Chapter Text
Extract from beginning of Chapter 3 of The Prisoner of Azkaban.
Harry was several streets away before he collapsed onto a low wall in Magnolia Crescent, panting from the effort of dragging his trunk. He sat quite still, anger still surging through him, listening to the frantic thumping of his heart.
But after ten minutes alone in the dark street, a new emotion overtook him: panic. Whichever way he looked at it, he had never been in a worse fix. He was stranded, quite alone, in the dark Muggle world, with absolutely nowhere to go. And the worst of it was, he had just done serious magic, which meant that he was almost certainly expelled from Hogwarts. He had broken the Decree for the Restriction of Underage Wizardry so badly, he was surprised Ministry of Magic representatives weren’t swooping down on him where he sat.
Harry shivered and looked up and down Magnolia Crescent. What was going to happen to him? Would he be arrested, or would he simply be outlawed from the wizarding world? He thought of Ron and Hermione, and his heart sank even lower. Harry was sure that, criminal or not, Ron and Hermione would want to help him now, but they were both abroad, and with Hedwig gone, he had no means of contacting them.
He didn’t have any Muggle money, either. There was a little wizard gold in the money bag at the bottom of his trunk, but the rest of the fortune his parents had left him was stored in a vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank in London. He’d never be able to drag his trunk all the way to London. Unless …
He looked down at his wand, which he was still clutching in his hand. If he was already expelled (his heart was now thumping painfully fast), a bit more magic couldn’t hurt. He had the Invisibility Cloak he had inherited from his father – what if he bewitched the trunk to make it feather-light, tied it to his broomstick, covered himself in the Cloak and flew to London? Then he could get the rest of his money out of his vault and … begin his life as an outcast. It was a horrible prospect, but he couldn’t sit on this wall for ever or he’d find himself trying to explain to Muggle police why he was out in the dead of night with a trunkful of spellbooks and a broomstick.
Harry opened his trunk again and pushed the contents aside, looking for the Invisibility Cloak – but before he had found it, he straightened up suddenly, looking around him once more.
A funny prickling on the back of his neck had made Harry feel he was being watched, but the street appeared to be deserted, and no lights shone from any of the large square houses.
He bent over his trunk again, but almost immediately stood up once more, his hand clenched on his wand. He had sensed rather than heard it: someone or something was standing in the narrow gap between the garage and the fence behind him. Harry squinted at the black alleyway. If only it would move, then he’d know whether it was just a stray cat or – something else.
‘Lumos,’ Harry muttered, and a light appeared at the end of his wand, almost dazzling him. He held it high over his head, and the pebble-dashed walls of number two suddenly sparkled; the garage door gleamed, and between them, Harry saw, quite distinctly, the hulking outline of something very big, with wide, gleaming eyes.
Harry stood still waiting to see what the unknown creature was going to do. After a minute or so it moved closer and Harry could see it was a large black dog.
“Hello”, Harry said softly hoping not to startle the large animal. His experience with Aunt Marge’s dogs made him somewhat nervous but on the other hand Hagrid’s dog was exceptionally friendly. This dog continued to come closer until Harry could reach out and pet him. Deciding the animal was safe enough he closed his trunk and sat down on it.
“I’m in a bit of trouble”, Harry said looking up at the large dog. “I accidentally blew up my aunt. Then I just left and now I have no idea what I’m going to do. Any suggestions.” Of course Harry didn’t really expect the dog to help but he still cast a hopeful expression the animal's way. The dog though was looking intently at him and Harry wondered absently that it did look like the dog was thinking. After a moment the dog moved backwards slightly and then it wasn’t a dog anymore. Instead a man was standing before Harry.
Harry, surprised, tried to shift away but sitting on his trunk didn’t make that easy. All he managed to achieve was falling off the side of his trunk. The man was suddenly crouched in front of him.
“Easy Harry, I’m not going to hurt you.” He reached out and helped Harry to sit back on his trunk. “My name is Sirius Black and I’m your godfather.” Harry stared in complete shock at the man before him. Clearly the man was a wizard and Harry wondered why no one had told him about this person. Then the news broadcast from the previous week slammed into the forefront of his brain.
“You were on the news. You're a murderer.” Harry practically shouted trying once more to move away from the man. But Sirius was faster and gripped Harry’s arms tightly to stop his movements.
“No, I’m not. I was framed. I’m innocent.” Sirius said pleadingly, looking directly into Harry’s eyes. “Let me tell you the whole story, please.” Harry really wasn’t sure what to do. Innocent or not this man seemed to scream danger but at the same time there was something strangely familiar about him. His options seemed limited though. He could either listen or try to get away. Given the painfully tight grip the man still had on him, getting away seemed very unlikely so Harry decided that for now he would listen.
‘Fine, tell me your story.” Harry stated, trying for a lack of emotion in his voice so as to not give away what he was thinking. At this Sirius shifted so he was sitting on the ground in front of Harry and loosened his grip on Harry's arms.
“I was your Father’s best friend.” Sirius paused, closing his eyes as if to gather strength for what he had to say. “During the war we learned that Voldemort was specifically targeting your family. They went into hiding, using a spell called the Fidellius charm. One person would know the secret of where they were and could tell other people.” Sirius paused again, tears beginning to form in his eyes. “Originally it was going to be me, but we thought it would be too obvious. Another of our friends, Peter, was chosen but we didn’t tell anyone about the change. We thought we could trust him but he betrayed us, told Voldemort where you were. After…” Sirius trailed off, the words harder and harder to get out. His expression becoming more anguished with every word. “After your parents died I went after Peter, but when I caught up with him he shouted to the whole street that I had betrayed your parents. Then he blew up the street, killing a bunch of muggles, and disappeared. I was distraught and when the Aurors came they just arrested me and chucked into Azkaban without trial. I was never given a chance to explain.”
Harry stared into the eyes of the man in front of him. He could feel the sincerity of Sirius’ words. He didn’t find it difficult to believe that no trial had occurred, after all that was exactly what happened to Hagrid last year. He also knew what it was like to have people make assumptions about him and refuse to listen to his explanations.
“I believe you.” Harry said softly. It might have been a mistake but he felt sure that if Sirius wanted to hurt him he would have done so already and not taken the time to tell him a story. The thought of time stopped his musings abruptly. “Oh, no. I blew up my aunt. The ministry is going to come and we’ve spent all this time talking.”
“It’s ok.” Sirius stated reassuringly taking Harry's hands in his own. “Tell me exactly what happened and when.”
“Aunt Marge kept saying unpleasant things about my Parents and I got angry. She just blew up, like a balloon. Then I grabbed all my stuff and left. And last year a house elf levitated a pudding in my house and I got a warning saying if I did any more magic outside of school, then I might get expelled.”
Sirius stared at him, then laughed. “Why was there a house elf, …” he trailed off. “No, we should have a little more time, but not for unnecessary conversation. And they typically send several of those notices before they actually consider expelling anyone so you don’t need to worry about that.”
“That’s good.” Harry said with relief. “I still don’t want to go back home.” Harry was thinking about the previous year when he got locked in his room with insufficient food.
Sirius smiled at him then shifted his gaze staring off into the distance clearly contemplating what they should do next. “Right.” Sirius snapped his eyes back to Harry. “Do you have any money on you?”
“Yeah, about 8 galleons, no muggle money though.”
“Good, that’ll be enough to get the Knight bus to London and at least one night at the Leaky Cauldron. Tomorrow you can go to Gringotts.”
“The Knight bus.” Harry cut in, having no idea what that was. Although it did sound better than his thoughts of flying to London under his invisibility cloak.
“Yes, it can take you anywhere in the country.”
“Cool.” Harry said wishing someone had told him about that before.
“Yes it’s very useful. Anyway.“ Sirius looked at Harry slightly nervously. “Since you believe me, will you do something for me?”
Harry contemplated the man in front of him. Saying he believed him was one thing but actively helping him was different. Innocent or not Sirius was on the run and if he helped then he would be an accomplice. On the other hand if he did believe him then wasn’t helping him the right thing to do. “I’ll help you, what do you need?”
“Thank you, Harry,” Sirius said, the relief evident in his voice. “There’s a family house, 12 Grimmauld Place, which right now I can’t get into. It’s been locked down since the last resident died and only the head of house or the heir can open it back up. I’m almost certain that I am now the Head of House Black but I can only claim that position in the house or at Gringotts. Obviously neither are viable options at the moment. That’s where you come in.”
“Really, how.” Harry was understandably confused at how he could possibly be helpful with this problem.
“I named you my heir, which if I am the Head of House Black, should make you the Heir to House Black. You need to go to Gringotts, ask them for an inheritance test. That should confirm that you’re the Heir. Assuming it does then there is a ritual for you to claim the title and the heir ring. The ring is what you need to get into the house. Once you get that, ask the goblins for a portkey to the house, Grimmauld Place.”
Harry blinked. That was a lot of new information that had been packed into a few sentences. Harry thought about it for a little while.
“Ok, two questions. What is a portkey and what if I’m not the Heir?”
“A portkey is an object that can transport you from one place to another.” Sirius said smiling at him. “If you’re not the Heir”, Sirius paused thinking about it, he turned his head to look at the empty owl cage. “You have an owl.”
“Yes, I sent her to friends for the week while Aunt Marge was here. She should come find me soon.”
“Ok, if you're not the heir then when your owl comes back send me a letter to let me know. I’m going to head to Grimmauld Place so she shouldn’t have too much difficulty finding me.”
“Send a letter, ok. So, knight bus, gringotts, inheritance test, ritual, heir ring, portkey to grimmauld place.” Harry reeled off to make sure he remembered the key points.
“That’s right.” Sirius stood up pulling Harry up with him. “Get your money out of your trunk and I’ll tell you how to call the Knight bus.”
Harry crouched down again to open his trunk and pulled out his money bag. Putting the money bag in his pocket he made sure the trunk was locked properly. Standing up he turned to look at Sirius. Quite unexpectedly Sirius grabbed him and pulled him into a hug. Harry flinched. He wasn’t used to such displays of affection and he was sure his arms had bruises where Sirius had gripped him so tightly.
“Harry,” Sirius said hesitantly letting go as soon as he felt the flinch. “What’s wrong?”
Harry looked away from Sirius, trying to decide what to say. He didn’t know if he wanted to talk to Sirius about this and now was a terrible time for such a conversation. “I don’t get hugged much.” There, that was appropriately vague. True but didn’t really explain. Harry looked back at Sirius hoping he wouldn’t push the issue.
Sirius was staring steadily at him in a contemplative sort of way. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but then shut it again and shook his head as if to dislodge whatever thought he’d had.
“Right. Well. I just wanted to thank you, for believing me, for trusting me.” He stopped, the intensity of his stare increasing. “You can trust me Harry, with anything.” Sirius waited to see if Harry would say anything else.
When Harry didn’t say anything Sirius sighed and shifted the conversation back to practicalities. “Right, calling the Knight bus is really simple. You just hold out your wand while thinking about the bus coming, Ok”
“Ok,” Harry said nodding his head, glad that Sirius had let the matter drop.
“Good, I suppose that’s everything then.”
“I guess so.” Harry replied. It was a slightly abrupt end to their interaction especially after the tension Sirius’ hug caused. However it seemed neither Harry or Sirius could think of anything else that needed to be said.
“I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Sirius said smiling. “Just let me get out of sight before you call the bus.” Sirius raised his hand as if to touch Harry. Harry’s eyes though flickered uncertainly to Sirius’ hand and Sirius stopped. “Bye” he said softly lowering his hand and then he turned and walked back into the darkness of the alley.
“Bye” Harry echoed as he watched Sirius walk away. Harry gazed for a moment in Sirius’ direction before turning towards the road. He stuck his wand out and concentrated on calling the Knight bus.
The Knight bus appeared quite suddenly with a loud bang. It was a triple decker, purple and Harry was surprised it didn’t topple over with the swaying it was doing. The doors of the bus opened and a conductor leaned out of them and spoke to Harry.
“Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. Just stick out your wand hand, step on board and we can take you anywhere you want to go. My name is Stan Shunpike, and I will be your conductor this evening.”
“Great”, Harry responded. “How much is it to get to the Leaky Cauldron?”
“Eleven Sickles,” said Stan, “but for thirteen you get hot chocolate, and for fifteen you get a hot-water bottle and a toothbrush in the colour of your choice.”
Harry thought hot chocolate sounded a bit risky to drink on the unstable looking bus. He also had no need for a hot water bottle or toothbrush so pulling out his money bag he counted out eleven sickles and handed them over.
With Stan’s help Harry’s trunk and Hedwig’s cage were carried up the steps onto the bus. Harry was surprised to discover that the bus contained no seats; instead, half a dozen brass bedsteads stood beside the curtained windows. Candles were burning in brackets beside each bed, illuminating the wood-panelled walls. A tiny wizard in a nightcap at the rear of the bus muttered, ‘Not now, thanks, I’m pickling some slugs,’ and rolled over in his sleep.
‘You ’ave this one,’ Stan whispered losing his professional tone, shoving Harry’s trunk under the bed right behind the driver, who was sitting in an armchair in front of the steering wheel. ‘This is our driver, Ernie Prang. This is...’ Stan paused realising the Harry had never given his name. “What’s your name kid?” Stan continued looking a bit more intesly at Harry.
Harry sighed, he hadn’t really wanted to share his name but he could see no reason to lie given Sirius’ assurances he wouldn’t be in trouble. “Harry,” he said simply as he sat on the bed, hoping that would appease Stan without triggering any kind of ‘fanboy’ behaviour. Stan’s eyes did flick up to his forehead but didn’t comment. Maybe there other Harry’s in the wizarding world, or maybe Stan’s professionalism extended to not questioning paying customers.
“Harry, good.” Stan responded, turning back to the driver. ‘Take ’er away, Ern,’ said Stan, sitting down in the armchair next to Ernie’s.
There was another tremendous BANG, and next moment Harry found himself flat on his bed, thrown backwards by the speed of the Knight Bus. Pulling himself up, Harry stared out of the dark window and saw that they were now bowling along a completely different street. Stan was watching Harry’s stunned face with great enjoyment.
A few minutes later, after Harry had sufficiently recovered himself from the bus’ departure, Harry noticed that Stan had opened up a newspaper and he found himself looking at a picture of Sirius on the front cover. The arrival of the Knight bus had distracted Harry from his previous interaction with Sirius. Reminded, Harry thought back over everything that had been said. He did believe Sirius but the whole situation was making him uneasy. Why had no one told him about Sirius before. That he had a godfather. Sirius escaped two weeks ago, didn’t he have a right to be informed about that. And was he really going to do this, break probably several laws to aid an escaped convict even if said convict was innocent.
He also thought there was more to the story that Sirius had told him about what happened the night his parents died but he supposed that there hadn’t been enough time for Sirius to tell him everything. If he did help then maybe Sirius would tell him more and not just about that night.
Thinking about it a bit more, he decided going to Gringotts was a good idea regardless of what he did after that. On his previous two trips he was rushed through quite quickly and only retrieved a small amount of money. He didn’t even know how much was actually in the vault. If he had access to more than just the vault he’d accessed before then he needed to know that. Harry decided he would go to Gringotts and get as much information there as he could before making a definite decision.
Looking back at Stan’s newspaper Harry wondered what everyone was being told about Sirius. “Umm, Stan,” He started hesitantly. Stan looked up at him. “Can I borrow your paper when you're done?”
“‘Ere, you can ‘ave it now.” Stan remarked handing it over. Harry took the paper and began reading the article about Sirius. It didn’t really say much just that Sirius was supposedly mad, very dangerous and somehow killed 13 people with a single spell. Harry thought about it, if they believed he killed all those people with a single spell then they must believe he was powerful. It would be nice to have someone like that on his side.
He wasn’t sure he wanted a parent, growing up with the Dursleys he had had to do a lot of things for himself. However he did wonder what it would be like to be someone's priority, to have someone who truly cared about him.
“We’re ‘ere, Leaky cauldron.” Stan called out to him, interrupting his thoughts. Harry jumped off the bed and picked up Hedwig’s cage. Moving to grab his trunk too, he found Stan had beat him there. “I’ll get this, you go ahead.” So Harry shifted the cage into a better position and walked off the bus.
Moving to the side he turned so he could take his trunk from Stan. “Thanks.”
“That’s alright, see you around.” Stan replied, jumping back on the bus, the doors shutting behind him. And with another loud BANG the bus disappeared startling Harry into jumping backwards and dropping his trunk. Wondering how the bus could possibly be legal Harry picked up his trunk and started moving towards the pub.
“Harry.” A sharp shout called out. Harry, surprised to hear his name, looked towards the direction of the shout. Coming out of the door to the pub was the very last person Harry wanted to see, the minister of magic Cornelius Fudge.
Although he had been reassured by Sirius saying he wouldn’t be expelled, he was still concerned by what the ministry was going to do. Clearly they had been looking for him. Would they send him back to the Dursleys? There was also the small matter of his planning to help a fugitive.
“Good Evening Minister.” Harry said politely, unsure of what else would be useful to say.
“I’m so glad you’re here, safe and sound.” The minister walked up to Harry and grabbed his arm pulling him towards the door to the pub. Harry was rather put out by this, it seemed quite impolite behaviour and Harry really didn’t like being grabbed. His uncle did it all the time and it was never good. He’d also had enough of it from Sirius earlier, though he had understood Sirius’s reasons. He’d been trying to get away from Sirius, the minister however could have asked him into the pub. However Harry had been planning to enter the pub and he didn’t want to draw unnecessary attention to himself so he allowed the minister to drag him into the pub.
Once into the pub Fudge continued to pull Harry along up to the bar behind which the pub’s landlord Tom had been watching their progress. The minister finally let go of Harry and turned to speak to Tom. “Do you have a private room we could use, Tom?”
“Yes, of course. Follow me.” Tom replied and led them down a corridor into a small room with a table and a couple of chairs. Tom lit the lanterns and stepped towards the door. “Will you be needing anything else Minister?” Tom asked.
“No, Thank you.” The minister said dismissing the man. Once Tom had left and the door had been closed he turned to Harry. His expression changing from the smile he had used with Tom to one of mild disapproval. “Please sit, Harry.” Harry sat down, watching the minister as he followed suit, contemplating if there was something he should say. Before he could the man continued to talk.
“My name is Cornelius Fudge, I am the Minister of Magic.” he said quite self importantly. Harry knew this of course, having seen the man last year when he took Hagrid to Azkaban. Harry also wondered why the minister didn’t introduce himself prior to dragging him through the pub. As far as the minister knew, he was a complete stranger to Harry. Why the minister thought it was acceptable for a stranger to grab hold of a teenager, Harry didn’t understand and it was not endearing the man to him at all.
“You will be pleased to know that we have dealt with the unfortunate blowing up of Marjorie Dursley. She has no memory of the incident at all. In addition, despite their anger over the event, your Aunt and Uncle are happy to take you back next summer provided you stay at school for Christmas and Easter.” Harry doubted that but didn’t say anything. Fudge didn’t seem like he wanted Harry’s input so he just waited to see what else the minister said.
“So the only remaining problem is where you are going to spend the last 3 weeks of the summer. I suggest you take a room here.”
“Um, OK” Harry was quite happy with that idea. He had been worried that the minister being here might mean he wouldn’t be able to go to Gringotts and meet Sirius. It occurred to Harry that the minister hadn’t yet said anything about being punished for performing underage magic. He contemplated asking about it but then decided he didn't want to risk the minister thinking he needed more supervision over the rest of the summer.
“Excellent. Well, you wait here while I make the arrangements with Tom.” And with that Fudge left the room. Harry let out a sigh of relief, the tension he’d been feeling since leaving the Dursley’s finally left him. He wasn’t expelled for doing more underage magic and he had 3 whole weeks where he was free to do what he wanted.
After a few minutes the door opened again revealing both Fudge and Tom. “Come along then Harry.” Fudge said almost impatiently as if Harry had already been given an instruction that he had ignored. Harry sighed, getting up and gathering his trunk and Hedwigs’s cage. “Tom here will show you to your room. One final thing, Harry, I would ask that you not to venture into muggle London, stay in Diagon alley.”
“Oh, why.” Harry wondered at this. He knew the reason of course, they were concerned about Sirius, but nobody had mentioned him yet. He was curious to hear Fudge’s explanation.
“Well we don’t want you to go missing again do we.” Fudge said with a slight laugh. “Best we know where you are. Tom will keep an eye on you.”
Harry was slightly appalled, that was all Fudge was going to say. Nobody was going to warn him that a supposed mass murderer, the apparent betrayer of his family had broken out of prison. It seemed to Harry that if Sirius was truly what the ministry believed him to be then it was quite likely that he would be targeted by Sirius. To not be warned seemed utterly stupid to Harry.
“I understand.” Harry’s reply was not actually an agreement to stay in Diagon Alley but Fudge seemed content with the response.
“Excellent, well I must be off now. I’m sure we’ll meet again.” Fudge said, offering a handshake to both Tom and Harry. And with that he left the room.
“Come along then Harry.” Tom spoke smiling. Tom led Harry back into the corridor and up a flight of stairs. “Your room is number eleven.” Tom explained as he opened the door to a room at the end of another corridor. Harry stepped into the room and deposited his trunk at the end of the bed and Hedwig’s cage onto a desk near the door.
“Thanks Tom, this is great.” Harry said, turning to smile at the landlord.
“Good, I’ll leave you then. Breakfast is available between 6:30 and 8:30.” Tom handed Harry the room key, before leaving the room with a slight bow and closing the door behind him.
Harry locked the door and sat down on the bed. Putting both the key and his glasses on the bedside cabinet he sank back onto the pillows and fell straight to sleep.