One Dark and Dreary Night

One Dark and Dreary Night

The wind howled and fat droplets of rain fell everywhere, seeping into every conceivable place.

Sirius watched this view disinterestedly from his place in a seemingly abandoned shed. He found it highly ironic that there was a drought where his Godson was spending the summer. Here in North Wales, it was pissing it down. Bloody typical.

He'd broken into the shed, after the rain had started and the wind had blown itself into a gale. Buckbeak had been causing a fuss and Sirius thought it prudent to find some shelter before the Hippogriff decided to do it for him.

The shed itself was at the end of a long, long garden, belonging to a Muggle house screened from view by some conveniently placed and rather windswept conifer trees.

The shed wasn't a brilliant size but Buckbeak and himself fitted in quite comfortably. The only purpose it seemed to serve was to accommodate a couple old gardening tools rusting in one corner, and a couple of plastic-covered sacks of hay, for what Sirius assumed must be a pet of some sort. A rabbit or guinea pig maybe. Either way, he felt assured that no one would wander over to the moulding old shed, at least for tonight.

Sirius had quickly made himself at home by conjuring several candles and arranging the bags of hay into a comfortable position. He was careful to keep the candles away from the hay, though - setting the shed alight would only cause unwanted attention, as Sirius knew very well.

In his youth he and James had decided to mess around with Muggle matches (how were they to know what they were for?) in James' next-door neighbour's garage.

They had subsequently found out that something called 'petrol' was rather flammable.

James' parents had nearly killed them when the two teens had returned, and after treating their burns, had launched into a rant about the importance of fire safety.

"You both could have died! You could have killed the Muggles! What were you both thinking?" Sirius could still remember Mrs Potter shout, red faced. He and James had enjoyed causing trouble, but had heeded the Potters' words on fire issues.

After explaining what had happened to a laughing Peter and Remus, James and Sirius hadn't spoken of it again.

Sirius sighed heavily, moving his eyes from the blackness from the grimy, water-blotted window outside and pulled out a crisp piece of parchment from a pocket of his robes, reminding him to stop dwelling on the past, and the people he had once loved and trusted more than anyone.

Snuffles,

I'm sending along with this letter a little package. You should hopefully find among other things, some quills, a bottle of ink, and some dried and canned foods. Just so that I know that you and Buckbeak are all right.

I know that Hedwig won't be pleased about carrying this decidedly heavy package, as she's already looking murderous! Feed her some owl treats though and she'll be as sweet as sugar!

I got back from school fine thanks. My aunt and uncle are treating me like they usually do. So nothing exciting to say really...

Take care of yourself and spread the word of You-Know-The-Git. Say hi to Professor Lupin for me when you see him, and give Buckbeak a pat.

Harry.

Sirius skimmed the letter again with a slight smile, and patted Buckbeak gently, making the Hippogriff croon.

He shifted slightly and pulled Harry's now open package towards him, and plucked out a huge bar of Honeydukes chocolate. Whilst scoffing the food and smiling with genuine contentment, Sirius carefully wrote back to his godson, throwing a grin to the ruffled snowy owl, who was grooming her feathers dry as she sat on the handle of a decrepit spade.

"Hedwig, would you mind taking Remus Lupin a letter as well as my reply to Harry? I know it might be a long journey..."

Hedwig hooted angrily and stuck her leg out in reply.

"Well, if you insist," Sirius told her pulling himself up from his surprisingly comfortable bed and over to her, stroking sodden feathers to calm her somewhat.

Buckbeak watched the two carefully and gave a slight high-pitched shriek in jealousy.

"Now Buckbeak, Hedwig is going out into the cold and wet to deliver letters for us, no need to get upset."

He attached the letters to Hedwig's leg, and pulled open the creaking window. Watching her fly off into the inky darkness of the night, losing sight of her bulky, pure white form quickly.

Sirius found he often carried on whole conversations with the owl and Hippogriff, as they were the only ones he was able to speak to until he got to Lupin's - which is where he was heading to when the weather cleared up a little.

Why exactly Remus Lupin had decided to live in an area more populated with sheep rather than people, Sirius did not know. However, he did know that Remus liked peace and quiet, where he could read and write without disturbance. Moony was renting a little cottage somewhere in this wilderness, paid for by the funds that Hogwarts had paid him for in Harry's third year, and Sirius had a feeling he was running out of money.

Unfortunately, bringing up money in front of Lupin was not an idea that Sirius thought would help anything, as he didn't have much of anything himself. He did have his parent's vault of gold, but Remus wasn't going to take money from him, even if Sirius wanted him to.

Sirius thrust this annoyingly tender subject, and the arguments that had been going on through correspondence, aside and focused once again on the wooden, musty forgotten little shed and Buckbeak watching him with surprising gentleness.

Sirius shivered suddenly as a blast of icy cold air came through the cracks of the wooden slats, and he moved away from the window and back towards his little circle of flickering candles that gave off too little warmth.

Despite it being summertime, it was cold in this mountainous region, and Sirius' woebegone robes wouldn't help keep him warm, or stop him becoming ill. Luckily Sirius now had a slightly shabby blanket that his godson had surprisingly put in the bottom of the box to keep him warm now. His Godson was obviously a genius, and knew what Sirius needed without being told or asked.

After patting and reassuring Buckbeak, and gathering his things together ready to set off for Lupin's, Sirius made his way back to the hay and fell into an unexpectedly uninterrupted, restful, sleep. He pulled his blanket tightly around himself and dreamt of beating white wings, a grinning dark-haired boy and endless fields of green.