Reunion?

Reunion?

Sirius was sitting on the top of a hill, overlooking the small town below him. He raised his snout and sniffed the air, deciphering the smells and listening to the noises that the wind carried up to him. Nothing about the town seemed familiar. Despite that, he trusted himself to find the house whose address he had been given by Moony. The town wasn´t that big, after all, and he had at least a vague feeling where to start looking. Certainly not in the centre. They had never liked this world of concrete. The house would more likely be situated somewhere in the surroundings that edged on the forest. That meant he would have to cross the town to get there or go around.

Sirius contemplated his possibilities for a moment. Going around would be safer, sure, but it would also take its time. He had told Moony that he wouldn´t be away longer than a few days and he didn´t want to worry his best friend more than he already had been at Sirius´ departure. Having that in mind, he decided to take the risk and cross the town. After all, who would notice a lone, stray dog? Nobody here knew about his Animagism and his parents were no exception.

Sirius was well aware of the fact that his journey to this place might not turn out like a good idea. Apart from the usual danger of being spotted by wrong people or worse - caught, there were his feelings about the upcoming encounter. He hadn´t seen them for almost fifteen years. Sirius had never considered himself to be a person who valued his family above all. Nevertheless, he loved his parents and the thought of what they must have gone through after his arrest pained him nearly as much as the image of the scene in Godric´s Hollow after Voldemort´s attack.

He swept his gaze over the area he thought they lived in and then frowned briefly at himself for such human behaviour. In his dog form, his eyesight was accordingly poor.

Meanwhile, the sun had set over the hills on the other side of the town, leaving a lingering hint of red and violet in the clouds above the horizon. Sirius closed his eyes briefly, trying to suppress the wave of emotions that had suddenly swept over him. There was sadness, terrible sadness and regret that he had failed to be his parents such a good son they would have deserved. Pain for how they must have been living since that fateful day, shunned by fellow wizards, living in a small house in a Muggle town instead of the Black Residence in London. Sirius´ throat tightened. The Black Residence, situated in a part of London with high magical population, had been property of his family for generations. It still was, true, but his parents had had to move out because of the unconcealed hostility that the rest of the wizarding community in that area had started to display towards them.

Sirius tried not to think about how his mother must have felt at abandoning the magnificent gardens of their residence, the gardens whose beauty unique in England she had been creating by herself for over a decade and which she had been forced to leave to become wild. Sure, wilderness had its appeal, too, but that probably wasn´t the sort of beauty his mother had been so fond of, Sirius thought wryly, making his way down the hill and employing all his senses to detect possible danger. His heart was beating painfully fast. The nearer he got to the town, the more anxious he became. Not because he would be around people which meant there was the chance - even if a very slight one - that he might be recognized for who he was. What he feared was seeing his parents again. Sensing their hidden resentment and the anger they had to be feeling towards him. Sirius shuddered and his pace became hesitant. He wasn´t certain anymore whether he really wanted to go through with it. Maybe then, later, when he was cleared from the charges that had been made against him and when he could look freely into their eyes again.

"But that might as well never happen," Sirius reminded himself and sighed.

Another problem was that he wasn´t sure whether he would be able to watch them out of some hiding place. Sirius´ fear was that he might lose control, transform into his human shape and show himself, just to see his parents from up close and...

"And?" Sirius wondered bitterly. "What then? They would probably stun you and call the Ministry´s Hit Squad, reminding them to bring the Dementors. You are a moron, Black. Why are you doing this? Haven´t you done enough already?"

Inhaling deeply to calm himself, Sirius padded on, using the narrow side streets in order to remain unobtrusive. He focused on the way he had to take, attempting to ban the dark thoughts out of his mind.

***

Catherine Black stepped out of the house of her friend Miranda Galsworthy and for a moment, her gaze wandered to the sky. She saw the last sliver of the sun disappear below the horizon and then the faint twinkling of Venus the evening star. Catherine had always liked Astronomy, especially the stars with their brilliance and multitude. Now, however, they didn´t bring her the fascination and joy she used to feel when she had been younger. Instead, they were reminders of a deep loss she hadn´t yet overcome. And she knew she never would.

Suppressing the wave of sadness that threatened to sweep over her and stifling a mournful sigh, she made her way home. Miranda´s place wasn´t far from her house, so Catherine had come by foot. Miranda Galsworthy was one of the few friends her husband and she had found in this town whose population was entirely Muggle. They hadn´t been feeling very sociable in the past decade, which wasn´t surprising, given the events that had preceded their moving. Christopher Black and his wife had wanted peace. They had wanted to forget and to erase their son´s horrible acts from their mind, as well as the reactions from people they had regarded as friends. That´s why they had come to live a quiet, detached life here.

First, they had considered giving up magic altogether so that they wouldn´t be constantly reminded of what fellow wizards - what their own son had done with their gift. But in the end, Christopher and Catherine Black decided not to abandon magic for it would have made matters only more difficult than they had already been. For example, cooking the Muggle way was much more complicated and since Catherine wasn´t exactly what you would call an excellent cook...

Christopher, having been fired from his job at the Ministry, had found employment at the local post office and Catherine contributed to their budget by selling self-made flower bouquets, doing some sort of professional garden-counselling and sometimes writing articles for various Muggle magazines that dealt with gardening.

Walking home slowly, she thought that her jobs were fairly satisfying for her. But Christopher was an entirely different matter. He had never complained in the past decade, but it was obvious that he was bored out of his skull at his work. He, the former Deputy Head of the Committee on Experimental Charms, had to earn his money in a Muggle post office!

Catherine´s heart ached for her husband, but there was nothing she could do. No magical corporation would employ him and neither would the Ministry. When they had to choose between a would-be employee who had a Dark wizard in his family and one who hadn´t, they took the latter, naturally.

Catherine told herself firmly to stop thinking in that direction because such thoughts led nowhere anyway. She started to hurry at the sight of a blinking green light in front of her. The street she had now to cross was one of the biggest and busiest in the town and she didn´t want to wait until the light would turn green again. Having arrived at the other side of the street, she paused to catch her breath.

Sirius had seen the blinking green light at his right and had started to run. He wanted to cross that street as soon as possible. The sooner he would get to his parents´ house, the longer he would be able to watch them. Sirius leaped onto the crossing and made his way across the white stripes. He was about three feet away from the opposite pavement when suddenly he noticed the scent of the woman in front of him and stopped dead in his tracks. His whole body gone rigid, Sirius just stared, not believing whom he had nearly run into. Maybe he was wrong, maybe it wasn´t her at all...

No, he called himself firmly to stop. He might be an escaped convict, but he was also a dog and his senses had recognized the familiar scent straight away. It was her. It had to be her.

His nervousness now laced with joy at the unexpected encounter, he decided to follow the woman. Sirius raised his front paw when all of a sudden, the back of his mind started tingling the way it usually did when he was in danger. He heard the screeching of brakes as the driver of the car that had come from his left tried to come to a halt at the sight of the dog on the street.

Sirius froze in horror. Then, snapping out of his petrified state, he attempted to jump to the safety of the pavement, but it was too late. The car hit his left hind leg and sent him sprawling on the edge of the pavement. Sirius felt the searing pain coming from the injured leg to his left shoulder, then an explosion of pain in his head and suddenly everything went black.

***

At the screeching of the brakes, Catherine had turned around, just in time to see the car hitting a big black animal and knocking it over. The animal - it was a large dog - fell down at the edge of the pavement with its head and lay still.

Catherine looked at the dog with shock, then regained her composure and strode quickly over to it, expecting the car´s driver to show up, too. However, that person didn´t seem to want to help and take responsibility for their actions. Obviously wanting to avoid trouble, they stepped on the accelerator and raced off before Catherine could remember the car sign. She had been left alone with the unconscious animal.

At least, she hoped it was unconscious and not dead. She checked if the animal was breathing. Fortunately, it was. Not wanting to waste time, Catherine cast a quick Lightness Spell on the dog after making sure nobody was watching. Strangely enough, there weren´t any people around. Catherine would have expected that street to be more crowded, but no-one was in sight.

She took the dog in her arms.

And paused.

What now? The dog might not have suffered anything worse than concussion, but he might as well be severely injured. She had found only some slight bruises on its body, but possible inward injuries could cause death. Catherine frowned. A Muggle would take an injured dog to a veterinarian. Alright. But she wasn´t so sure whether this town had one. However, Catherine Black hadn´t been Head Girl back in her Hogwarts days for nothing. She had retained her quick mind.

Carrying the dog´s limp body in her arms, she started to look for a phone box. After a few minutes of searching and telling helpful passengers that she didn´t need their assistance, she succeeded and wondered briefly why she hadn´t simply accepted the offered help and let others take care of the dog. But she had felt strangely reluctant to let it be taken from her. Putting the still unconscious animal gingerly onto the ground, she searched for a local veterinarian and, fortunately, found one - a certain Dr. John Rowlands. She phoned him and explained the situation. To her satisfaction, Dr. Rowlands immediately asked for her current whereabouts and he said that he would be there in a few minutes to pick up the dog and her.

Sighing with relief, Catherine got out of the phone box and sat down beside the dog on the pavement. She hadn´t really had the time to have a closer look at it that hadn´t been aimed at detecting injuries. Catherine stroked it gently on its neck. The dog didn´t react. Its body was still limp and its eyes were shut. Catherine couldn´t distinguish much because it was already quite dark, but it seemed to her that the dog´s entire body was black. It was very large, larger than any other dog she had ever seen. Despite that, its build didn´t have only the air of strength, but also bore a sort of supple elegance. Catherine could see the dog´s muscles beneath the shaggy fur and suddenly wondered where this animal was from. She had never seen it in the town before. It didn´t look like a pet, though. Probably a stray, she decided.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of a coming car. Catherine stood up, her anticipation that this would be Dr. Rowlands being confirmed. Hastily, she undid the Lightness Spell on the dog and then greeted the Doctor as he stepped out of his car.

***

An hour later, Catherine bid Dr. Rowlands good-bye at the front door of her house after thanking him for bringing her home. She turned around to open the door only to see her husband leaning against a doorpost, his face expressing curiosity but also worry about her being so late. He stepped closer and kissed her lightly.

"I´ve been wondering where you were," he muttered. "Any problems?"

Catherine shook her head, smiling reassuringly. "No. But it seems that we are going to have a guest for the next time being."

She pointed at the large black dog that was lying motionlessly at her feet, now not passed out anymore, but affected by tranquillisers. The doctor had found it better not to wake the dog up and to give him medicaments to ensure a safe transport.

"I´ll explain everything to you inside," Catherine told her puzzled husband and with a flick of her wand, Sirius´ body raised from the ground.

In the house, Catherine put the dog on the carpet in front of the fireplace and resumed a seat at one of the armchairs that were standing there. Christopher took place in another one and listened intently as Catherine described what had happened.

"Dr. Rowlands told me that I could leave the dog in his ordination, but I didn´t want to," she concluded and gestured towards Sirius. "After all, I´ve always said that our home is too quiet. A dog would be a welcome change, don´t you think so?"

Christopher regarded her amusedly. "Whatever you say, dear. What are his injuries like, by the way?"

He pointed at Sirius´ bandaged leg.

"They are not that bad. He was very lucky. His leg requires just stillness for a day or so and the bruises on his head will heal by themselves, the doctor said. There shouldn´t be any problems," Catherine told him and glanced at the shaggy black dog with fondness. Somehow, she had taken an instant liking in him.

But Christopher wasn´t entirely convinced if he should let an unfamiliar dog stay in his house.

"Are you sure he doesn´t belong to anybody? Apart from that, you don´t know what he´s like. What if he´s dangerous?" he asked, suddenly displaying doubts he hadn´t voiced at the very beginning.

"He hasn´t got any collar or tattoos and from the look of him I´m sure he´s a stray. As to the dangerous bit, I consider ourselves to be able to handle a dog," she replied, twirling her wand pointedly with her hand.

Her husband smiled. "You are right, as always."

He bent down and looked closely at the sleeping dog. Stroking the animal´s head lightly, he wondered what dog race there was that became so big.

Bending down to the furry head as well, Catherine mused, "What shall we call him?"

Christopher chuckled. "What about `Grim´? He does look like one."

"C´mon, Chris," his wife chided. "Surely you don´t believe in such myths. What about... Endymion?

Christopher merely looked at her.

"I am not going to have a dog called Endymion," he announced firmly. "What will the neighbours think of me?"

Catherine pouted. "And what about, say, Apollo?"

"Or Eros or Ares or Hades, what?" her husband retorted sarcastically. "Honestly, what is it with you and the Greek Mythology? Why don´t name him Cerberus straight away?"

She rolled her eyes. "If you´re so clever, then suggest a name, please."

"Something simple like Don or Ray," he said and gestured at Sirius who happened to move his ear unconsciously at that moment. "See? He likes it."

Sighing, Catherine surrendered. "Fine. Ray it will be."

Later, when Christopher was in the kitchen making dinner, Catherine sat down beside the still sleeping Sirius and put his head into her lap. Stroking with a finger the short, soft fur on his snout, she gazed into the burning fire, letting herself get carried away in memories. As she moved her hand to scratch the dog behind his ears, she recalled involuntarily caressing another head, a human one, though, but with similar black unruly hair. Her heart contracted at the memory of her only son whom she had lost so many years ago. Despite everything he was accused of having done, her motherly love for him had never faltered. Even after more than a decade, she refused to believe her son was guilty of all the charges that had been laid upon him. Deep down, she was certain that it couldn´t be. Sirius wouldn´t have done that. He just wouldn´t have. Unfortunately, Christopher thought otherwise, therefore she had never dared to voice her doubts about the accusations out loud. Sure, every fact had turned out to be against Sirius and the people who could have proven the opposite, were dead. However, if Catherine had been told about the real story like it was known to Dumbledore, for example, she would have believed it straight away. But Dumbledore, along with Sirius, had decided not to tell the Blacks anything until they would have real proof to provide them with. It was wise of them to do so, because Christopher Black, full of disappointment and resentment towards his son, would have refused to believe them for sure.

Now, however, being completely unaware of his son´s presence in his house, he acted with perfect gentleness towards the black dog. Stroking quickly over its head while telling his wife that dinner was ready, he couldn´t help being reminded of his son as well, though for other reasons than his wife.

A big black dog. Canis Major. Sirius.

Following Catherine into the kitchen, he set his jaw, trying to push the thoughts about his son away. They were too painful to dwell on. If Catherine had turned around at that moment, she would have seen the mixture of emotions in her husband´s eyes, the sadness and anger that he always felt at the memory of Sirius and she would have known that the dog had caused him to remember the same things like her. But she didn´t turn around and the couple spent dinner in silence, each of them preoccupied with banning their unpleasant thoughts out of their mind.

***

Slowly, the comfortable numbness lifted itself from Sirius´ brain and he felt consciousness coming back to him. All of a sudden, a wave of sensations overwhelmed him. He could distinguish the crackling of fire nearby and its warmth on his fur. Somewhere, there was the ticking noise of a clock. Beneath him lay apparently some sort of carpet. Sirius stayed motionless in order not to attract extra attention to him and concentrated on what he was hearing and feeling. The fire and the ticking clock implied that he had been brought into a house. But why? Memories came flooding black, the screeching of brakes, glaring yellow lights, the pain in his leg and his head and blackness...

Sirius tried to shift his bandaged leg. It was a little stiff, but otherwise, it seemed to be okay.

Good.

His head appeared to be fine as well if he ignored the slight throbbing behind his temples. With an inward sigh of relief that he had miraculously survived the accident relatively unscathed, Sirius lifted his eyelids.

And met the intent gaze of a pair of blue-grey eyes.

Catherine, who had seen him stirring slightly, had come to lean over him and had remained unnoticed so far because he had been too focussed on his body while his injuries and a vague dizziness had made it impossible to concentrate on several things at once.

If Sirius had been in his human shape, then he would probably have yelled in shock, for he knew those eyes well, even though he hadn´t had the chance to see them for more than a decade.

His mother´s eyes.

Catherine heard the dog yelp in fright and become rigid as his strangely pale blue eyes met hers. In an attempt to calm him down, she muttered something unintelligible in a soothing voice and realized with worry that it didn´t have the desired effect on the dog who seemed to be frozen with shock.

Sirius´ heart raced. He recognized the scent, it was the same he´d picked up at the crossing. A scent he would know anytime. Anywhere.

His mother muttered something, but he didn´t understand her words. Not that it mattered. The mere sound of that beloved voice sent a thrill through his body.

His mother. The one who had always loved and believed in him. The one who had defended him when his father had been irritated about Sirius´ frequent misbehaviour in school and elsewhere. The one he had left behind to live with the humiliation of having her son in Azkaban.

It took Sirius every shred of self-control he could muster not to transform right there into his human shape and embrace his mother. To curl up in her arms as he had done when he had been little and to apologize. To make her understand how sorry, how eternally sorry he was for everything she had had to go through because of him.

Instead, he touched her hand gently with his snout and felt another thrill shooting through his body as she stroked his head, almost the same way she had done when he had been a boy.

Catherine didn´t sense the turmoil in the dog´s soul, but she felt him shivering under her touch. It seemed to be a pleasant shiver, though, because he pressed his head against her hand with utter confidence and obvious affection. This surprised Catherine, but it also made her smile with happiness that this stray trusted her. Many humans didn´t, after all.

Christopher had come over to his wife from the other side of the room. It seemed to him that the dog was awake and that it appeared to have taken an instant liking to Catherine.

Sensing the approaching presence of his father, Sirius raised his head, eyes wary. He had never gotten along with him as well as with his mother. Like a typical cliché, Christopher had been the strict one, the person of authority. Sirius had learned to be cautious around him but despite all their disagreements, his love to his father was genuine. In a moment of almost-losing control, Sirius wanted to rush to Christopher to greet him joyfully like the dog he now was, but he restrained himself. He couldn´t drop the cautiousness he had always felt around his father in an instant. But he needn´t have to worry. Christopher knelt down and scratched Sirius´ neck with a movement that couldn´t be termed other that affectionate. Which in itself wasn´t all that surprising, since he had always been fond of dogs, hence his son´s name. And apparently, he liked Sirius´ dog shape.

Sirius yelped, this time with joy and again fought the urge to transform.

"It wouldn´t do any good," he reminded himself. "They like you how you are now. God knows how they would react if you transformed. Let´s keep them happy."

Sirius let himself being stroked by his parents and ate the dog biscuits Christopher had charmed up. He rested his head on his mother´s knee and listened to his parents as they made jokes about his odd pale eyes and huge built. He had almost forgotten how well they complemented each other. One started a joke and the other finished it with an even wittier ending than the original one would have been. It was a talent they had.

Sirius could have listened to them for hours. He soaked up this wonderful, relaxed atmosphere with the crackling fire casting a warm golden glow over the three of them and the amusement resounding in his parent´s voices, to remember the feeling very well so that he could recall it whenever dark thoughts would start overwhelming him again.

But every good thing had to come to an end sometime and a little past midnight, Christopher and Catherine announced, yawning, that they were too tired to go on in their dialogue that appeared to have entertained the black dog very much. With a last smile and stroke, they retreated to their bedroom, leaving Sirius behind who bid them a silent good-bye, his eyes gone wistful and sad because he knew he had to go now as well.

It had been a wonderful time. He hadn´t felt so safe, so relaxed for a very long time and he probably wouldn´t again for very long unless...

"I will be back," he thought, already outside, throwing a last glance at the small house his parents were living in.

"I will be back. But not as a dog. I´ll clear our name for good and next time, I´ll walk into your house as a free man. A man you will be able to accept as your son. I promise you that."