Sirius the Service Dog

The last month with the Dursleys was easier. Sure, they ignored Harry- Dudley seemed terrified of him- but at least they weren't starving him or making him do all those ridiculous chores. Harry was a little depressed (being ignored was never fun), but Sirius did his best to cheer him up.

The last day of August Harry asked Vernon for a ride to King's Cross. He agreed and Harry ran off to make sure he had packed everything he'd need before Vernon could say anything else.

The next day Harry, the Dursleys, and Sirius drove to King's Cross. Dudley and Petunia came along since they were taking Dudley to get his pig's tail removed. Vernon stopped the car in front of the station and drove off the second Harry got his trunk out of the car. They watched them drive away before getting a trolley for Harry's trunk and Hedwig- Harry's owl.

Sirius led Harry to the entrance of platform 9 3/4. Harry frowned. "Well, now what do we do?" he muttered, "The platform should be around here, but it clearly isn't."

Sirius walked around behind Harry and started pushing him to the wall.

"No, Shadow. That's just a wall."

Sirius huffed and ran in front of him, tugging him to the entrance.

"Shadow," he hissed, "What's gotten into you?"

Harry let go of his leash to keep the cart from falling over. Sirius ran onto the platform then turned and stared at the wall for a second. When Harry didn't follow he rolled his eyes and ran back to the boy.

Harry stared at him in shock as he appeared from the wall. "Shadow." Sirius trotted back to him and waited for him to pick up his leash again. Once he had they went through to the platform together. Harry looked at everything in awe. Sirius could hardly blame him. His reaction had been similar the first time he;d seen it, and he'd been raised as a wizard.

The two of them started looking for an empty compartment. It took them a while, but they finally found one near the end of the train and got Harry's stuff settled. Harry sat down and patted the bench next to him twice. Sirius jumped up onto it and rested his head on Harry's lap. Harry scratched his ears as he stared at the families saying goodbye to each other out on the platform.

"I wonder what it would've been like if my parents were still alive." he whispered, "Do you think they would've loved me? Like how Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon love Dudley. Or was Uncle Vernon right and I'm just unlovable?"

Sirius stared at him. He licked the boy's cheek. Harry giggled.

"I know you love me, Shadow. But animals are different. It's people who can't love me. At least, that's what Uncle Vernon always said."

Sirius felt a new burst of hatred for those stupid muggles. How dare they say such things to his godson!

A few minutes later a pair of red headed twins poked their heads into the compartment.

"Hi." One said brightly, "Mind if we sit in here? Everywhere else is full."

"Or has people we don't like." The other chimed in.

Harry held a fistful of Sirius's fur. He nodded reluctantly and the twins sat down across from them.

"I'm Fred."

"And I'm George."

"Weasley." They finished together.

"What's your name?" Fred asked.

"And how'd you smuggle the dog in?" George said.

Harry swallowed a few times, like with Malfoy he didn't meet their eyes. Sirius huffed and jumped off the bench. A low whine tore from Harry. He clapped his hands over his mouth in horror. Sirius licked his hand before moving over to let the twins see his tags.

"Shadow huh?" George grinned at him. "Cool name."

Fred nodded in agreement. Sirius jumped back onto the seat next to Harry.

"I'm guessing 'service dog' is a muggle thing, right?" Fred said. Sirius was pleased people were actually reading his jacket.

Harry nodded again.

"You still haven't told us your name." George pointed out.

Harry swallowed a few times, his hold on Sirius's fur tightened. "H-Harry." The twins had to lean forward to hear him.

"Harry?" Fred repeated. He nodded. "Well it's nice to meet ya!"

Harry tried to smile at them before turning to look out the window again. The train had left the station and they were just entering he countryside now. It was quiet for a while. The twins whispered to each other, but neither spoke a word to Harry. Sirius heard one of them say Harry's name and quickly realized they were trying to figure out if Harry was the Boy-Who-Lived.

After another few minutes George spoke, "Is your last name Potter, by any chance?"

Harry nodded hesitantly. It was clear to Sirius that he remembered how the people in the Leaky Cauldron had reacted to his name and didn't want a repeat.

The twin smirked, "I thought so, told ya Fred."

Fred made a face at him. Harry smiled a bit. It was small, but genuine which gave Sirius some hope that Harry would make friends with the twins. Even if they were two years older.

The twins did their best to get Harry to warm up to them. They stuck to yes or no questions about things that didn't matter much. Do you like chocolate? Is Shadow your only pet? Are you nervous? Things like that. After a while the candy trolley came by.

"Are you hungry?" Fred asked.

Harry chewed his lower lip and nodded, blushing. The three stood and looked over what was there. Harry was a bit confused by the choices. None of it was muggle candy- Sirius thought that they should add some muggle candy for the muggleborns, give them something familiar- so he didn't know what he would like. He blushed when he realized how much time he was taking. He grabbed some chocolate frogs and pumpkin pasties, paid and rushed back into the compartment, breathing hard.

Sirius curled against him when he sat down again. The twins reentered a moment later with a few treats of their own. Harry fed Sirius one of his pumpkin pasties and opened a chocolate frog for himself.

The twins offered him a Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Bean and a Licorice Wand. He was pretty hesitant in taking them but eventually did. He made a face at the bean.

"Bad flavor?" One of them guessed. Sirius wasn't sure they had sat down in the same spots so he couldn't be sure which was Fred and which was George anymore.

Harry nodded and looked at the Licorice Wand suspiciously.

The other twin laughed. "Don't worry, the beans are the only risky candies. The wands are good though."

Harry tried it and looked rather pleased with it. He broke off a piece on the end and fed it to Sirius.

"Is it alright to feed him sweets? I thought that was bad for dogs."

Harry shrugged and scratched Sirius's ear. The twins started asking questions again and Sirius drifted off to sleep.