Chapter 8

Finally Home

Sirius had never more appreciated his youth. He'd made the journey to Hogwarts before, just by following the train tracks, as the same dog that he was now, but it hadn't seemed that long back then. 

Maybe it was motivation. There was only one person on his mind when he'd made the journey, running almost the whole time. Remus Lupin, his Moony. But now, what did he have to motivate him further? Sure, he'd seen the rat. But was Peter Pettigrew really worth all the effort that Sirius was putting in to make the journey?

He was traveling at about half the pace that he'd done then, which meant that he had a long trek ahead of him, especially since he was sure that he'd have to take breaks. The only bright spot was the fact that he really wasn't in any hurry. Peter would be at Hogwarts for a whole year. So Sirius could take his time.

But there was more to it than that. To catch Peter wouldn't be easy. That had nothing to do with Peter though. Hogwarts he knew, was fiercely protected, and while Sirius knew every secret passageway into the castle, he was sure that, based on what he'd heard Arthur telling Harry, the ministry had most likely placed protections on Hogwarts, from him. 

But he kept going. 

Based on his assumptions, getting to Peter would take several attempts, and not only that, but it would take some planning to ever undergo those attempts. Which meant that he didn't have time. But he did. Eventually, he decided to stop thinking, as he was giving himself a headache, and it definitely wasn't helping in his attempt to reach Hogwarts. It was a good call. 

As night came, Sirius was walking along the tracks, on flat grassy plains. He heard the train before he saw it, chugging along. He nimbly jumped off to the side of the tracks, then paused to watch the train come by. He was thankful that he'd kept alert for it, and tried to move as fast as possible, seeing as if he was on the bridge that he'd passed not shortly before, he'd probably end up plummeting to his death or getting hit or crushed by the train, neither of which seemed very pleasant. 

As he continued along the tracks, Sirius made the decision that his motivation for making it to Hogwarts as soon as possible was the prospect that his godson, Harry, was there. He looked so much like James, and Sirius wanted to see if he played Quidditch or not, though he was sure that it ran in the family. He also wanted to protect him. The location of the Potter's home was revealed because Voldemort wanted Harry dead. And since that hadn't happened, Peter would want to fulfill Voldemort's wishes and get rid of Harry himself. 

Sirius wasn't going to let that happen. It did put an even larger dampen on his mood though, seeing as the wizarding world believe that it was him after Harry, whereas they couldn't be more wrong. Then again, they knew Peter to be dead, killed by Sirius himself. He wished that he'd killed him right then and there. Or at least managed to prevent him from getting away. He decided that he preferred the latter. At least, with Peter getting what he deserved, what Sirius had gone through for the past 12 years, Sirius could live up to his role as Harry's godfather. Harry, who was his only connection to his past life now that Peter and Remus-

Remus. His motivation that last time that he'd made this journey was to get to Remus. That could still be his motivation. He knew that since Remus wasn't involved in the plan of switching the Secret Keepers, Remus probably thought that Sirius was exactly what the rest of the wizarding world made him out to be. But if Sirius could just get to him and explain what really happened, at least he'd be able to regain one of his connections to his own life.

Without him knowing, his pace had increased dramatically. It wasn't long before he was full out sprinting, determined to get to Hogwarts. 

A fire crackled in a small clearing in the middle of a swath of woods. Sirius sat on the floor next to it, staring into the flames. He'd caught a rabbit as Snuffles and ate it, then ran to bury the bones of the creature so that they wouldn't attract larger animals that Sirius didn't have a hope of fighting in his weakened state. Now he was simply resting, giving his aching muscles a much-needed break. 

He'd have to continue in the morning. 

Sirius woke up in the morning after a leaf landed on his nose. He sat up straight, the leaf falling off his face. He sighed when he found out that it was simply a leaf. His fugitive reflexes were kicking in. He'd fallen asleep the night before only to be awoken by every single nighttime sound. An owl hooting, a critter moving around in the brush, and various other sounds continued to wake him up throughout the night. 

Despite that, Sirius was feeling surprisingly well-rested. He'd had a great dream last night, consisting of Peter getting what he deserved and Sirius finally getting to enjoy the life he was entitled to with his Moony and of course, Harry, who he'd invited to stay with him in the dream rather than living with his aunt and uncle. 

Sirius got up, stretched, his joints popping like firecrackers, and transformed, running onto the tracks and resuming his trek to Hogwarts. He was a lot better off than the day before. He trotted along happily, breaking out into a full sprint every once in a while. 

After that, the days went on similarly. The exhaustion had made its way thoroughly into his muscles, so by the last day, he was completely exhausted, when he saw the roofs of the shops in Hogsmead peeking up over a small section of forest.

He barked joyfully and tore off towards the trees, relishing the wind in his fur. He sprinted through the undergrowth, leaping over roots sticking up out of the ground, dodging bushes and low hanging branches, and finally skidded to a halt at the edge of the woods. Finally. The village was the same as he'd always remembered it, granted, a lot less crowded, though he'd seen it like that many times before.

And at the far end, there it was. The place of some of his happiest memories from school. The Shrieking Shack. Fathomed the most haunted place in all of Britain. And yet, just looking at it, Sirius knew that tears would be filling his eyes had he not been in animagus form.

He lost all pretenses of caution, and sprinted into the village, heading straight towards the shack, though taking care to crouch in the darkness should he see a group of people as opposed to just an average passerby. All the way to the Shack he went, bounding up to the side, and running all the way to the end, where he saw the Whomping Willow. 

He'd never had to get into the tree while in animagus form, seeing as he'd almost always been underneath James' invisibility cloak, and could easily throw a stone, or in winter months, a snowball, which he'd chuck at the knot on the tree's trunk that would allow him entry through the passageway leading to the inside of the Shrieking Shack.

He wouldn't be able to transform and do that now. The area he was standing at was visible through the cattle, and if anyone saw Sirius Black, famous mass-murderer as he was known to the wizarding community, havoc would break loose. It wouldn't be too hard to disappear into the Shack or the forest, then apparate, but he didn't want to take the risk, despite his reputation of one who always did so whenever the opportunity was given.

He pressed himself low to the ground and inched forward. The tree became agitated, he could sense it, its branches trying to reach him to no avail, his being as flat to the ground as he was. Inch by inch he went until he could finally stretch out a paw and touch the knot, freezing the tree.

He got up, shaking bits of stray grass and leaves from his matted fur. Then he ran into the passageway, dove in, and transformed, landing on his back and sliding down, somersaulting, and landing face-first into the dirt. He lifted his head up, and spit out a mouthful of dirt. Not his most graceful landing into the passageway, but certainly not his worst. 

He got up gingerly and set off down the passageway, looking around at the dirt walls in wonder. He'd remembered wondering whether he'd be able to see this place again, and yet, here he was, though surrounded in a dirt tunnel with various insects in its walls, Sirius thought that only heaven itself could be a better place to be. 

It took about an hour to reach the end of the passageway, and though Sirius could make it in around half the time, what was the rush? So he nonchalantly strolled through the passageway, making it to the trapdoor in the ceiling, which he pushed open and hauled himself through. And there he was. In the Shrieking Shack, a place where even the bravest of men wouldn't dare set foot in, yet in which Sirius was standing, a maniacal grin plastered onto his face. 

Downstairs wasn't much of a looker, though there was the couch, the couch that he'd spent several nights with his Moony on good moons when he wasn't so aggressive. And yet there were also droplets of dried blood from years before, where the wolf had become extremely hard to handle and he, or Prongs, was forced to injure him simply to keep him under check, or when the wolf had attacked them. 

He scrambled up the stairs, knowing that the real prize was up the steps. 

To anyone else, the scene that awaited Sirius would have been a bedraggled old bed with ragged curtains, the walls bare, and the paper peeling. But thanks to the disillusionment charm the Remus Lupin had set on the place, and on the Marauders themselves, Sirius saw two beds, back to back in a corner, a shelf right next to this, where Sirius' old record player would be, the swath of wall accompanied by several pillows and blankets in the corner where the Marauders would sit an watch movies, and several big banners of Gryffindor on the walls. 

And last but certainly not least, there was the stretch of wall where the Marauders had simply hung up things that were important to them. Pictures, drawings, to-do lists, written versions of their dreams and what they wanted from and for the world, and even a list of banned items by Filch, the Hogwarts caretaker, who he was sure still had an almost identical copy, though maybe with a few more items, still tacked up on his office door. 

Sirius flopped down on one of the beds happily, where he and Remus would cuddle when they were tired from their nightly adventures. As he surveyed the walls around him, full of memories, Sirius knew that as far as he was concerned, he was home.