Beyond Azkaban

Chapter 6

***

After a week of traveling, a huge castle loomed into view: Hogwarts. Padfoot smiled to himself and ran faster, going straight into the Forbidden Forest. This wasn't much of a problem, however, as he could still remember the whole forest as he, Moony, Wormtail, and Prongs had traveled it. He walked through the dark forest hurriedly, and soon came to the shack of the Gamekeeper, Hagrid.

Not to risk being seen, he bounded across the Hogwarts grounds to the Whomping Willow. Hard as it was for a huge dog to wriggle through the branches, he did, and then reared up on his hind legs to press a seemingly inconsequential knot on the tree. A small tunnel was revealed as a gap in the roots, but it was big enough for him to go into. The tunnel hadn't been used for almost twenty years, and it was now dark and dank, not to mention long. It twisted on for what felt like miles until he reached a dusty room. He was now in the Shrieking Shack.

His eyes wandered about the room and he saw broken furniture and the overall disorder of the house. Noticing that the windows were boarded up, Padfoot was soon Sirius.

He collapsed to the floor, exhausted. Here was a place where he could hide; here was a place where he was safe. Sirius closed his eyes and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep, his first in twelve years.

***

Sirius woke a day later to survey his surroundings more. He walked into another dusty room, the room that he, James, and Peter had become Animagi in. He walked into the first room, assuming you went in through the front door. This was the room he, Remus, and Peter had found Lily and James snogging in on their first date. He had never seen his friend that happy prior to the date.

He stopped reminiscing when he noticed his eyes were watering. Here the Marauders had once lived their lives, and now only two were left. That is, two true Marauders.

***

"Okay, Sirius, are you ready?" James asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be. How about you Peter?"

Peter only nodded back, looking thoroughly terrified.

"Okay," James began. "Shall we?"

At that moment their lives depended on all of their work since the first year. They were becoming Animagi. Before shouting the chant with James and Peter, Sirius looked at Remus, who looked as terrified as he felt. He said the words and felt a weird feeling pulse through him.

The transformation that took years to plan ended in less than a minute. Sirius was no longer in a human body; he was a dog, a huge black dog. He reminded himself of the Grim. Then he looked around to see a stag, a gorgeous animal with large eyes and antlers. Its only imperfection was a small ruffled tuft of hair on its head. There was no doubt that this was James. He looked around for Peter, but couldn't seem to find him. Something squeaked and he looked down at the floor to see a worm, but he soon realized it was a rat's tail. He laughed to himself. Of course Peter would be something small.

James was the first to morph back into his human form. Sirius followed suit, then Peter. Remus walked forward, and they didn't say a word to each other. They just grinned wildly at their success.

***

After the second day in the Shrieking Shack, he turned into Padfoot and went through the tunnel again. It was time to go south, but he first walked through Hogsmeade. There, he pulled out scraps of food from the trashcans and a copy of The Daily Prophet. He looked at the front page to see the headline of Sirius Black Escapes!

He carried the newspaper back to the Shrieking Shack; he couldn't risk someone seeing a dog reading. There, he became Sirius again, only to begin laughing at the article. It gave a detailed summary of his "crimes", but didn't mention Lily and James at all. After reading a theory of his whereabouts and laughing at the Ministry's stupidity, he stopped perusing the article. He also enjoyed the picture of himself on the front page; even if dementors were surrounding him, he still didn't look too bad.

Sirius threw the paper aside and left as Padfoot, on his way to see Harry, then Remus.

***

He had thought that the trip to Hogwarts was long, but he was wrong. Little Whinging took weeks to get to, and he was drained of all energy. He slept near Muggle houses and ate out of their trashcans, unless he could find a rat or two. When he finally got to Little Whinging, he had a time searching for Harry, but stayed near Magnolia Crescent. Apparently, that was the right thing to do.

His ears perked up as he heard rushed footfalls when they suddenly stopped. He looked at a low wall and saw a thin boy of about thirteen on it, with a trunk next to him and a wand in his right hand. His heart leaped and he realized that this boy was probably Harry. The boy began digging through his trunk, and then suddenly sat up straight, looking around. He bent over his trunk again, but soon straightened up again.

"Lumos," he muttered.

Padfoot saw James for a moment, but then Lily's brilliant green eyes appeared in the dark from the light reflecting off of them. The same lightning bolt scar from that Halloween was as noticeable as ever on his forehead. This was Harry, his godson.

Harry stepped backwards, looking slightly scared. Then he tripped over his trunk and a loud bang rang through Padfoot's ears as he sped towards a wall to hide behind. A large, triple-decker, and purple bus came out of nowhere. The Knight Bus. Padfoot laughed to himself, remembering how the Marauders would always make fun of the triple-decker bus.

Harry was soon gone on the bus, but Sirius stayed in the alleyway for a moment, remembering Lily, James, and their son, Harry.

***

He hung onto strength throughout his travels by thinking of what he was traveling for: Remus. This trip didn't take as long as the previous trip to Little Whinging, which was well enough, as it kept him from going even more insane than he already was.

He constantly wondered if Remus still lived in that small, remote house, which was more like a cottage, he had moved into around when Harry was born. Remus had discovered that being a werewolf living in a flat just didn't work out come nights with a full moon. But Sirius and James always made sure they were there for Remus, a responsibility that Lily had had a hard time accepting, much like during their Hogwarts years. Lily's outbursts of why that was so dangerous had been rather entertaining, especially since James had easily found ways to win her over.

Another snag in Sirius' plan was his rashness. He didn't know if he'd be able to hide himself from Remus. He knew he could trust him, once everything was explained, but Remus didn't need that. He had supposedly lost all of the Marauders to death or Azkaban, and he would probably believe that Sirius was the spy. But if there was just one moment that Sirius could meet Remus again, he knew he would take it.

He saw an owl flying overhead, and, finding an abundance of energy in himself, he ran under it, keeping its pace. The owl didn't fly for too long, and it soon began swooping downward, landing on the outstretched arm of none other than Remus Lupin.

"Shit," Padfoot swore to himself, as he slammed his four paws down to stop himself from running towards Remus. Then he darted into the forest that Remus undoubtedly used as Moony. From the covering of the trees, he could see his former boyfriend, and the sight shocked him.

Remus Lupin had never been incredibly healthy-looking, his transformations kept him from that, but now, when he was no more than forty years old, he already had noticeable flecks of gray in his hair. He was wearing shabby robes, probably because he couldn't afford any others. But, then again, Remus never did care much about what he was wearing.

Padfoot came out of the forest as Remus began walking towards the house and began slinking behind him. He pressed his snout to the window and watched as Remus began packing a trunk and a briefcase that had the peeling words "R.J. Lupin" on it. Curious, Padfoot looked closer at the contents of the trunk and saw various spellbooks for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Why on earth would Remus need spellbooks, and spellbooks for one subject, unless he was going to Hogwarts? Remus had already graduated, after all, which, Sirius realized, could only mean that he was teaching there.

"Wow, Moony. Who would've guessed?" he thought sarcastically, remembering all those times when the other Marauders would tease him for being such a bookworm.

***

The day was ending, and Padfoot was struggling to keep his eyes open. Back in the small forest, he watched as the sun set and the moon rose. After minutes of staring into the star-speckled sky, he was surprised to see the moon, which was full. Remus would be transforming in any minute, and Sirius couldn't do a thing about it....

He heard a long, low howl and shivered, remembering the pain in Remus' face whenever he transformed. He wanted so terribly to run over to the wolf and be there for him, but sense stopped him. He was going to Hogwarts; he couldn't know where Sirius was. But all sense left him as Moony ran into the forest, furiously gnawing at trees and rodents, when he suddenly stopped. As Padfoot crept closer and closer, Moony stuck his snout up and sniffed the air curiously, searching for Padfoot. Padfoot wondered if Moony really could sense him, if he knew who was watching him.

Knowing that he shouldn't go any closer and allow Moony to discover his true identity, Padfoot forced himself to turn away, his ears drooping and his tail between his legs.

***