.

"Do you think there's going to be bad people coming around?" the teen asked, hoping that that wasn't true. He was hoping the Dark Lord was dead and that part of his life was over. It was bad enough that a large part of the world was destroyed, he didn't need Voldemort still after him.

"Trust me, there are going to be some very violent people showing up very soon. They're going to be magical and non-magical. Situations like this bring out the worst in people. It is the survival of the fittest. I'm sure there are some Death Eaters out there that are still around. And they're going to use this opportunity to sow chaos," Sirius said, picking up the can opener and playing with it. He had seen it before with Lily and she had explained what it was and what it was for.

"Oh, I didn't think of that," Harry said, despondent. He wasn't happy to hear that.

"That's all right, that's what you have me for. So why don't you go and get some clothes. Don't worry about your trunk. Put them in the backpack and only take what you can carry," was Sirius's suggestion. He was giving him busy work to get his mind off what was going on.

"All right, Sirius," Harry said as he rushed upstairs to grab what few clothes he had that fit, and shoved them in a backpack. He left all his schoolbooks and most of his things. He might regret that later, but for now he only took what he could carry.

Including his invisibility cloak, not that it would do him much good now. There was no one to hide from. Ron had his Marauder's Map. He had wanted to borrow it to keep an eye on things at Hogwarts for some reason. Something to do with Malfoy being a git. There were a few other trinkets that he added, but mostly it was just clothes.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Sirius looked around and grabbed whatever he thought that they could use. He conjured his own backpack and made it an undetectable expandable bag and started shoving the all the food in it. Soon enough, the entire cupboard was cleared out of all the junk food, all the vegetables, and all the fruits that he could shove in there. He then started on the refrigerator and freezer, putting a statis charm on all that food. The Dursleys were well stocked with food, that was for sure. Soon enough, all the kitchen was stuffed in that bag.

"I'm done, Sirius," said Harry as he came down the stairs. "Why don't you let me make us some dinner before we head out? I have an idea, why don't we stay here the night, and I could make us breakfast in the morning, and we can head out then? We might as well use up some of this food before it goes bad." He thought that was a better idea than traveling at night.

"That sounds like a brilliant idea, Harry." He thought that was a good idea as well. "Well, I've put it all in the bag, but I'll pull some out," he said, explaining the statis charm and pulling out some of the food.

"Oh, I didn't think of that," Harry said, once again feeling foolish. He really needed to start thinking like a wizard.

So that's what Harry did. He cooked up dinner. It wasn't anything special, just a meatloaf with some mashed potatoes and gravy, and some vegetables. They ate well and discussed the plans that they were going to do. Which at this point, was to try to make their way back to Grimmauld Place, via clearing out all the houses in between. It was still under the Fidelius Charm. Sirius's idea was that if it was under the charm, those that were still alive and knew about the charm would be able to find it.

"That's an excellent idea, Sirius, but I'm not sure we should stay in one place for too long. I want to go out and find people," Harry said, his 'saving people thing' kicking in. He wondered if they would find anyone in the houses they were going to 'clean' out.

"We'll stay there for a month and then we'll see about going out and finding other people," his godfather said in way of compromise. He didn't want to walk about the streets of London in this new world. It might be dangerous. They would stick to the residential areas and clear out the houses of food.

"I think a month might be too long. There might be people out there who need our help. We're magical, we can help the non-magical people," Harry said, tapping his finger on the table in emphasis.

"What about the Statute of Secrecy?" was the question. It was a good one that any pureblood would ask. Even a rebel like Sirius.

"Bugger that. They will need our help," Harry stated firmly.

"Why do you say that?" Sirius asked, not seeing where Harry was coming from. He didn't have a 'saving people thing'.

"These people need our help, and we have the means to help them. Don't you want to help those in need? This is the end of the earth. We need as many people alive as possible," Harry said, thinking that they needed to band together to get a community going if they were going to survive as a people.

"I see your point. I guess if I'm going to get any... never mind. But in order to repopulate, we're going to need as many people alive as possible. I see what you're saying. All right, we'll stay a week and then we'll leave a message for people to find us. Are we staying in England?" he asked, taking the last bite of his meatloaf and getting up to put his plate in the sink. He missed his house elf already. Kreacher hadn't survived the virus.

"For now, until we get a big enough group and then we'll move to the continent. There will be more people there," Harry said, thinking that the population was greater there.

"All right, Harry. We'll do it your way for now. Have you tried to contact anybody else?" he asked, grabbing a glass and filling it with some milk from his backpack. He offered Harry some, but Harry shook his head no.

"Yeah, I wrote the Weasleys and Hermione and Dumbledore. I haven't heard from any of them."

"Well, I don't know about Hermione or the Weasleys. But I'm pretty sure Dumbledore didn't make it," Sirius said, some sadness in his tone. He liked the old man well enough, but he was a bit upset with him as well. It was personal, and now that he was sure the man was dead, it was upsetting even more. He would never be able to vent his spleen.

"Well, that's sad to hear," Harry said, tears welling up in his eyes. He loved that old man. He was mad at him some for sending him here, but he didn't want him dead.

"He was an old man, Harry. I wouldn't grieve over him too much," Sirius said, putting his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"He was like a grandfather to me," Harry bit out in anger. Who did Sirius think he was telling him how to feel?

"How could he possibly be like a grandfather to you? You barely knew the man," Sirius asked, a bit put out that Harry would snap at him.

"One could say I barely know you too, but you're like an uncle to me," stated Harry emphatically. He was quick to love. He knew that, and when he did, he felt deeply.

"Harry, you don't even know what a good family feels like. I should know, I'm much the same way. Why are you latching on to people as if they were relatives?" Sirius asked, looking at the teen with much confusion. He didn't love nearly as deeply as Harry seemed to. He tended to hold people at arm's length.

"I've always wanted a big family," Harry said, a bit awkwardly. He couldn't really explain why he grabbed on to people and held on. He didn't have many friends, but he held tight to those he did have. "I'll love who I want."

"I guess I understand that," Sirius said, slowly. He didn't really, but he'd let the boy have it. "I've always wanted to get away from my big family." He ran from his family the first chance he got.

"I guess we just went in opposite directions emotionally," Harry said with a shrug. He was still upset over the fact that Dumbledore and possibly Ron and his family were dead. It was a great blow to deal with. This was too much at once. He had had a few days, but he had been in survival mode. Now that Sirius was here, he was allowed to feel, and he was getting all emotional.

"All right, Harry, you grieve your way. I'm not going to tell you how to mourn," Sirius said, squeezing his shoulder and then stepping away. He drank his milk and put the glass in the sink.

"Thank you, Sirius. Do you think we should head to Hogwarts and see who survived there?" Harry asked, suddenly thinking of that. It was the highest concentration of magicals there was. Sure, they were all under the age of eighteen, but that was okay, they would have the highest survival rate.

"That is actually a great idea," Sirius said, getting excited.

"Most of them will have gone home to their families, don't you think? Or that might be a great gathering point for those who survived," Harry said, thinking most parents might go there instead. He knew that Umbridge had caused many people to go home, but there would have been quite a few still there.

"I think we should stick to my plan first, and make Hogwarts our second priority," Sirius said, running a hand over his goatee.

"All right, Sirius," Harry said, going over the plan in his head. It did sound plausible.

"Come on, eat up then we'll head to bed," Sirius said, wanting to get a good head start in the morning. They were going to clear as many houses as possible.

"All right, Sirius," Harry said, finishing off his meal and then putting his plate in the sink. He then watched Sirius set the dishes to wash themselves. He knew he was right, and that magic was going to help a lot of people in the end.