Albus Dumbledore was sitting in his office, ruminating. He sighed as he looked down at the posters laying on his desk.
"MISSING: HARRY POTTER"
"HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WIZARD?"
He thought back to that fateful Halloween night, all those years ago. Ever since Voldemort learned of the Prophecy, he had been worried for the safety of the Potters. When James and Lily had told him that they would go into hiding under the Fidelius, and that Sirius Black was to be their secret keeper, he was so relieved. He had trusted Sirius Black, and thought the man would make for an excellent secret keeper. He genuinely believed that Sirius would have rather died than betray his friends.
What a fool he'd been.
Suddenly, he is broken out of his thoughts by a sharp knock on his door.
"Enter" He called out, and the door opened to reveal Minerva McGonagall. She was looking extremely stressed, and at her side she was holding a copy of Harry's missing poster.
"Ah, hello Minerva. To what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked.
"Albus, have you had a chance to read today's Prophet yet?"
Dumbledore glanced at the unopened newspaper at the corner of his desk. "No, I have not."
"There is an interview with Fudge."
"I don't suppose Cornelius has decided to accept the fact that Harry has been abducted by Sirius Black?" Dumbledore asked, although he was sure he already knew the answer to that question.
McGonagall's pressed her lips together in annoyance. "I am afraid not." She clipped out. "He still insists that the disappearance of Harry Potter is unrelated to Sirius Black. However, he did speak about Black."
Dumbledore flipped open the newspaper, and he quickly found the section she was talking about.
FUDGE FINALLY SPEAKS: AN INTERVIEW WITH THE MINISTER FOR MAGIC
By Rita Skeeter
Skeeter: "Is the Ministry going to address the rumors that Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, has been kidnapped by the mass murderer Sirius Black?"
Fudge: "Ah well, you see, while it is, er, technically true that Harry Potter's whereabouts are currently not known, there's hardly any evidence that he's been kidnapped. I'm sure it's entirely coincidental. I just don't feel the need to waste our valuable Aurors time over some unfounded rumors."
Skeeter: "But Albus Dumbledore claims there's evidence that Harry Potter is currently being held hostage by Sirius Black."
Fudge: "But, uh, it was just a letter, right? I'm sure the boy was only joking around when he told his friend that he had been kidnapped. I don't know why Dumbledore is putting so much stock in it. Dumbledore's gone mad, I tell you. Mad!"
Skeeter: "What about Black? Is it true he's mad, Minister?"
Fudge: "I wish I could say that he was. But I met Black on my last inspection of Azkaban, earlier this summer. I was shocked at how normal Black seemed. He spoke quite rationally to me. It was unnerving. You'd have thought he was merely bored - asked if I'd finished with my newspaper, cool as you please, said he missed doing the crossword. I was astounded at how little effect the dementors seemed to be having on him!"
Dumbledore sighed heavily. This was quite concerning. For all the minister's faults, Dumbledore was inclined to believe Fudge's assessment of Black. If Black was truly as rational as Fudge claimed he was, then he had probably been planning and preparing his escape for years.
McGonagall shook her head. "It's just awful. I can't imagine what that poor boy must be going through right now. I just wish there was something we could do."
Dumbledore let out another deep sigh. Things were looking quite dire. Perhaps it was finally time…
"There may be…" he said, slowly.
"Oh?"
"I believe it may be time to re-establish The Order of the Phoenix."
McGonagall drew in a sharp breath. Then, her face set into a mask of resolve. "What do you need me to do?"
"Could you start by reaching out to Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, and the rest of the old crowd?
She gave a brisk nod. "I'll go make some floo calls." She turned and exited his office.
As McGonagall left the room, Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and looked back at the posters of Harry Potter and Sirius Black.
Sirius Black was a mastermind. Whatever he's up to, he's probably been planning and preparing for years. The problem was that Dumbledore had no idea what Black's next move was going to be. Will he seek out Voldemort and try to return him to power? Will he invade Azkaban to free his comrades? If his master told him of the prophecy, he might even try to infiltrate the Department of Mysteries.
Whatever his plan, he must not be underestimated. Dumbledore had made that mistake before, and the Potters had paid dearly for it. Black was a master manipulator. He was always ten steps ahead of everyone else. Anticipating their every move, and outplaying them at every turn. Dumbledore could only hope that he hadn't already lost.
Sirius sighed and put down the map he was holding. "Alright," he admitted, "I'm completely lost."
"I thought we might have been walking in circles," Luna commented. "The tree branches were starting to look familiar."
"Let me see that." Harry took the map from Sirius and looked it over. "Hang on, you've been holding it upside-down!"
"I have?" Sirius asked.
"Yes!" Harry exclaimed.
Sirius shrugged, "Whoops, my bad. I can't read Swedish."
Harry looked at Sirius incredulously. "Then why are you using a Swedish map?"
Sirius gave Harry a sheepish smile, "Well, I kinda figured that since I already knew English and French, Swedish couldn't be too hard to pick up.
Harry gave Sirius a deadpan look. "You got a Swedish map in the hopes that you would just 'pick up' the language?"
Sirius chuckled. "Well, when you put it like that…"
Harry sighed in exasperation. He should have known better than to let Sirius be the navigator. Suddenly, Harry heard a screech and saw a familiar snowy owl headed towards him. "Hedwig?" he called out, "What are you doing here? I thought there were wards that prevented you from coming to Sweden."
Mr. Lovegood spoke up. "Indeed, there are. If she's here, that must mean we're not in Sweden anymore. We must have passed into Norway. Or perhaps Finland. I'm a bit turned around myself, I must admit."
"Why don't we just set up camp here for the night." Sirius offered. "Tomorrow, we can just go back the way we came. We should get back to Sweden if we do that, I think."
Harry held out his arm, and Hedwig landed on it much less gracefully than Harry was used to. In fact, now that he got a closer look at her, she seemed quite worn out, likely owing to her long journey. As he untied the letter from her leg, Sirius and Mr. Lovegood both got to work setting up their respective tents.
Both of the men carried wizarding tents that were larger on the inside, but they were both wildly different. Sirius had a large tent that was divided into two sections. He claimed to have picked it up from his family's ancestral home earlier that summer, when he stopped by there to get himself a wand.
The first section housed several bedrooms, a drawing room, and a dining room. Based on the furniture and decor, it looked like it was over a hundred years old, and hadn't been touched in decades. The walls were made of elegant fabric embroidered with exquisite designs and filigree. Everywhere he looked, he could see the crests and coat of arms of the House of Black. It was all very opulent, but in a stifling way that exuded a feeling of oppression.
The other section was much smaller, with walls made from rough canvas. That section of the tent had a kitchen and pantry, along with several tiny living spaces that Sirius explained were likely meant for servants and house elves. Harry didn't spend much time in this section of the tent. The cramped spaces and tiny mattresses brought back unpleasant memories of the cupboard under the stairs.
As grand and elegant as the tent was, Harry couldn't help but think that it felt sort of lifeless. Although Sirius was doing his best to spruce it up. He seemed to take great pleasure in tearing down old paintings and artwork, and replacing it with the various souvenirs he and Harry collected during their travels. A part of Harry felt saddened by all of the history being erased, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything when he saw the gleeful look in Sirius's eyes as he emptied the walls.
The Lovegood tent, on the other hand, was everything he could have wanted in a tent. It was much smaller, with only a few rooms, rather than the numerous ones that the Black tent had. Still, it was cozy in a way that reminded him of the Burrow.
It looked like an old fashioned three-bedroom flat. It had a large central room that served a variety of purposes. There was a portable fireplace in the center, surrounded by sofas and chairs. In one corner, there was a small kitchen. The opposite corner had a few bookshelves, along with a table and some chairs designed to be a little reading nook. The walls were completely covered with all sorts of little decorations, from drawings of a child to photographs featuring the Lovegoods.
Many of the photographs featured a woman that Harry assumed to be Luna's mother. He didn't know much about her, except that she died in an accident a few years ago. The Lovegoods didn't talk about her much, and Harry wasn't comfortable with asking. Still, the pictures of smiling faces were a lot more welcoming than the stuffy portraits in Sirius's tent.
Harry much preferred to spend his time in the Lovegood tent. Coincidentally, it was also a much quicker tent to set up, owing to its smaller size. Once Luna's father finished setting up the tent, Harry followed the pair of them inside with Hedwig perched on his arm.
"Oh my, what a pretty birdie." Luna eyed the owl.
"Her name is Hedwig," Harry extended the arm she was sitting on towards Luna.
Luna held out her hands, "May I?"
"Sure," Harry nodded, but Luna waited until Hedwig also gave an affirmative chirp to reach forwards. He was expecting Luna to start petting the owl, or perhaps scratch behind her ears. He was not expecting Luna to reach her hands under Hedwig's wings and lift her up off of the arm she was perched on.
Luna walked over to a couch and sat down, planting Hedwig into her lap and began gently stroking her feathers. Harry just smiled at his familiar. Hedwig must have been completely knackered to not even put up a token resistance to being picked up and carried like that.
Harry sat down on a nearby plush chair, and began to read the letter Hedwig had been carrying.
Dear Harry,
How are you? Where are you?
The Ministry is refusing to believe that you're with Sirius Black. I've tried to convince them but they just won't listen.
The Aurors stopped responding to my letters and I don't know what to do. I just really hope you're OK.
Please stay safe.
Love,
Hermione
Harry frowned. Hermione seemed quite worried about him. Perhaps he should send her some proof that he was with Sirius. Harry had seen Luna's father carrying around a camera with him, so maybe he could send Hermione a picture or two of him and Sirius together. Hopefully, that should ease her worries and make her feel better.
Still, he was curious about something. "Hey Luna, what's an Auror?"
"Aurors work for the Ministry, in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Luna explained as she stroked Hedwig's feathers. "Why are you asking about Aurors?"
"My friend Hermione, she wrote that Aurors aren't responding to her letters."
"That's not surprising. The Aurors are all part of the Rotfang Conspiracy. They're working to bring down the Ministry of Magic from within using a combination of Dark Magic and gum disease."
Harry just nodded. Luna often said strange things like that, but he was starting to get used to it.
Once Sirius had finished setting up the other tent, Harry looked at Luna's father. "Excuse me, Mr. Lovegood, would you mind taking a picture of me and Sirius?"
"Ah, a wonderful Idea. Go ahead and stand next to each other, right over there." Harry and Sirius position themselves for the picture as Xenophilius pulls out his camera.
"Alright," he said, "I'll take a serious one first, and then a silly one."
Oh no. Harry's eyes widened in horror at what was about to happen. It had been a while since the last pun incident. He had let his guard down, which was about to prove to be a mistake.
"But Xeno…" Sirius chuckled mirthfully, "I'm always serious."
The camera flashed, and then Mr. Lovegood began fiddling with it to prepare to capture another picture.
Suddenly, Luna let out a scream of mirth that caused Hedwig to jump up and flap her wings indignantly. Luna laughed so hard the owl she was petting fell out of her lap and slid down her legs and onto the floor. Hedwig hopped back up, annoyed, and glared at the laughing girl.
"That was funny!" Luna said amidst her laughter.
Her prominent eyes swam with tears as she gasped for breath, staring at Sirius. She began rocking backwards and forwards, clutching at her sides. Utterly nonplussed, Sirius glanced towards Xeno, who was smiling at the ludicrously prolonged laughter of his daughter.
"I- Uh- Don't usually get that reaction from my jokes." said Sirius, frowning.
"Maybe if you actually had more than one joke…" Harry muttered.
"Always… Serious!" Luna choked out, holding her ribs.
"Come on." Sirius ribbed Harry, "You laughed at it, that one time."
"Yeah, the first time you said it." Harry countered, "I'm not going to laugh at a joke I've heard hundreds of times."
"Not gonna laugh, are you?" Sirius grinned, "I guess I'll just have to make you laugh, then." He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Harry. "Rictusempra!"
Harry was hit with the Tickling Charm and fell to the ground, clutching his own sides. He was struggling to breath as the magic relentlessly tickled him. Distantly, he noted the camera flashing again. His and Luna's laughter filled the tent as Sirius mercilessly sustained the Tickling Charm on him. Eventually, Sirius felt magnanimous enough to lift the charm.
Harry sat up and began gasping for breath. He made his way over to Luna, and sat down next to her. "See what I have to put up with?" he panted out.
She nodded, still gazing at Sirius, breathless with laughter.
Eventually, she recovered from her hysteric fit and turned to Harry. "That was really funny."
"Ugh." Harry groaned, "Don't encourage him."
"Why ever not?" Luna furrowed her brow. "I thought it was a good joke."
"It gets a lot less funny when you've heard it as many times as I've had."
"Hmm," Luna hummed noncommittally, "If you say so."