Harry Potter and the Seeker of the Shadows

Deceptions

Chapter Two: Freedom

After almost two hours of struggling through the brush, Harry and Sirius reached the shepherd's hut. It was getting on in the afternoon now, although it was far from dark yet, but it was starting to get a bit cold. Harry shivered. His clothes were riddled with small tears, and he was bleeding in several places where sticks and spiny vines had caught on skin instead of cloth.

Sirius, walking beside him, was in similar shape, but he wasn't complaining, so Harry kept his mouth shut. If Sirius thought this was alright, Harry sure wasn't going to be the one to complain about it. He could do whatever was needed to, and he certainly didn't want Sirius thinking that he was a cry-baby or a whiner.

"This life is hard, Harry," Sirius remarked suddenly, as he pushed open the door to the hut. It creaked loudly, and they both jumped. "It's not the sort of life I'd wish on anyone, let alone a not-yet-fifteen-year-old boy. I know you don't like being thought of as a child, and I can assure you that I felt exactly the same when I was your age, but the truth of the matter is that you are still young. When I was arrested, I was twenty-one. Almost half of my life has been spent behind bars in Azkaban, and I can assure you, that's not pleasant.

"When I escaped, I could hardly remember anything but being on the run, and I've made my life work the way it does now. But you aren't used to it, you aren't used to sleeping in ditches and hiding from humanity - and you shouldn't have to be. But it looks like you're going to have to get used to it. I want you to know that whenever you need me, I'm here for you. If you think that you can't keep going, let me know, and we can rest."

"It's ok," Harry assured his godfather. "I know that you wouldn't have brought me out here under normal conditions, but I'm in as much danger as you are now, and frankly, I would rather be out here with you than with anyone else in the world. I know you'll take care of me, and I know that as long as I'm with you, I'm safe. Neither of us want to be here, Sirius, but we are, that's what's important."

Sirius looked at him for a moment. "You know, for a moment there you could have been Lily. Your mother was as matter-of-fact about things like this as you just were. When she found out that Voldemort was after her family, she just turned to me and asked me if I'd be their secret keeper, before we'd even thought about using the Fidelius Charm to keep you safe."

Harry smiled. He'd heard often how like his father he was, but he had never really heard much at all about his mother, other than that he had her eyes. "So, what now?" he asked his godfather.

"First off, let's get us both cleaned up a little. I may not be a healer, but even I can mend cuts like these." Drawing his wand, Sirius quickly healed the small cuts that riddled both his and Harry's skin, and mended the torn fabric of their clothes. "Now, you'll have to get used to sleeping in the day time - it's far safer to move at night whenever possible. So, try and get some sleep, and I'll wake us once it's dark."

"Where are we going?" Harry wondered.

"London," Sirius replied. "My house is there, and you'll be safe there. We'll both be locked inside, but it won't be so bad if you're there to keep me company. Being shut up in a house all alone is pretty bad, I can tell you."

"I know," Harry assured his godfather, remembering the summer after his first year at Hogwarts, when the Dursleys had literally locked him in his room. He doubted that was as bad as what Sirius had to go through, but he didn't tell his godfather about it, because he thought that Sirius might try to hurt his relatives, which wouldn't really do anyone any good.

Harry settled down on the hard floor of the hut and closed his eyes. To his surprise, he fell asleep almost immediately, and the next thing he knew was Sirius shaking him gently. The entire world was grey with the oncoming dusk, and Sirius was holding out a bottle of water and a chicken sandwich, which Harry fell upon greedily. "Where did you get that?" Harry asked.

"Provisions," Sirius replied with a grin. "You didn't think I'd just come bouncing out here without anything to eat did you?"

"Well, I hadn't thought about it all, actually," Harry replied, finishing eating quickly. "What time is it?"

"Time to start moving," Sirius replied. Together they headed out into the falling darkness. They continued on through the forest, doing their best to make no noise at all, though that wasn't the easiest thing to do. Sirius travelled in human form, not seeming to think that there was any danger, which Harry had to agree with. No one from Surrey came near the forest, not after a young woman, many years ago now, had gone in and never came out again.

Harry didn't feel at all scared, not when he had Sirius striding easily next to him. This forest wasn't nearly as scary as the Forbidden Forest anyway, and Harry had been there on several occasions now. They kept walking for a long time, and soon the moon rose above them. Tomorrow night it would be full.

"There aren't any werewolves around here, are there?" Harry asked Sirius, breaking the silence for the first time since they'd left the shepherds hut, at least an hour ago now.

"Not here," Sirius assured him. "The Ministry keeps tabs on werewolves. They can't destroy them, though they've tried more than once, but we can do our best to make sure that everyone else is safe from them Natural werewolves only breed in magical areas, like the Forbidden Forest and a couple of other places, but definitely not here."

Harry nodded, and his fear lessened. If there were no werewolves, then this place was safe enough for the moment. Half an hour later, however, they reached the forest edge. Before them, etched out in silver moonlight, was a long field, with small, rolling hills.

Sirius cursed softly. "We'll have to cross that tonight," he remarked softly, "And with the Ministry sniffing around, I don't like our chances of getting across without being seen."

"I've got the Invisibility Cloak," Harry told his godfather softly, "That'll help, won't it?"

Sirius beamed at him, "You're right. I'd forgotten all about it, actually. It's been so long since I used one."

"If this is the watch you keep these days, Sirius, you'll find yourself back in Azkaban one day soon," a voice spoke softly behind them, and they both wheeled around. In the forest just behind them was a tall, dark-skinned man, white teeth shining in the moonlight as he grinned at them.

"Kingsley," Sirius greeted, nodding his head and glancing around. "Many of your lot here?"

"Enough," Kingsley replied. "I'll do what I can to help you get over there, but I don't know how much that will be. Wait here for five minutes, then I'll yell that I can see something over that way," he pointed out to the left. "Sirius, you can transform and run for your life, Harry, you fly."

"Who are you?" Harry asked, feeling as though he'd been left behind. This man looked like a fighter, and apparently there were other people around who were looking for them, but this man wasn't giving them up to his companions, he was trying to help them instead.

"Kingsley Shacklebolt," the black man said, bowing slightly and smiling again. "I'm in the Auror division at the Ministry of Magic, and they put me in charge of finding your godfather there, and arresting you today ... Fudge doesn't know that I'm on Dumbledore's side in this - I'm purposely leading the Ministry astray. It'll cost me my job and possibly my freedom if I'm caught, but oh well. You can't argue with what's right. I hope we'll have a chance to meet again!"

With that, he turned and disappeared into the darkness, and Harry turned to Sirius. "You can trust him," Sirius assured him. "He's always been a man you could trust with your life, I knew him before I was arrested. He'll do his best to get us across this place, so we'll do what he said to. You get your broom out and be ready - when you see people going racing off across the open land, take off and fly for your life, I'll be down below."

"There's more forest on the other side of the paddock," Harry said suddenly, "What if I lose you?"

"Hover in the trees and wait for me," Sirius instructed him. Harry quickly got his broom out and restored it to its proper size, then mounted and waited, hovering just off the ground while he waited for the signal to come. There was a soft popping noise, and Sirius, now a great black dog, lurked in the shadows.

There was a sudden burst of noise off to the left, and Harry hurtled skyward immediately, vaguely aware that below him Sirius was running, keeping to the shadows at the bases of the rolling mounds, doing his best to stay out of sight. Using every ounce of the Firebolt's speed, Harry raced across the paddock and pulled up when he reached the shadow of the trees.

He looked for the Ministry wizards, and saw them chasing a shadowed, vaguely human form across the plain, which suddenly seemed to dissipate just before reaching the second forest. He could only assume that it was a magical creation that someone, probably Kingsley, had made to try and throw the Aurors off the scent.

Harry looked around for Sirius, and saw the huge dog slinking into the forest about ten metres to his right, so he flew over to land nearby. "Padfoot?"

The dog gave a soft bark of confirmation, and headed into the forest. Harry followed, realising that Sirius wasn't returning to human form because the Aurors were still too close for comfort. Harry wished he could remain in the air, but the branches of the trees forced him to land and shrink his broom while following after Sirius.

Even with the full moon, it was difficult to see through the trees, but Harry could still follow his godfather from sound alone. It was hard, but not impossible, so he kept going and didn't complain. They walked all night, and passed out of the dense forest. By morning they were miles from where they'd started and Harry's legs ached abominably, though he didn't say as much to Sirius.

They were somewhere out in the middle of nowhere, and Harry couldn't see any form of human life anywhere he looked. "Where are we?" he asked Sirius as the horizon turned pink with the light of the rising sun.

"Somewhere safe," Sirius assured him. He'd resumed human form some hours ago. "There's another house around here somewhere - I only know because Moony comes there on occasion. He's not here now, because he thought it would be too dangerous, with us having to travel through the night--but he'll arrive later this morning once he's recovered a little."

From this comment, Harry could only assume that the place they were going was somewhere that Professor Lupin could transform without the fear of hurting anyone nearby. By the time the sun had cleared the horizon, they had found the place, a tiny, two room house without any furnishings, bar a fireplace in the second room. Sirius opened the door and let Harry inside with a small smile. "Welcome to the life of a werewolf - Remus used to have stay in places like this over the course of the full moon, back before they discovered Wolfsbane."

"It's horrible," Harry whispered, staring around himself in appalled wonder at the mistreatment that the Wizarding world forced upon its own. "Why doesn't anyone do anything about it?"

"Fear, I suppose, of things that they don't understand. Werewolves have a bad name, you should always remember that. No one really likes them all that much, and few people have ever stood up for werewolf rights--most would prefer to support the people who make it harder for werewolves to live with normal Wizarding folk."

"Well, if you told Hermione that, maybe she'd stop going on about S.P.E.W. and start campaigning for werewolf rights instead," Harry suggested, smiling slightly at the thought of his friend. "She'd probably get a lot more support if she did, and the people she was campaigning for might actually be grateful for it."

Sirius just shrugged slightly and conjured a mattress on the floor. "You might as well get some sleep while we wait for Moony to show his face," he told Harry, who didn't need telling twice. He lay down and was asleep in seconds - he didn't even stay awake long enough to see Sirius transform and settle down not far from where Harry was lying, keeping a quiet watch over Harry's sleeping form.

Hunger woke Harry an hour or so later, and he woke to find Sirius cheerily buttering some bread and humming under his breath. "You seem happy," Harry remarked, yawning widely.

"It's just good to be out of the house I've been staying in," Sirius assured him. "And to have some decent company for a change, with no one running around and falling over things, or sneering at me because I can't go outside. I'm a free man, Harry. I don't like being kept in a cage, and it's worse still when there's no one around to keep me company."

Harry nodded. Somehow his heart was feeling lighter than it had in a long time, though by rights it should be filled with dread at the prospect of what was awaiting him, if the Ministry should catch up with him. Just being with someone who cared about him was enough. It was just him and Sirius out here, and, surprisingly enough, he liked it that way.

When Sirius sat back to eat his food, Harry took over and made himself a meal while they waited for Remus turn up. By the time the fire blazed green to announce someone arriving, however, both Harry and Sirius had eaten their fill and were playing hang-man with spells on the floor of the cabin to pass the time.

---

That morning, Ron Weasley, at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, woke to find the entire place up in the air in a panic mode. He stumbled through the large crowd of Order members, searching for Hermione, and found her standing by herself in the kitchen, off to the side of the main crowd, crying silently, a newspaper clutched in her hands.

"What's wrong?" he asked in concern, hurrying over to her and resting a hesitant hand on her shoulder. She flung her arms around him and sobbed aloud, not managing to say anything that remotely resembled sense, so Ron just held her, standing there in the corner, until all her tears were spent.

"Oh Ron, it's awful," she told him, regaining her composure and pulling away from him. For some reason, Ron wished she hadn't, though he didn't understand his feelings at all, and put them aside to pay attention to what Hermione was saying. "Fudge has gone and said that Harry made up the entire story about You-Know-Who to try and cover up the fact that he murdered Cedric! Aurors went to Harry's house yesterday to arrest him!"

"You mean Harry's in prison?" Ron asked stupidly.

"No, he disappeared. Sirius has gone too, so I think that someone in the Ministry managed to get word to Dumbledore, and he alerted Sirius who went to rescue Harry, but apparently they were supposed to arrive here last night. Kingsley Shacklebolt said that he'd met up with them just outside of Little Whinging and distracted the Aurors who were hunting them so that they could escape, but they were supposed to come here as fast as they could, and they haven't!" she wailed, beginning to sob again.

Once more, Ron took her in his arms and tried to comfort her, but she couldn't stop trembling and sobbing as she gave vent to the worry that was plaguing her. He could admit to being worried himself, though somewhere, deep in his heart, he felt a stab of jealousy, that Hermione was crying like this over Harry. Stop it, he told himself, She'd cry over you too, if you disappeared like that.

"It's going to be alright, Hermione," a gentle voice spoke from behind him, and Hermione let go of Ron to look up at Professor Lupin. They'd seen him once or twice around the house, though never for long, because he always had things to do, or else he was shut up with Sirius in the main bedroom of the house, talking with his old friend. "Everyone's panicking because they think that Harry's in trouble, but Sirius is with him, so I'm sure he's alright. I think that Sirius is just relishing his freedom for awhile, though you can rest assured that he'll have some choice words from me when I catch up with him about all this ... I have a fair idea of where they might be, and I'm going there to check up on them. I'm sure Sirius will have gone there, and I'm sure that he meant for me to go there to meet up with him and Harry; I've only just understood a number of hints he's been dropping ..."

"Where do you think they are?"

"Well, I'm not allowed to tell you that. Dumbledore knows where I'm going, and mentioned that I should come and give you some manner of comfort. I'm sure you're scared, but I can assure you that Sirius would never let anything happen to Harry, not while there was breath left in his body. You relax, and let us take care of it."

Hermione nodded, wiping her tears away as Remus turned and hurried over to the fireplace, throwing powder in the fire and stepping into the now-green flames. "Sorry Ron, for breaking down like that ... I was just so worried," Hermione said, making an effort to return to her usual self.

Ron just shrugged thinking, I don't mind.

---

When Remus stepped out of the fireplace, looking utterly worn out and half dead, Sirius bounded up from the floor and raced over to embrace his long-time friend. Harry, however, hung back, not sure how he should act in this situation. He hadn't seen Professor Lupin since third year, when he'd been the best teacher Hogwarts had ever had, but he and Harry had had a strictly Teacher-Student relationship, and he wasn't sure what he should do, now that Remus was no longer a teacher, and Harry was meeting him outside of school.

Letting go of Sirius, Remus turned tiredly to look at Harry. "I hope I haven't kept you awake, Harry," he said softly, "I'm sure you must be tired, walking all that way last night."

Harry shrugged. He was tired, but he wasn't going to admit it with Sirius standing right there and looking worried, as though he thought he'd missed something about Harry and was hoping that he hadn't. "I'm alright," he said, since Professor Lupin was still looking at him expectantly. "How are you, Professor?"

The man winced at the honorific, "I'm not your professor any more Harry, please, call me Remus," he said.

"Right ... Remus," Harry said, and surprisingly enough the name seemed to fit with the man before him far more than 'Professor Lupin' ever had. "So, how are you?"

"As well as I ever am around the full moon," Remus sighed, and sat down on the floor beside the mattress that Sirius had made for Harry. Harry lay down again, while Remus and Sirius talked. For awhile, their talk flew around him comfortingly, and soon enough it lulled him back to sleep.

He woke again at dusk, with Sirius shaking him - he had slept the day through. "Harry, you need to tell me when you're tired," Sirius told him softly, looking at Harry in concern. "I can't stop for a rest unless I know you need to."

Harry just shrugged again, "I'm alright," he told Sirius quietly.

Sirius looked at him for a moment. "Well, we're staying the night here tonight, Harry. Remus is outside somewhere, so there's no chance of leaving here, or unbarring the doors, until dawn tomorrow."

"Couldn't we Floo?"

"There isn't enough powder for us to leave and Remus to still get home," Sirius replied with a sigh. "We're well and truly stuck here for the moment. Tell you what, we can take the opportunity to teach you some new spells, they might come in handy."

"What sort of spells?" Harry asked.

"To start with - concealment charms. I'll teach you one for hiding your tracks first, and if you manage to master that one, then I'll teach one for concealing yourself."

"And if I master that one?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Sirius replied, taking out his own wand. "Alright, let's get started."

It took Harry three hours to learn the spell properly, and by that time he was getting tired again. Outside, Remus was prowling around the cabin, apparently attracted by the magic being used within, and Harry shivered in fear whenever the cabin shuddered as Remus threw his weight against it, trying to get inside.

"Doesn't he have Wolfsbane?" Harry asked Sirius, listening to the howls echoing outside.

"Someone ruined Snape's entire supply last month," Sirius replied, "He hasn't had the time to brew any more, but there should be some in time for next month. Personally, I'm sure it was sabotage, he was probably trying to get back at me for something I said, and took it out on Remus because it was easier for him."

"Do you really think that Snape would do that? I mean, he's a git, but is he really that bad?" Harry asked.

"Yes," Sirius replied. "He hates me, and he'd do anything to get back at me, but if he struck out at me, then it would be obvious. Ruining Remus's potion, and making it look like an accident, is far more convenient."

"Oh," said Harry, unconvinced. But rather than start an argument (he was not going to argue about Snape with Sirius - especially not on the defensive side), so he changed the subject instead, "So it was painful for him to transform tonight?"

"Very," Sirius said, looking troubled. "I pity him, I really do. I just wish there was something that we could do to help him, but there isn't, not as far as I can see anyway."

"I wish there was something that we could do too," Harry said softly.

There didn't seem to be anything else much to say, and the pair of them soon fell asleep, while Remus prowled around outside, howling and attacking the hut. Harry didn't know how, but somehow he managed to sleep, and he didn't dream of anything bad. He hadn't dreamt at all, that he remembered, since he had joined Sirius.

In the morning, Harry woke with the sun streaming down upon his face. Remus was back inside, and human, looking rather the worse for wear, and Sirius was bandaging up a hideous looking wound on Remus's arm. "You'll want to get Poppy to have a look at that when you get back to Headquarters," Sirius remarked to Remus as he finished, "She'll actually be able to heal it."

"I will, I can assure you of that," Remus replied, pale and wincing in pain every time he moved the arm even a little bit. "I'm just glad that Severus will have more Wolfsbane in time for next month, I'd forgotten how awful the transformation could be without it."

"Ah, Harry, you're awake," Sirius grinned, seeing Harry sit up and fumble around for his glasses. "Sleep well?"

"Well enough," Harry replied. "Are we moving on today?"

Remus and Sirius exchanged pointed glances, then Sirius smiled brightly, "We will be, at that," he replied, and Remus sighed, rolling his eyes heavenward. Harry assumed that they had been discussing this while he had still been asleep, and felt a stab of annoyance that he had been left out of the conversation.

"We'll be wanting to get away from here before tonight. Remus said that he'll be going elsewhere tonight, but it's always possible that there will be other werewolves around ..." Sirius said, voice trailing off. Harry just nodded and went over to the bag in to the corner that held the food that Sirius had gotten for the journey.

There seemed more of it than there had been yesterday, and Harry could only assume that Remus had brought more food with him when he came. "When are we leaving?" he asked. He didn't want to question Sirius while Remus was still around--as much as he liked Remus, he didn't know the other man very well.

"As soon as we've eaten," Sirius told him. "I want to get as far away from here as possible. The Aurors might still come looking for us, but apparently Kingsley has received a report saying that someone has seen you in London, and another that says I've been spotted in Bath, so the Aurors shouldn't be in this area any more."

Harry nodded, and began preparing breakfast. Half an hour later they were walking out into the sunshine, and Sirius was looking more boisterous than Harry ever remembered seeing him. "Why was Remus looking at you like that when I asked if we were moving on today?" Harry asked, once the house was far behind them and Sirius had calmed down a little.

Sirius paused for a moment, then sighed. "Because he thought that we should go straight to my house," he replied after a moment. "And I didn't want to."

"Why does he think that?"

"Because he says that we'll both be safer there. I know that's right, but I just can't bear to go back there so soon. I'd much rather wander around the wilderness for awhile and be free... Remus said that I'm not considering your feelings enough, but I don't think that you'd like being shut up in my house any more than I did. My house even worse than your relatives ... but if you really don't want to be here, we can go back to Remus and Floo there," Sirius said, looking utterly dejected at the very thought of doing so.

Harry thought for a little while, but kept walking in the direction that they'd started out in, and Sirius walked with him. Finally, he spoke again, "I don't want to go straight to London," he assured Sirius. "I feel the same way you do - I don't want to be shut up in a house for who knows how long. I doubt they'll let either of us leave until our names are cleared, and who knows how long that will be?"

Sirius smiled joyfully, and Harry could see with a sudden clarity that with time, good food and good company, his godfather could regain the good looks that Azkaban had stripped him of. When he smiled, the wasted look on his face fell away and Harry could see the man that his godfather should have been shining through.

"How long will it take us to get to London?" Harry asked.

"A week or so, more if we dawdle," Sirius replied with a grin. "We've got enough food to last us a fortnight, more if we ration it out. What do you think?"

"I think I need awhile to think about that question," Harry replied, grinning back at his godfather. "I don't know what it's going to be like out here, so I don't know how long I'll want to stay."

Sirius nodded his head in agreement. "Well, if you ever really want to get out of here, we can always fly! You've got your broom, and I have the motorbike. In the meantime, let's go!"

That day passed all too quickly for Harry's taste as he and Sirius messed around while they headed in the vague direction of London. They played hide and seek for awhile, then follow the leader, then Sirius taught Harry some simple spells that would help him out while he was on the run.

Harry was having the time of his life. This was even better than being at Hogwarts. At Hogwarts there were always people like Snape and Malfoy to ruin his day, and he'd much rather be out here with just him and Sirius, doing whatever they felt like. He also didn't have to worry about doing homework, or anything like that, which he would have had to if he'd been at Hogwarts.

"Will I be able to go back to Hogwarts?" Harry asked, as the sun began to sink towards the horizon and dusk approached.

"One day, yes," Sirius replied. "Well, as soon as Voldemort shows his face in the Wizarding world it'll come clear that you were innocent all along, and they'll have to let you back! For now, I can teach you all the practical stuff, and take a stab at the theory ... we'll see what we can do."

Harry nodded. "Do we need the theory stuff?" he asked plaintively.

"Yes," Sirius told him firmly. "You might not need it for ages to come, but it always pays to know these things. Besides, in some cases, covering the theory helps you understand the spells better than you would if you just learnt how to do them - it also helps you realise what sort of situations you might need to use them in."

"You know a lot about this kind of stuff, don't you?" Harry asked his godfather, smiling.

"Yeah," Sirius shrugged. "It's all coming back to me now. Your father and I were the top students in our year at school, along with your mother and Moony. I forgot a lot of it, while I was in Azkaban, but since last year I've been thinking it over a lot, and it's all coming back to me again."

That night, they fell asleep under the stars, Sirius in dog form, as he claimed it to be more comfortable, Harry on a conjured mattress, feeling happier than he had been in a very long time now. The next day, however, started out badly, when Harry was woken by the rain starting to fall.

Sirius woke and changed back to human form, cursing foully, and quickly performed water-repelling charms on both himself and Harry, then drying charms so that they were at least partially comfortable. It was not quite dawn yet, and by the look of the sky, the rain had set in. Sirius looked rather upset, and Harry wondered if his godfather thought that he would want to go straight to London just because the weather was foul.

Harry considered that, for a moment, then dropped the idea. Why waste a week of freedom because it was raining? He was dry, and it looked like he was going to stay that way, and the grim picture Sirius painted of his house made Harry want to stay away from it for as long as possible, even if that meant staying outside in the rain.

"Can you teach me that water-repelling charm?" Harry asked his godfather as they started walking. It was interesting to watch the ground at their feet as they walked, and especially fun to jump in puddles, because the water on the ground moved aside whenever he stepped in it, because of the charm.

"Of course," Sirius replied, and that's what they did for most of the morning, taking a break about midday when the rain stopped for awhile, although the clouds remained. Harry liked Sirius's method of teaching a lot better than some of the teachers at Hogwarts, because, without a time-table, he could continue trying to learn a spell until he had it perfect, rather than have to rush off to another class and forget about the old spell while he concentrated on learning a new one.

It started raining again in the late afternoon, but in their wanderings they came across a hay barn in the far corner of a farm, which they didn't think anyone would be checking over night. They unlocked it with a simple 'Alohomora' and slipped inside. It was dry within, and they had beds of hay to sleep on that night which were, while not all that comfortable, not all that bad either.

They passed a fitful night in the barn, and in the morning it was still raining, harder and heavier than it had been the day before. Sirius remarked that they would have to move on, because it was too likely that the farmer could come out to check the barn and discover them.

In spite of the weather, Harry and Sirius were still determined to have a good time, and, as Sirius said, the weather was actually helping them - it was harder to find people in the rain, and it was unlikely that anyone would be looking for them out in the middle of nowhere anyway.

The day passed very slowly while Harry worked on learning spells that would help him stay comfortable in times like these if he couldn't find places to sleep. That night Harry's task was to try and set up a warm, dry camp with as little help from Sirius as possible. He used water repelling charms to clear an area large enough for them to sleep in, used Wingardium Leviosa to lift an old log over for them to sit on, and created a blue fire, which Hermione had taught him how to make back in their first year.

Sirius conjured a tarp to go over them so that the rain which was still falling wouldn't bother them at all, although they themselves weren't getting wet.

"Nice fire," Sirius complemented.

"Hermione learnt how to make them in first year," Harry remarked, "She taught me awhile ago."

Sirius nodded, and they fell silent, but it was a comfortable silence, not a strained one. "How are you Charms?" Sirius asked Harry suddenly. "Do you know how to do the Switching Spell?"

Harry nodded, and Sirius asked him to perform it for him, then explain the theory behind it. Surprised, Harry stumbled a little over the answer, but got it mostly right. Sirius corrected what he'd gotten wrong, and made him repeat it properly, before asking him another question.

It was a long time before they got to sleep - neither of them were particularly tired that night. Sirius went through a lot of the things that Harry had learned, and helped him understand a great deal of things that he'd been confused about because he'd forgotten part of the theory behind it.

"See, I told you theory was useful," Sirius grinned at Harry as they got ready for sleep.

Harry merely growled softly and lay down without another word. He drifted off to sleep, and his dreams, or what little of them he remembered, were filled with memories of exams, tests both major and minor, and lessons about spells that he never seemed to get.

He woke in the morning and gave a shout of delight, for the sun was showing her face again. After the couple of days of rain, he and Sirius were both more than a little boisterous that day, and Harry got out his broom, which they took turns in flying, just for the fun of it.

"How far are we from London?" Harry asked.

"Another four days or so, I guess," Sirius replied with an uneasy shrug. Harry's godfather fell silent, and became rather broody, and Harry cursed himself silently for bringing the subject up. It was obvious that Sirius absolutely hated London, and the house he lived in there. Harry wished there was something that he could say to make Sirius feel better about the future, but he couldn't think of anything.

He changed the subject quickly, because he didn't want to ruin the morning, but no matter what he said, Sirius seemed to be drawing further into himself, to a place where Harry couldn't follow him, nor draw him out of. Echoing Sirius's mood, the clouds swirled back overhead as daylight faded to night, and it started to rain, droplets pouring down from the sky and turning the ground sodden in a matter of moments.

Sirius and Harry set up a hasty camp and huddled around the blue fire for warmth. Although it was summer, with the wind and the rain, it was a miserable night, that for sure, and both of them were glad for the company and the extra warmth that fire provided for them.

Sirius changed form and flopped on the ground, falling asleep more or less instantly, but Harry felt restless. He was expecting something, but he didn't know what. Never having been one for Divination, Harry didn't know what to make of his feeling of premonition, and after awhile he just sat down on the ground, stared into the leaping blue flames, and let his mind clear of all thoughts.

In his meditative state, Harry felt the world pull away from him; time meant nothing, emotion and thought meant nothing. He was utterly calm and he felt as though nothing could surprise him.

Until the day he died, Harry could never quite recall how long the man had been there - it seemed to him that the stranger had just turned up, sometime after Sirius had fallen asleep and two in the morning.

It was almost exactly two o'clock when a streak of lightning shot across the sky and thunder boomed, seeming to shake the earth. It shattered the calm that Harry had somehow found himself wrapped within, and he let out a yell of surprise as he realised that there was indeed a stranger sitting cross legged on the other side of the fire, wrapped in a nondescript cloak, perfectly still and utterly silent.

The thunder had roused Sirius from his sleep, and at Harry's yell, the man was on his feet and back in human form, wand pointing across the fire, aimed at the man's chest. Harry was on his feet as well, though he never remembered standing up, any more than he remembered drawing his wand and aiming it at the stranger.

On the other side of the fire, the strange man gave a soft laugh and rose to his feet.