Chapter 6
Percy woke in the middle of the night to a ghost looking at the raincoat. He was dripping wet and covered in horrific wounds. Percy tried not to be afraid. He made a small noise anyways and gave himself away.
“Hello.” The ghost said politely. “Who are you?”
“I’m Percy. Who’re you?” He said, sitting up in the bed.
“My name is Regulus, and this is my room.”
Percy’s eyes widened. “I’m terribly sorry!” He stammered.
“That’s alright, I don’t need it anymore.” Regulus sounded amused. “What’s this rain jacket doing here?”
“It’s for my cousin.” Percy said. “We’re going to kidnap him.”
“Oh really? How exciting.” The ghost said amusedly. “Nothing this exciting has happened in years. Who’s we?”
“Your brother and I.” Percy said.
The ghost’s eyes widened. “My brother? Sirius is here?”
Percy nodded.
“I have to go. He can’t see me.”
“Wait! He’s in the next room right now, can’t you just visit with me? Wait!”
But it was too late. Regulus was gone.
“Percy?” Came a knock at the door. “Is everything alright?”
“Erm,” he said eloquently.
“I’m coming in.” Sirius pushed the door open. He looked around at the empty room. “Who were you talking to, kid?”
“Your brother’s a ghost.” Percy blurted out and immediately regretted it. Why had he said that? Being a kid must have significantly reduced his brain to mouth filter. He missed being an adult, and cursed Death once again for sending them all back in time.
Sirius looked stricken. He stumbled over to the chair and collapsed into it. “A ghost.” He whispered.
It took some time for him to move again. Eventually, Percy stopped waiting for him to, and crawled back under the covers. He closed his eyes. Before he slept, he felt someone tuck the covers gently in around him.
“Goodnight Percy.” Sirius whispered. He left the room and headed down the stairs.
They didn’t talk about it in the morning. Sirius obviously hadn’t had any sleep that night. He ate his unbuttered bread silently as Percy sat and ate his surprisingly good breakfast. Sirius had looked at it dubiously, and then cast about a dozen spells to ensure it wasn’t poisoned. It wasn’t, and Percy was allowed to eat. Sirius was still recovering, so unbuttered bread it was. Anything richer would upset his stomach. They ate in silence.
“How soon until we leave?” Percy asked after finishing off his last piece of sausage. Sirius looked much better that morning. His hair had been de-matted and he was less dirty in general. The new clothes went a long way towards making him look normal. Still, he was far too skinny and his cheeks were hollowed out, but he could walk in public as a man and that’s all that mattered.
“Well I’m done with breakfast, how about you?”
Percy nodded.
“Let’s go then.”
So off they went. Sirius found a wand that worked decently well with his magic, and he cast a cleaning charm on Percy’s clothes. Percy was thankful. He grabbed the raincoat, and the leftover money from the day before, but he couldn’t find his wand anywhere.
“Sirius, have you seen my wand?”
“I have it.”
Percy stared at him.
“I was serious, hah, when I said no more magic, kid. I’ll give it back tomorrow. For now, just chill out with the magic. You’re going to hurt yourself.”
Percy sighed, but knew he was right.
The trip was successful. Sirius had some muggle money saved up in his room. “As a fuck-you to my parents.” He explained to Percy with a devious grin. They made it on the correct train, and then to Little Whinging, and then to Privit Drive.
“Stay back.” Percy told Sirius under his breath. “It’s much less suspicious if a kid takes a kid than an adult.”
Sirius looked around, cast a disillusionment charm on them both and turned into a dog. Percy glared at him, but acquiesced. The two walked down the street until they found the fourth house on the right side.
A perfect white picket fence kept in a garden and a little boy who was sweating in the summer heat. His brown skin sported ugly blue and green bruises, and his wild hair was unwashed. He was only six. His clothes were too big, his hands were bleeding from the thorns on the rosebush he was tending, and tears tracked down his face. Percy undid the latch and walked into the garden. Approaching the boy quietly, he took the raincoat and dropped it over his shoulders.
“Who—” Harry turned around and his eyes widened as he met Percy’s.
“Shh!” Percy put a finger to his lips, and started wrestling one of Harry’s arms and then another into the raincoat. Harry complied, bewildered. Percy pulled up the hood, and it covered up his scar nicely. “That’ll do.” He whispered. He buttoned it up quickly.
Taking Harry by the hand, he turned, and walked out of the yard. The dog and the two boys turned and went the way they came, and no one was the wiser.
Arthur made it home around midnight. It had taken hours to undo the wards, and all the while the aurors had panicked around him as Arthur sat in the waiting room chair. Diagnostics had told them exactly what Arthur had deduced. Sirius Black had set off the wards and there was no known danger in the building. Everyone had been quite freaked out that Sirius Black was still keyed into the wards, and that he had escaped. Immediately after the wards had been let up, a group of aurors had been dispatched to Azkaban to check his cell.
They found Peter Pettigrew instead.
Needless to say, it had been a long day, and Arthur was looking forward to a hot shower and a good night’s sleep with his wife by his side. He hoped Percy would be home too, but he wasn’t optimistic.
“Where have you been?” Molly demanded as soon as he walked through the doors.
“Ministry was shut down.” He said exhaustedly. “By Sirius Black.”
“Woah, what?” Bill asked from the kitchen. “We saw Percy left the ministry and you didn’t, but we couldn’t figure out what was going on!”
Arthur walked in the kitchen to see the majority of his children sitting at the table. Parchments were strewn about the place, and the younger ones were blinking sleep from their eyes. Arthur sighed, and sat down. This would be a long story.