Chapter 5
If one more person tried to pet Percy, he was liable to take out an eye. Some one went for another pet down his back, and he went for their thumb. Damn his size. Beside him, Black started a low growl. The hand retreated. Percy looked over appreciatively, and hopped down from his perch on the table to snuggle into his side.
This was, apparently, adorable according to the dumb humans, and they continued to coo over him. Black and Percy shared a look. They really had to get out of there, fast.
When they arrived, it seemed the whole department was there doing some training drill or another. Mad Eye Moody had grumped a bit about it not being a zoo but for the most part they had been fussed over by all the aurors. They had been given sausage and water, which had been surprisingly good. They had been dried with warming spells, which had caused Percy’s fur to poof ridiculously. Really, it was all too much.
Not to mention the fact that they were two animagi and one soon-to-be wanted prisoner in a room full of aurors. They really, really had to get out of there.
Their distraction came in the form of Percy’s father, surprisingly enough.
“Arthur!” Vance called. “What can we do for you?”
“Hello Emmeline.” His Dad said morosely, hat in his hands. “Listen, my son is missing.”
“Oh wow, okay.” Vance said, and suddenly every auror on the force was done messing with Percy and Black, and were aptly listening in.
“Percy, my ten year old, disappeared this morning, before we all woke up.” His father said, and sniffed. “We’ve looked everywhere!”
Behind the counter, Black picked Percy up in his mouth gently. Percy did not mew in protest, because he was trying to be quiet. Let it be known that he wanted to.
“I don’t know, he just wasn’t in his bed this morning. We went to check on him when he didn’t come down for breakfast but he was gone!” Someone had given his Dad a handkerchief and he blew into it. “I just don’t know what to do!”
When Percy had set out that morning, he hadn’t exactly thought about what he would tell his family. His thought process had been more along the lines of ‘Yes I am indeed in the past,’ ‘Plan?’ and then ‘fuck it, let’s just go.’
Black started going deeper into the office, and Percy did mew then, because what was he doing?
“He’s this tall, with hair like mine but curly like Molly’s and the brightest blue eyes and…” Percy strained to hear the rest of the sentence as they went deeper into the complex.
Finally, they reached a room. Black had to hop up on two legs to open the door, but they managed. Percy swung helplessly from his mouth and mewed again. What was he doing? Inside the room was a series of runes and suddenly Percy felt very, very queasy.
These runes set off an alarm, if Percy wasn’t mistaken. This specific alarm he had only seen in action one time in his life; the day the Death Eaters took over the ministry it had gone off but it had been too late. What was Black thinking?
Carefully, ever so carefully, Black stood in the center of the room and placed a singular paw on top of the runes. Percy remembered all of a sudden that Black used to be an auror. There was a good chance it would recognize him. It did. It only took a second for the runes to begin to activate, and suddenly the world turned into a blur as Black ran for the exit. Through the complex they went, and then out to the waiting room area where Percy’s father was.
Percy watched has his father’s eyes widened at the sight of them. Did he know? Fuck.
They barreled through the door right in time for it to shut down. Black did not stop until they reached the emergency stairs. As they went, more and more doors began locking as the defense system took place. An announcement went off above them stating that all persons were required to take shelter. They made it to the stairs and started rocketing up them.
Finally, they were home free. The muggle entrance was in sight. Unfortunately, there in front of them stood Lucious and Narcissa Malfoy. By the way Narcissa Malfoy went dead pale at the sight of them, she knew. She opened her mouth to speak, and Black stumbled a little, but Percy mewed, and he picked up speed.
“Sirius!” She whisper-shouted at him furiously, but she was too late. As the defense system began shutting down the entrances, Sirius Black burst through the doors and into the stairwell that led up to London air. The door locked shut behind them.
Arthur was having a bad day. First, he found out he was stuck years in the past, then he found out that the person he had spent his life trying to defeat was partially immortal, and finally he found out his son was missing. Then he found out his son was an animagus as he was being carted away by a deranged man who had just escaped from Azkaban, years earlier. Finally, the emergency alarm system had gone off, and now he was stuck in a room full of panicking aurors. What was Percy thinking?
Percy was thinking about how many different ways he could kill Sirius Black and still achieve his goals. They walked through London a while, Percy still dangling from Black’s mouth. He mewed again. It changed nothing. Finally, they found themselves in an old parking garage that seemed abandoned enough for their purposes.
Gently, Percy was placed on the ground, and then Black transformed into a dirty man, who was not so crazy looking as he should be.
“Out of all the people to break me out, you are not what I expected.” He said happily.
Percy transformed into a child too, and gave him his best glare. “What was all that for? Are you fucking mad?”
“Mad as any Black, and don’t say fucking. You’re like six.”
“I’m ten!”
“Same difference. Now, can you get home from here kid? I got a rat to catch, so it looks like we’re headed our separate ways.”
“No, we’re not, because I need you for my plans.” Percy hissed.
“What plans are those?”
“Rescuing Harry Potter.” He said with determination. He knew that wouldn’t be enough to convince him, but it was a start.
There was a beat of silence as Black thought.
“So I guess we’re sticking together then. What’s the plan from here?”
Percy blinked. “You changed your mind that fast?”
“Kid’s my godson, if he needs rescuing, I’m your man.”
“You don’t seem very insane.” Percy said skeptically.
“It’s a long story. You don’t seem very afraid of me. How’d you know I was innocent anyhow?”
“It’s a long story.”
They stared at each other for a moment.
“So,” Black started. “What’s the plan?”
Percy thought about their situation. “We need to get to Little Whining— that’s where Harry is— and to do that we need to get on a train.”
“No getting on a train looking like this.” Black commented.
“Nope! So it’s time to get you some new clothes. And maybe a shower.” He added on as an after thought, wrinkling his nose.
“Some clothes and a shower and I’m a new man. So how do we do that?”
They ended up stealing the clothes. It went something like this: Black waited outside a shop while Percy disillusioned himself and stole some clothes. Pretty straightforward, except that the alarms went off and there was a minor chase down the sidewalk and Percy found himself out of breath and magically exhausted. It had taken some fancy spell work to obliviate the shop owner while running, and Percy was still very young. Black caught up with him eventually and checked him over for injuries.
“You hurt?”
“No,” Percy panted. “Just tired.”
“Alright, let’s just take a breather.”
So they waited in a dingy alleyway until the world stopped spinning and Percy could breath again. All this magic was probably doing something not good to his core, but Percy couldn’t bring himself to care at the moment. His plans were important.
“No more magic, kid.” Black said.
“It’s not something I can really help.” Percy grumbled back. “We need to be discrete.”
“You need to be careful with yourself.” Black raised an eyebrow.
“Listen, Black—”
“Sirius, please.”
“I’m being serious!” Percy joked weakly.
Sirius barked a laugh and ruffled Percy’s hair. “Good one kid. Now, I know a place where I can shower, and then we can be off.”
This time when they transfigured themselves back into animals and walked down the way, Percy rode on Sirius’ shoulders. Sirius started up a steady trot, and by nightfall they made it to their destination.
“Welcome to Grimmauld place! It’s horrible here.” Sirius said as he opened the front door. “I figure we can spend the night and pick Harry up in the morning. There’s food here too, real human food and not just some ministry cafeteria sausage. Kreature!”
“The mutt has returned.” An old wrinkled house elf said from behind the door.
“Hullo Kreature, it’s horrible to see you too—” before Sirius could say another word, wretched screaming came from a portrait just inside the door. Percy flinched, and set it on fire.
Horrified, he began stammering apologies. He hadn’t had a burst of accidental magic since he was seven in his previous life, so it was mortifying that it happened now.
Sirius just laughed, and laughed and laughed.
“Don’t worry about it kid,” he said eventually. “She deserves it.”
“Who was she?” Percy asked, as the woman fled her portrait. Kreature put the flames out with a snap of his fingers and sent a mighty glare towards Percy.
“My mother.”
Percy was even more mortified. He opened his mouth to apologize again, but Sirius just raise a hand.
“Seriously, hah, don’t worry about it. I hated the bitch.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Uh, don’t repeat that word, okay?”
Nodding, Percy moved in further through the house, Sirius at his side. It was full of dark magic. He gulped, and kept walking.
“I know it’s a lot, but I’ll put you in Reggie’s room for the night. It’s safe there. Come on.”
So Percy was situated with a hot, non-poisoned meal via Kreature, set up in Regulus Black’s old room, and put to sleep for the night. As he lay between silk sheets in unfamiliar pajamas, he stared at the yellow rain jacket draped over the sitting chair. He had to get to Harry soon. The world depended on him.