Chapter 1
Sirius had been lurking outside Hogwarts for about a couple of months now. He spent most of his time edging around the castle, asking himself questions such as, how should I go about breaking into the Gryffindor common room? When was the right time? How not to get caught? How to actually do the deed? How to stop being such a giant pansy and just get through with it already? Plan ‘Kill Wormtail Horribly’ was indistinct but it would be a success, he would make sure of it (he pictured wrapping his jaws around Wormtail's furry little body and tearing ).
Months of no progress, but the tides had turned and luck finally seemed to be in his favor; Yesterday, he’d managed to nick some poor sod’s wand during a daring trip to Diagon Alley. The man had left it briefly unattended while greeting a friend at Florean Fortescue's. Sirius snatched it silently, hoping to look the part of the harmless mischievous mut to anyone who had noticed, but hoping more that no one would notice at all. In seconds the wand was safely tucked in Padfoot’s jaws, Sirius’ heart racing as he tried to make it back to the Shrieking Shack as fast as possible. A wand was a complete game changer. He wondered if he could simply Accio Peter Pettigrew . He imagined Wormail whizzing out one of the top windows like a hairy little snitch for Sirius to catch in the palm of his hand (and then he would clench his fist and crush ).
However, there was a problem. The problem was that he was starving. The hunger in his belly caused him to hunch into himself, like a small hole had been punched in the middle of his stomach and now it was Merlin-bent on pulling the rest of him into it. He’d been living off rats, rabbits, and scraps, too paranoid to risk anything more. If Azkaban and living on the lam had taught Sirius anything, it is that hunger makes anything near impossible. The impossibility of which he was feeling acutely. Forcing his body to head back to the Shrieking Shack was like scraping gum off pavement. His vision blurred as he dodged the branches of the Whomping Willow. He blacked out completely during the tunnel up to the Shack; only becoming aware of himself enough to transform back into a human as he climbed into his joke of a mattress and pulled on his threadbare sheets. He hoped sleeping would provide him with some energy, and he vowed to make getting some real food a top priority tomorrow, killing the rat bastard could come after.
Sirius awoke in a thunderclap. The adrenaline rush awakening screamed at Sirius to scramble for his stolen wand, demanding he defend himself against an unknown enemy.
Sirius pawed uselessly through his clothes. It wasn’t there.
“You won’t find it,” said a smooth monotone. Sirius looked up with a start. A man was standing in the middle of the room.
James? He thought immediately. The man was a pitch perfect image of his old friend, preserved in the amber of lighter times, untouched by age and war; but eerily still, like a vigilant ghost. But a second look at the man- no, boy - revealed that he was so unlike his old friend, Sirius was surprised that he could have mistaken one for the other at all.
The boy with Jame’s likeness had unmoving black tattoos winding down his arms to the backs of his hands to his fingers where they starkly spelled out DEATH across his fingers (isn’t he too young to have those?). He had sharp small silver rectangular glasses that cut severely into his face, where James had thicker larger frames that opened up his lively eyes. The boy’s piercing green stare was adorned by dark swooping circles that spoke of misery beyond exhaustion. I know those eyes , Sirius thought wildly, those are Lily’s eyes .
This must be Harry , Sirius realized.
“Did you kill Lily and James Potter?” Harry asked mildly, completely relaxed despite the fact that Sirius was a known mass murder. He had said it in the same way one might ask about the weather. Do you think it’ll rain during the trip to Hogsmead today? But the false causality was undermined by the intensity of his stare. There was no wand in his grip but Sirius felt distinctly threatened.
“How did you get in here?” Sirius asked, bewildered. How did you find me? What’s going on?
Harry just stared.
Harry, Sirius found, was an extremely creepy thirteen year old.
Sirius felt unbalanced, like the whole world had shifted slightly to the left while he had been sleeping, leaving him just out of sync with reality. He had not been expecting to wake up face-to-face with his Godson, let alone to have a casual chat with him about James’ and Lily’s deaths . But it looked like Harry was determined to get an answer.
“Yes, I killed them,” Sirius choked out, shame stealing the air from his lungs. He averted his gaze to pick at a tread on his sheet- from the boy who’d had his parents stolen from him- who’s parents Sirius had stolen from him. Sirius would take any punishment Harry had in store. He wanted to bear the brunt of his anger, to be victim of any curse, to feel every sting of a verbal lashing. Sirius had taken everything from James and Lily’s child and he couldn’t even look him in the eyes. Rotten coward.
The boy huffed, “Oh, sure.”
Sirius’ eyes snapped up at the skepticism.
“I did! I killed them!” He yelled, feeling angry for the first time since this bizarre situation began.
“Did you?” Harry’s once intimidating stare had simmered into a deadpan incredulity, like Sirius was troublemaking teen again being admonished for a prank.
“It’s all my fault!” Sirius waved his arms, desperate to be believed. “If I hadn’t convinced them to change the Secret Keeper at the last minute, then Wormtail wouldn’t have been able to sell them out! If I hadn’t been such a fool they would be here right now! All those people wouldn’t have died!”
Silence rang. He drew in a shaky breath.
“So a man called Wormtail sold out the Potters?”
“Wha- yes” Sirius confirmed, feeling half-heard.
“Why are you at Hogwarts?”
“He’s here. He’s been hiding as the Weasley boy’s pet. He’s an Animagus and no one knows it.”
A thin spidery smile skittered across Harry’s face. “And you want to kill him,” he said with certainty.
“Yes.” Sirius spat. He’d spent many a day in his cell dreaming of crushing Wormtail’s throat.
Seeming to have come to some sort of decision, Harry unwound and burst into action all at once, his expression collapsing into a grumpy frown.
“You’re severely malnourished,” Harry drew out his wand and waved it, clearing all the dirt from the inside of the shack. The causal display of advanced magic jolted Sirius, reminding him that Harry was a stranger and Sirius was unarmed.
”Dehydrated”, he waved it again, summoning strange bags on polls from his bag, “I’ll diagnose and deal with your other problems, but those take top priority.” He kept waving, pulling other strange items from his bottomless satchel, some of which looked forebodingly like tools and knives .
He abruptly stopped and turned to Sirius. “When was the last time you brushed your teeth?” Harry frowned deeply.
“Harry?” Sirius asked, although he wasn’t sure what he was asking.
“ Stupify .” A red beam of light hit Sirius freezing him in place. Sirius’s stomach dropped out as naked terror flooded his senses. He had no control over his body. He was completely at Harry’s mercy.
“Congratulations Black, I’ve decided to become your Doctor.” said the strange tattooed boy with tired eyes.
Doctor? Sirius placed that as a muggle word but could not recall it’s meaning.
“Oh and by the way,” He pulled on a white glove with a snap .
“Call me Trafalgar.”