Mistaken Identity

Mistaken Identity

A huge tear formed down the middle of the veil, a blinding light seeped in. Sirius stepped forward and ran through the tear. Now to find Harry, he thought, bounding towards Hagrid's hut...

Blinking in the bright light of the summer sunshine, Sirius wondered briefly why everything looked so... big. Then he remembered.

...The green liquid sloshed around in a bottle, tossed negligently between... someone's hands. He couldn't remember clearly. "What is it?" he heard his own voice ask, hypnotised by the movements.

"It will allow you to permanently transform into your animagus form," a familiar voice replied. Hazel eyes fixed on him. "Animals are unable to live behind the veil," the voice went on. "Use this potion and you will be able to escape."

Sirius felt his memory self falter.

"If you drink this potion you will be unable to change back into your human form, you will live permanently in your animagus form."

But he would be able to escape. Harry... In his memory, he downed the green potion in one gulp. Then there was nothing but light.

So. The Veil.

And Harry. Harry needed him. But like this? A dog? What good was a dog? He had promised... someone, somewhere, that he'd take care of Harry, but how to do that as a bloody dog?

Sirius looked around swiftly, his movements reminiscent of the wizard he had been. The wizard he was, he corrected himself fiercely. He wouldn't be stuck like this for long. He wouldn't.

Concentrating all his energies on the transformation that had become second nature after so many years, Sirius tried to change.

Nothing.

He tried again.

Still nothing.

Dizzy from the effort, he sat in the sweltering sun and let his tongue loll out to cool himself. Then, a moment later, he shook himself roughly and stood. I'll try again later, he said to himself. I'm probably just tired from the Veil thing. Yeah. That's it. Just tired. That's all it is.

With that thought in mind, the dog that had once been Sirius Black started up towards Hagrid's hut eagerly. Soon, he would be with Harry again.

He reached the steps of Hagrid's hut. The warm summer sun beat down onto his back. His tongue lolled from his mouth attempting to get rid of some of the excess heat. He climbed up the stairs to the hut and scratched on the door, leaving huge ruts in the wood. Damn. I'd forgotten how long these claws had got, he thought as he retracted them. He began to push against the door, feeling it give under his weight.

The door flew open and Sirius fell through the doorway into Hagrid's house, panting a little from exertion. He climbed back to his feet and straightened himself up. Stuck in dog form he might be, but that was no reason to present a slovenly appearance. Then, from somewhere in front of him, he heard a deep growl. He raised his head cautiously to see Fang bearing his teeth at him. Sirius backed away slowly towards the door. Now is really not a good time for this, Fangy-boy. The low growling and large teeth hinted to Sirius that it was time to leave.

Ever-so slowly, Sirius turned towards the open door, mentally begging Fang not to follow. Then, he ran. He bolted down the steps and out in the direction of the lake, not wanting to know if Fang had decided to give chase. It was only when he felt the blades of grass touching the pads of his feet and finally managed to transmit the information to his rather preoccupied brain that his fear of Fang started to subside. He slowed down a little to catch his breath.

Suddenly there was a bark close behind him. Too close. Before he could do more than turn his head a little, Sirius felt claws digging into his back. He yelped in pain. His back legs slipped as he scuffled to find purchase on the still-dewy grass and he fell to the ground with a muffled yelp. Wriggling under Fang's paws as the larger dog pinned him and snapped at his neck, Sirius turned to scratch Fang in the face. In retaliation, Fang sank his teeth into Sirius' front leg. Sirius lunged forward and sank his teeth into Fang's back. He tasted blood in his mouth. Even as he launched himself for another attack, he thought to himself, Ew, Padfoot. What would Moony say? Already you can't control yourself. Yuck.

"Geroff, Fang!" boomed Hagrid, bounding towards the scrapping dogs. Sirius had never been so glad to see the giant in his life. Hagrid grabbed Sirius by the scruff of his neck pulling him off Fang, not seeming to notice that Sirius had in fact already let go and was staring up at him beseechingly. "Go on, get outta here," Hagrid said again, more gently this time.

He placed Sirius on the ground away from Fang, who was watching the smaller dog with what could be seen as a smug expression, if one was an expert on these things (and Sirius liked to think he was). He growled at Fang stubbornly, then stuck his nose and tail in the air and marched off towards the Forbidden Forest, only the slight limp in his front leg betraying the fracas that had just occurred. Stupid bloody dog. Stupid bloody Hagrid. Stupid bloody - ow! My leg!

He lifted his nose into the air and sniffed checking for any danger, after a few minutes he lowered his nose. There was nothing around. He collapsed onto the floor, examining the wounds that Fang had inflicted onto his body. He began to clean blood out of his fur, wincing with pain as he tended to his battered back leg.

After tending to his injuries Sirius crept up to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, looking for a route out of Hogwarts. He couldn't stay on the grounds any more but he had to find Harry! He scanned over the Hogwarts lawn and, noticing Fang not too far away from him, he growled angrily. Stupid dog, Sirius snarled inwardly. He sat back down in the earth, unsure of what to do. He wanted to leave Hogwarts without gaining anymore attention from Hagrid and Fang. Right. He composed himself, blocking his petty difference with the Care of Magical Creatures dog out of his thoughts and pondered the most important thing - how to help Harry!

Sirius turned his face away from Fang and began to slink around the edge of the Forest (a very feline trait, he knew - he wasn't proud of it). He had decided to follow the edge of the Forest until he reached the Hogwarts gates. Against the darkness of the trees he would be nearly invisible. He bounded along the edge of the forest until the Hogwarts gates came into view.

Sirius looked up at the gates. He had thought that he would never see them again. He smiled (well, a doggy sort-of-smile, really). Those gates had always made him feel safe. He slipped through the bars and turned to look at Hogwarts. After that quick glance he turned away and bounded towards Hogsmeade village.

As Sirius ran he felt cramp begin to take a hold in his legs and realised that yet again he was becoming short of breath. I really need to get used to this again, he thought as he began to slow.

In the distance he could see all of the old houses of Hogsmeade with their thatched roofs. He could hear the bustle of daily life going on in the village.

As he approached the centre he saw children of all different ages walking around - then it hit him. It was the summer holidays... How long had he been stuck behind the veil? That means that Harry will be with the Dursleys, Sirius thought. He headed down the main street of Hogsmeade, but felt someone tugging on his fur. He turned quickly to see a small child, no older than five, running her hands through his fur.

"Get off, Alice, leave the stray alone," a woman called, dragging her daughter away from Sirius. The girl began to cry loudly.

"I wanna pet the doggy!" she cried, reaching for Sirius as her mother dragged her away. The yells became more distant as the mother and daughter disappeared into the crowd.

Sirius padded through the village dodging peoples' legs, not wanting to be stood on. Eventually he decided to get out of the crowd. He had to find some way of getting from Scotland to Surrey, and fast. He slid out of the crowd and crept into the shade next to The Three Broomsticks. As he sat on the ground he watched the people milling around in front of him. He was listening to the children giggle, and the adults talk. The power of speech. Already he missed it. Well, at least I'm not trapped in the darkness, he tried to console himself.

Sirius spent the rest of the afternoon rummaging through peoples' rubbish in search of a recent Daily Prophet to find out the date. He had been shooed away many times, as well as having been the recipient of many threats. He had eventually acquired a few pages in fairly decent condition (as well as many old chicken wings from the bin of the Three Broomsticks).

The sun had begun to set - the streets were emptying now. The only people that were left were a few stragglers heading towards the Hogs Head or the Three Broomsticks.

Sirius meandered tiredly through the street. After the day of rummaging his stomach was full, his body ached and he had finally found the correct date. It was August 3^rd. Now his only job was to find his way to Privet Drive and to Harry.

Sirius heard a door opening down the street and looked back to see an old man exiting the Three Broomsticks. He had pale hair and wrinkled skin, and was wearing a long grey robe that touched the floor.

"Goodbye, Archibald," a voice not unlike Minerva McGonagall's called from inside the pub. "See you in September." 'Archibald' turned and held his hand up in a farewell gesture. As he turned, Sirius recognised him - it was Professor Summs, the Ancient Runes professor at Hogwarts. Sirius remembered many a happy hour spent flicking dungbombs into Snape's carefully translated homework across the desks. Summs never had found out who the culprit had been. Dozy git, thought Sirius, affectionately. He had always rather liked sleepy Professor Summs.

Sirius watched as Summs drew his wand from up his sleeve and raised it into the air. There was a loud crack, similar to the sound of someone Apparating, and in front of Professor Summs there appeared a triple-decker purple bus. The Knight Bus!

A basic plan formed in the back of Sirius' mind. If he could find out where the professor was going maybe he could stowaway until the bus passed near Little Whinging. He bounded up to Professor Summs, barking loudly. As he reached the professor he jumped up against him, tongue lolling stupidly out of the side of his mouth.

"Hello, boy," the professor greeted him genially, smoothing Sirius shaggy head gently. Sirius fell to all fours still rubbing his head enthusiastically against the professor's leg. He only hoped he made an appropriately dopey canine picture. The bus doors opened ponderously and the professor separated himself from the dog and climbed aboard.

"Evening Ernie," Summs greeted the driver with a smile. "And what a fine evening it is."

"Evening, Professor. Where can I take you this evening?" Ernie replied in a respectful tone that sounded most unusual on him.

"Privet Drive in Little Whinging, please," the professor replied serendipitously. "I'm off to see my old friend Arrabella Figg."

Perfect, Sirius thought.

Ernie and the professor continued to exchange small talk as Summs counted out coins into Ernie's hand. Using the stealthy gait that had served him so well over past years, Sirius slipped past the professor and Ernie - now discussing the finer points of tea versus hot chocolate - up the first flight of steps and onto the second level of the bus.

Sirius looked around cautiously. Nearly all the beds were full, the occupants either heavily engrossed in Witch Weekly or the Daily Prophet, or snoring loudly despite the early hour and the nauseating movements of the Knight Bus. There was the sound of footfalls on the stairs, so he slipped under the nearest bed quickly. He watched Professor Summs cross the bus and settle down tentatively on one of the beds down at the far end.

The bus juddered alive. As it started to move the beds slid to the back end of the bus. Sirius dug his claws into the floor to stop himself being thrown around along with the furniture. Now that they were on their way there was little chance that he'd be seen, and if he was he was sure he could convince Ernie that he was with one of the sleeping passengers.

When the speed settled he climbed out from under the bed and pressed his paws up against the window. He watched the darkened countryside pass by him like a blur. It was like his memories of Hogwarts - they were all a blur now. His time there had passed too quickly, and the flashes of happy memories that teased his brain had mostly been absorbed by the Dementors. He tried to focus on an image of his friends at school, but the older he got the harder it became. For some strange reason, though, he got the impression he had seen James a lot more recently than he recalled. This just made him think how much he needed to find Harry. He had promised... whoever it was behind the Veil. Harry was James' son and his godson. He needed to find him.

The Knight bus came to an abrupt stop somewhere in Lincolnshire. Sirius fell back from the window onto his back. He yelped, then stifled the sound abruptly with his paws, checking to see if he had been heard. It was a very human movement. Just as quickly as the bus had stopped it started again, and Sirius was caught unaware once more - abruptly he found himself in a ball at the back of the bus.

He pulled himself up onto all fours. It's been a rough day, he thought as he felt the ache in his leg and back from Fang's teeth and the badly driven Knight Bus respectively. He curled himself up on the floor beneath the bed at the very back and waited for the bus to stop in Privet Drive. There was a loud crack as the bus Apparated to a different area of the country.

Sirius looked up out of the window to check their location. He could see red brick buildings whipping past them at an amazing speed. The bus screeched to a halt again. Sirius heard someone climbing up the stairs. He held his breath. Ernie's face appeared over the handrail.

"Privet Drive!" he yelled towards the back of the bus. Professor Summs opened his eyes after his rather brief nap, gathered his few belongings together, and headed towards the stairs. Sirius followed him down.

"Thanks, Ernie," Professor Summs said, climbing off the bus and into the darkened street. As the door started to close Sirius darted out of the bus. His feet hit the cold tarmac and he continued to run in the opposite direction to the shocked cries of Ernie Prang and Archibald Summs. They soon petered out, however, and all Sirius heard then was a sharp crack. When he turned to look, the Knight Bus had disappeared again.

Sirius stopped and looked up and down the street. The street lamps scattered a small amount of light over the street gently illuminating the box-like houses. There was one number that stood out to Sirius -a golden number 4 that shone in the light of the lamps, evidently well polished by someone. This was were Harry lived!

Sirius backed away from the house to the other side of the street, trying to look through the upper window that he knew was Harry's room to catch a glimpse of his godson. No sign, Sirius concluded after a few minutes of fruitless gazing. I'll wait until morning.

Sirius padded back down Privet Drive and into a hollow under some magnolia bushes. No one was awake to see the disreputable-looking dog settle down in the dark to sleep, unknowing that he would receive a very rude awakening the following morning.