A Big Explosion and a Big Black Dog
August 09 1993 04:23 pm
A new dog has been seen around the neighborhood these last two days. It’s a scary dog. Big, black, dirty and scrawny. But were its eyes the most unnerving thing. Its eyes were deep black and were the window to an intelligent but wild and scarred mind.
The dog was searching for something that was obvious to anyone who may look. Right now the dog is resting from the sun. Lying in the shadow of a tree, tired, hungry and thirsty.
Suddenly, the sound of an explosion was carried through the wind to its ears. Immediately its head snapped to the direction of the explosion. No smoke or fire seen in the distance.
Then a kid passed running like a madman past it, panting and crying desperate for air from the direction of the explosion of noise.
The dog chased him carefully until they reached a park. The kid enter into a canopy like round thing with many holes to hide in. The dog did not enter but saw the child through one of the holes.
He was a kid around ten, maybe eleven. The dog wasn't sure because the kid had his head buried into his knees and arms breathing heavily. His clothes were too big for him, dirty and torn.
“I fucked up” whispered in tears “I’m done with everything. I’m dead” the tears came with a mad chuckled “I’m so dead, it’s so sad that it’s funny”. An unnerving feeling ran through the dog's body. “Fuck it, fuck all of them, fuck!” The kid punched the ground with his tiny fist and the tears stopped.
He was now with his eyes focused in the distance and the blood in the dog ran cold. Those eyes, well that eye was vacant. Empty, lost in a storm of pain and hatred, that kind of look the dog was familiarized with. How?
The dog's body moved on its own and the movement catched the attention of the boy. Then life returned in that scary eye. It was a beautiful emerald green eye and it remembered the dog of a redhead woman.
“Oh, hullo” the smile that the kid wore was heartbreaking. It spoke of loneliness and hope, whole of friendly intent. The child extended his right hand with his palm up right, in a motion of receiving “You’re alone too?” The dog approached carefully and rested its head in the small hand. The kid laughed when the tail of the dog moved in cherish and moved his other hand to scratch behind its ears. “You're dirty” he chuckled. “Welp, that’s hypocrite, don’t you think?”
The dog saw the kid face closer and a growl began and died in its throat. The kid’s face was a mess. His right eye was puffy and red and with marks of tears running through his dirty face. But it was the left part that made the dog see red.
The kid’s left eye was hidden by a very bad inflammation that was turning from red to black, that was the worst bruise but not the only one. But it was the cuts around his face, on his eyebrow, eyelid, nose and cheeks. The dog was pretty sure that in one of the cuts on his cheek was a tiny piece of glass. From the kid’s nose was a little stream of blood which at some point was scrubbed to the right side of his face.
The dog whimpered a sad noise and buried his snout in the child's chest. The kid chuckled and hugged the dog with his tiny arms. “You know, this kind of thing keeps me alive'' The boy whispered melancholy “The world it’s awful but sometimes it's beautiful too” The kid sighed a long and sad breath just to make an expression of pain and hold his left side. Then his eye was vacant again and the dog left a growl to bring the kid back.
“You have a name?” the child asked “I’m Harry” and the dog began to cry. “Hey, it's fine, we’re fine. If you don't have a name I can give you one” The kid looked like he was thinking “Just, not today, I’m tired and you know, giving a name it's a big task. Not something to take lightly and maybe you have a name, it’s rude to give someone a name without his permission, like calling someone a freak” The kid’s hands were clenched in fist. The dog nudged his face in them and received a tiny smile. “Welp, I guess not all are bad, like calling someone love or dear” he shrugged with another grimace.
In the distance, a siren of an ambulance and maybe firefighters was heard. The kid immediately tensed and hugged himself tightly. “You know, I wish I had died” The dog startled and began to bark, angry and desperate. “Shhh I was kidding! Stop or I would have to make you!” The dog stopped the barking and was replaced by a deep growl. “Geez, you’re loud don’t you?” the boy sighed again. The dog glared at him “I said I was kidding!” He huffed and crossed his arms. “What do you care about anyway? I know I’m good with animals but you’re weird” Harry laughed.
“You know, I can’t go to that house anymore, and I don’t think I want to go back to that fucking school either. Like… I’m so done with everyone and everything, maybe it's better to just go to sleep don’t you think? I think that it’s for the best. Yep, good night doggy” Then Harry just lied on the ground and fell asleep.
***
Sirius Black was devastated. He had escaped from Azkaban with the sole mission to find that fucking rat, to teared him apart. But then his brain allowed himself to think about other things. Things like his lost family. His only family. He began to think of Harry. And the next thing he knew was that he was in Privet Drive.
Then the explosion and later the kid. Harry. His godson. His son. Scared and beaten, suffering from Merlin knows what. And the worst thing was that deep in his soul he knew that he can’t do anything about it. Becoming human wasn’t an option. No with the kid in that state. Well he was going to do what he could do. But first, he wanted to see what had happened with that explosion.
He walked until he saw the ambulance in front of the house. The house windows were all broken and the pieces of glass were over the grass. But that was all. In the ambulance was a fat man with his head bandaged and was bambling about a gas explosion.
Sirius turned around searching for a convenience store. Then he became human and stole food and water. He would do what he could do.