A Day in Paradise

The sun played a dazzling dance of colors across the sky as it sunk beneath the edge of the vast ocean. A thin man lay basking in its fading warmth as he lay in the white warm sands next to an idyllic lagoon. A bag of soft-shelled crabs lay at his side along with ragged gray robes, and thin leather boots. Sirius Black lay on the soft sands, drying off from his tryst of gathering up the blue-shelled crabs for his and Buckbeak's dinner. The warm sands made him drowsy, however he was still ever wary, listening intensely to the jungle noises around him. A squawk of a parrot, the chattering of the small monkeys that played in the trees, even the clicking of a large beetle scurrying in the undergrowth did not escape his attention.

He had been on the island for over a month now. It had been an ideal place for him and Buckbeak to hide. Fifteen miles from the mainland, it was sparsely inhabited by a village of locals who lived on the northern side near the coast. A large dormant volcano lay on the south side of the island, providing a natural hiding place for him and Buckbeak. They had taken residence in one of the many cavern entrances there.

The fourth day there, after he had recuperated from hunger that had overtaken them on the long trek to haven, he had persuaded a large colorful macaw to take a letter to Harry to let him know that he was safe. A smaller parrot had squawked angrily at him letting him know that he too had wanted this unique job and had promptly used him to send a post to Dumbledore, who had told Sirius to keep him inform of his safety.

A smile played across his lips as he thought of Harry, his godson. How like James he was! Though their meeting had been short and volatile, after all Harry had thought he was trying to kill him, he saw the courage and fierce loyalty that James had always displayed as long as Sirius had known him.

Then he thought of Ron and Hermione. They too had shown their courage by protecting Harry, daring Sirius to kill them first, when first encountering Sirius in the shrieking shack. He winced however at the thought of Ron's broken leg, he had not wanted to harm the boy. And Hermione. She was a sweetheart he thought. Those boys had better watch out when they grew older and decided she was not just a third pal. He smiled wryly, thinking of the three young people. To think they had risked so much to free him from a fate worse than death from the Azkaban dementors, and yet he was not free. Still accused of murdering Peter Pettigrew and the Potters, Sirius and Buckbeak had flown many miles away from England and the Ministry of Magic's search of them.

The first couple of weeks here Sirius had explored the island in the shape of a great black dog that he could turn into. He had skirted the village, not wanting to alert the dogs there that he was about, though he was not very concerned at the villagers finding a stray. It was a much suitable alternative to finding a stranger amidst them. The villagers were mostly fishers, he surmised as many narrow canoes like boats went out during the day sporting nets. A few compassed of divers who stayed down much longer than it seemed possible bringing up small cages full of oysters and crabs. Sirius had spent several days trying to learn of any news from the mainland but most of the time the villagers talked in their native language which he was unfamiliar with. Now and then he heard snatches of broken English and he thought he heard a few phrases in French, though he heard nothing of interest.

The most curious thing was that the villagers had not ventured very far into the jungle in any direction. Even the boats were careful to stay within sight of the village as they made their way around the beach line. He had thought this strange for while exploring the jungle around the volcano carefully he had not found any large predators. In fact the lack of predators except for the large green pythons that lay lazily in the upper fronds seemed almost amazing. He had been worried about leaving Buckbeak tethered in the cavern, not wanting to leave him as a tasty dinner waiting for a lion or some other animal.

On his twelfth day on the island he had stumbled upon a deserted village near the lagoon he often went to gather his meal of crabs and other small fishes from. It was laid out similar to the village that now was erected on the northern side. Warily he had crept into the remains, wondering if it had been some plague that may have made the villagers to leave and avoid this part of the island. The last thing he needed was to be in medical need. The village was eerie in the pale moonlight. Looking in the huts Sirius saw that most looked as if the occupants had left hurriedly broken jars, cots overturned, personal objects of necklaces and clothing were scattered around. He looked around carefully, searching for clues to what made the villagers leave in such a hurry. He saw no signs of a fight, whether with other humans or animals. Nor had he noticed any grave markers, though he was not sure if the natives buried their dead or what.

After surveying several of the huts, he made his way into the center of the village. And then he spotted it. In the center of the village where the communal fire had once been, was a marker of some sorts. It was made with smooth stones shaped into a pyramid. At the base was laid a large bone of some sort of animal and at the top was a dazzling crystalline stone. The moon shone on the marker dancing off the stones and bones but seemingly the beams were being sucked into the crystal. The light reflecting from the crystal belied his first impression of it. Instead of dazzling it seemed eerie, almost as if was draining whatever light coming from the heavens. Unfamiliar with the native customs he assumed it was some sort of warning marker but to what kind of warning he had no idea. He sniffed at the bone, wondering what type of animal it had came from and in his dog mind he had the imagine of a large cat. Perhaps there had been a tiger or lion on the island at one time that had ravaged the village, though there were surely enough men among the villagers to kill it before it had done much damage.

Puzzled, but curious, he had finished searching the remainder of the huts before daylight, scavenging several things he had use of. Blankets, pots, a pair of knee pants, a shoulder bag and some fire starting stones were things he needed and he assumed the villagers would not be returning for their belongings as thick dust had long settled on the deserted village. Though he could have started a fire with magic easily he had refrained from using any magic just in case someone was detecting magic activity for whatever reason. Though Buckbeak enjoyed his daily fare of crabs and fish raw he looked forward to some warm food that night.

That had been weeks ago, and Sirius no longer ventured into the village. It gnawed at him that something was amiss and felt that it was best to leave it alone. Growing chilly now that the sun was almost behind the waves, Sirius rolled over and slipped his ragged robes over his head. He had just put on his boots when he stopped. Listening hard he heard again the rustle of bushes indicating something was heading toward his way. Though probably just an animal he quickly transformed into the large black dog. Picking up his bag in his teeth he hurried to the jungles edge to wait and watch. Amazed he watched as a young girl came out of the jungle on the opposite bank of the small lagoon.

She was dressed in the brightly colored saris the women wore, though she was only around nine or ten by his estimation. He couldn't remember seeing her as he had spied on the village though he had been more intent on the adults wanting to hear news, but he would have remembered had he seen her. Most of the villagers were extremely dark, their black skin glistening in the sun, their hair short and often tightly braided to their scalps. This girl had skin the color of coffee that had a liberal amount of cream added to it. Her hair was long, falling down her back in waves and even through the dusky light of evening he could tell her eyes were much lighter than the deep brown ones of the other villagers. Sirius saw the look of distress in her face as she stepped out on the beach, glancing around the deserted area searching for something. Glistening tears were falling down her cheeks though she was not crying out loud.

"Ah mama," she spoke softly to herself and Sirius was amazed he understood her, and then realized she was speaking French, a language he had known in another lifetime, or so it seemed.

When he was young before his years at Hogwarts he had spent many summers with his mother's sister and his cousins in the French countryside. Though it had been many years he found he still understood the language quite easily when he had passed through France on his flight from England.

"I do think that Cali is truly in trouble," she stated as a small sob escaped her lips.

Sirius hesitated. He didn't want to alarm her further by making his presence known if she was frightened already, yet he felt that he wanted to comfort her whatever her trouble was. For surely she was here alone as he had never seen any other villager in the jungle and never one so far from the northern shore. The small girl had hung her head and did not noticed that Sirius had stepped back out of the jungle and had walked to the edge of the other shore. He gave a quick, what he hoped was a pleasant bark, and stood there wagging his tail.

"Oi," said the girl as she jerked her head up. "Doggie," she said hesitantly backing up slowly.

Not wanting to make her feel threatened; Sirius sat down; his tongue hanging out in what he thought was a lopsided smile, tail still wagging.

"Oh my, whatever is you doing here doggie? Are you lost?" The girl said her words rushing out in a tumble. "I am lost too. Mama warned Cali many times not to go far in the jungle, but I just followed the funny monkeys and I thought I could find my way back," she sobbed again.

Standing up he made his way around the lagoon wagging his tail until he was several feet from the girl, Cali, he assumed.

"Oh doggie, I am glad you are here." She cried, moving to him and throwing her arms around him. Sirrus waited patiently as she composed herself, glad he could be of some comfort.

So she had wandered into the jungle and gotten lost. That was not such a disastrous thing, but it could be if men came looking for her and wandered onto the volcano mountain finding his lair with Buckbeak in it.