Book Two Begins
Sirius growled quietly. Vernon was yelling at Harry again. It was breakfast and Vernon had been woken in the early hours of the morning by the loud hooting noise from Harry's owl, Hedwig.
"Third time this week!" Vernon bellowed, "This is your last warning, boy! It's not as though you need two pets in the first place, perhaps it's time to get rid of that bloody thing."
"Shadow's not a pet." Harry mumbled, louder he added, "Please Uncle Vernon, she's just bored. If I could let her out, just for a while. Just at night..."
"Do I look stupid?" snarled Vernon, "I know what'll happen if that owl's let out!" He and Petunia exchanged a dark look.
Harry chewed his lower lip and scratched Sirius behind the ears. Dudley belched loudly and Sirius scrunched up his nose at the smell. The large boy hadn't brushed his teeth that morning. Sirius sighed again, the downfalls of a dog's nose.
"I want more bacon."
"Of course, sweetums. There's more in the frying pan." Petunia's eyes were misty as she looked at her son. Sirius liked to imagine it was because she'd just realized what a horrible brat she'd raised. "We really must build you up more while we can. I don't like the sound of that school food..."
Sirius yawned and closed his eyes. He really didn't need to he about Dudley's school and the kind of food served there again. He took pleasure in knowing that during school, Harry was the better fed one, and that was all he cared about. His eyes snapped back open when he heard Harry grumble, "You forgot the magic word."
The funny part was that Dudley fell out of his chair and Petunia looked on the verge of fainting. The not-funny part was when Vernon leapt out of his chair and started screaming.
"I-i m-meant please." Harry stammered.
"WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT SAYING THE 'M' WORD IN OUR HOUSE!"
Harry shank down in his chair, trembling. His hand slid into Sirius's fur. Sirius jumped up and started barking at Vernon, snarling when the man looked at him.
"HOW DARE YOU THREATEN DUDLEY!"
Sirius stepped closer to the man, still barking and growling.
"I WARNED YOU! I WILL NOT TOLERATE MENTION OF YOUR OTHER ABNORMALITY UNDER THIS ROOF!" Vernon seemed to noticed just how close Sirius had gotten to him. "GET THAT BLASTED DOG AWAY FROM ME!"
Sirius really wanted to bite the man's hand off, but Harry grabbed his collar and rushed out of the room. The boy pulled him up to his room and dropped onto his bed, sniffling a bit. Sirius nosed the door shut and changed form. He sat next to Harry and gently pulled his godson into his lap.
"Shh, it's alright. I've got you Harry. You're safe, you're loved, you're wanted. I won't let anything happen to you. It's going to be alright, little one."
Harry buried his face in Sirius's neck. "I didn't mean to set them off. I just-"
"I know. It's okay. You didn't do anything wrong." He tilted Harry's chin up so he could meet his eyes, "It's not your fault, they are the ones who overreacted. Alright?"
Harry swallowed and nodded.
"Thank you, Sirius. I know what I'd do if-"
"You'd survive." Sirius kissed his forehead, "You are your parents' child, after all. If I hadn't come along you'd have found some other way to get through everything."
Harry laughed softly. They stayed there, Harry in Sirius's arms, for a couple more minutes while Harry calmed down.
"Think you can face them again?"
Harry took a deep breath, "Yeah, I think so."
Sirius smiled and shifted back. He barked twice at Harry and pawed the door. The boy smiled, took another deep breath, and opened the door.
The Dursley's were still at the table, going over plans for some dinner party. Sirius couldn't care less about it. He had plans of his own for that night. After all, it was Harry's birthday. Sirius had missed enough of them in the past, he was determined to make up for it.
"Now, at eight o'clock we should all be in position. Petunia you will be?" Vernon was saying.
"In the lounge," Petunia answered, "Waiting to welcome them graciously into our home."
Sirius rolled his eyes.
"Dudley?" Vernon prompted.
"I'll be waiting at the door." Dudley put on a foul, simpering smile, "May I take your coats, Mr. and Mrs. Mason?"
"They'll /love/ him!" Petunia squealed. Sirius laid down and put his paws over his ears. Harry covered his mouth to hide his grin.
Vernon rounded on Harry, acting as though the yelling episode hadn't happened, he said, "And you?"
"I'll be in my room, with Shadow, making no noise and pretending like I don't exist."
"Exactly," Vernon snarled, "I will lead them into the lounge, introduce you, Petunia, and pour them their drinks. Then at eight-fifteen-"
"I'll announce dinner." Petunia said promptly.
"And, Dudley, you'll say-"
"May I take you through to the dining room, Mrs. Mason?" Dudley offered his arm to an invisible woman. Sirius thought that if she accepted she must be absurdly polite or absurdly stupid.
"My perfect little gentlemen!" Petunia sniffed. Sirius caught Harry's gaze and rolled his eyes. Harry smiled a little.
"And you?" Vernon said viciously to Harry.
Any trace of the boy's smile was gone, "I'll be in my room, keeping Shadow quiet and pretending I'm not there."
"Precisely. Now, at dinner we should aim to get in a few good compliments. Petunia, dear, any ideas?"
"Vernon tells me you're a wonderful golfer, Mr. Mason.... Do tell me just where you bought your dress, Mrs Mason...." She gushed. Sirius yawned, couldn't she be a little more creative?
"Perfect. Dudley?"
"How about- 'We had to write an essay about our hero at school, Mr. Mason, and I wrote about you.'"
Petunia burst into tears and hugged her son. Harry ducked under the table so they won't see him laughing. Sirius snorted and licked Harry's cheek, pleased that the boy was smiling again.
"And you, boy?" Vernon snapped.
Harry stopped smiling and got out from under the table again, "I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there."
"Too right, you will." Vernon growled, "The Masons don't know anything about you and it's going to stay that way. And if that dog of yours tries something, it'll be straight to the pound. Understood?"
Harry dug his fingers into Sirius's fur and nodded.
Vernon turned back to his wife, "When dinner's over, you take Mrs. Mason back to the lounge for coffee and I'll bring the subject back around to drills. With any luck, I'll have the deal signed and sealed before the news at ten. We'll be shopping for a vacation home in Majorca this time tomorrow."
Sirius found himself hoping Vernon was right. Maybe while the Dursley's were busy in Majorca, Sirius could "kidnap" Harry. At least on the run with him the boy would be treated better. Sirius let himself daydream for a minute while Vernon snapped at Harry again, telling him to keep out of Petunia's way while she cleaned. As though he'd get in the way, the only reason they weren't making him do it was because they thought he'd use magic to get it done faster.
Harry tugged Sirius's leash to snap him out of it and the two slipped out the back door.
"Happy birthday to me." Harry sang quietly. Sirius licked his hand. He wished he'd been able to sneak out and get Harry a proper present. For some reason, none of the friends Harry had made last year had sent anything. No gifts, no invitations, no letters. Nothing, all summer. Sirius had no idea why. Harry had been extremely disappointed. Sirius had had to comfort him several times, reassuring his sobbing godson that he wasn't unlovable or unlikable. That it was their loss if they didn't want to be friends. Sirius was half tempted to send a Howler to each of them.
Harry flopped onto a bench in the garden with a sigh. Sirius knew he was probably obsessing again, but he couldn't tell him off for it as a dog and couldn't change back out in the open, it was irritating. Harry sat up suddenly, staring at a hedge. Sirius followed his line of sight and saw a pair of large eyes watching them. Sirius jumped up and started towards the hedge, but Harry called him back, clearly nervous. Sirius looked between the boy and the eyes in the hedge for a minute before walking back to the boy. If the thing in the hedge attacked, he'd take care of it.
Dudley came up to them after a few minutes with a smug smile, "I know what day it is."
"Congratulations." Harry said dryly. "You've finally learned the days of the week."
"Today's your birthday." Dudley sneered, "How come you haven't got any cards or anything? Don't you have friends at that freak school of yours?"
Sirius growled at him, Dudley backed away.
"Shadow, leave it." Harry deadpanned.
Dudley scowled, clearly displeased that he'd gotten a reaction from the dog and not its owner. "Why were you staring at the hedge?"
"I'm trying to decide which spell would be best to set it on fire." Sirius snorted quietly.
Dudley stumbled back, panicked, "You c-can't- Dad told you you're not to do m-magic- he said he'll chuck you out of the house- and you haven't got anywhere else to go. It's not like you've got friends to take you-"
Harry looked furious. He started snarling out complete gibberish. Dudley fled back into the house, screaming for his mother. Sirius jumped up and licked his cheek.
"He's right though." Harry whispered, "I thought I had friends, but-" He buried his face in Sirius's fur.
Petunia called Harry back inside and the boy had to dodge a swing from a soapy frying pan as soon as he entered. Naturally, as neither the hedge nor Dudley were in any way injured, Petunia knew he hadn't really done magic, but it was clear she wasn't at all pleased. She put Harry to work and told him he wouldn't eat until it was done. As an extra punishment, she dragged Sirius to a rarely used kennel by the scruff and locked him inside. Harry protested loudly, but Petunia threatened to padlock him in the cage if Harry didn't get to work.
Petunia only allowed Harry to stop working and come back inside half an hour before the Masons were supposed to arrive. The woman had carefully placed newspapers along the path Harry would take to release Sirius and get to the stairs.
Harry practically ran to Sirius and let him out, hugging him. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."
Sirius whined softly and nosed his cheek.
"Upstairs!" Petunia snapped.
Vernon glared at them as they started up, "Remember boy, one sound..."
Harry carefully slipped into his bedroom, Sirius close at his side. He could smell something else in the room with them. He looked around and sure enough, there was a house elf sitting on Harry's bed.