Desperate

Harry turned around and saw Sirius on the floor, clutching his bloodied sides.

He immediately raised his wand, ready to defend his godfather, but there was no need…

The auror woman was lying soundlessly on the floor; she was unconscious.

Knowing that there wasn't any imminent threat to them nearby, Harry rushed to the injured man.

"Sirius," he cried, taking note of the deep gushes on his person.

The man gave him a weak nod in answer.

"Vulnera Sanentur," he muttered and traced his wand over his wounds.

Harry watched in amazement as the song-like words caused the flow of Sirius' blood to cease.

Sirius cast the spell a couple more times and finally, the wounds knitted themselves.

"Useful little spell, init? Remind me to teach it to you sometime," he murmured, his voice getting quieter as he spoke.

By the time he finished, Sirius fell to Morpheus' clutches.

"Sirius," Harry cried again and rushed to the man's side.

For a short moment, he feared the worst.

Thankfully, his fears turned out to be unfounded.

'Thank god he's alright,' he thought placidly after checking the older man's pulse; it was strong and steady.

Despite feeling reassured, Harry still chose to cast a healing charm on the man.

'The only healing charm I know…'

"Therapo," he lightly hissed and a calm green spell hit his godfather.

'Damn healing spells. Why are they so exhausting to cast?' he wondered.

The unconscious man's complexion visibly relaxed after the spell, making Harry sigh in both content and fatigue.

His joy, however, was short-lived as he heard quiet cracks reverberating behind the nearby houses.

'The backup,' Harry realised with dread.

Acting on instinct, he pulled out his invisibility cloak and threw it over Sirius' body.

He also cast a few sticking charms, making sure that it wouldn't fall off as soon as he woke up.

There was another problem though…

'What if someone steps on him?' he wondered, panicking as he heard hurried steps heading in their direction.

"Fuck," he cursed, wracking his brain for a solution.

He didn't have time…

He pointed his wand at the place where he remembered throwing the cloak and cast a charm.

"Repello Muggletum," he incanted and threw a glance at eleven Grimmauld Place.

Throwing a softening charm on the ground of the neighbour's house, Harry levitated Sirius' invisible and muggle-repelling body and banished it.

Thankfully, no cracking sounds followed.

'The cloak could have muffled it,' he mused.

He didn't get to ponder on the chances of that being the case though as an auror entered his vision at last.

And then another one, and then…

'Shit, shit, shit,' he inwardly chanted.

He was surrounded.

Twelve whole aurors were forming a semicircle perimeter around him, and they weren't of the inexperienced kind he duelled with moments prior.

No.

Every single one of the red-robed law enforcers was older than the woman from before and looked like a battle-hardened veteran.

Except for a single wizard, no one fired any spells, albeit the rest had their wands pointing at him.

The said wizard kept firing the same spell over and over again at each of the downed aurors from the previous fight, not forgetting the redhead.

After that, he gave a firm nod to another red-clad individual.

They didn't appear to be in any haste at all.

'The bastards know that I can't escape…'

Where was his damn phoenix?

With half of his concentration, Harry slipped into his soul and tried yet again to contact his fiery avian…

His attempts amounted to nothing.

He could feel Fawkes' emotional state, which consisted of distress, but nothing more than that.

He then shifted his attention to his other familiar.

He could still contact Ash as they weren't that far away, but he didn't see the reason to do so.

He didn't need any distractions and besides…

'The bastard is sleeping.'

While Harry was inwardly cursing his innocent snake familiar, the aurors finally decided to act.

Fortunately, not with spells.

"We've been informed that you, along with Sirius Black, had just had a brief encounter with one of our units," an old man who showed an uncanny resemblance to a lion started saying.

His voice was loud, though not quite booming, and calm.

It was as if everything was under his control.

'How do I escape?' Harry wondered, half listening to the man, and glanced around.

He couldn't fight the aurors, there were simply too many of them for him to do anything.

"However, I do not see the escaped convict anywhere. It's just you here," the tough man continued and threw Harry an inquiring look that clearly demanded answers.

'So that's what the spell he cast before talking was for. It was probably homenum revelio,' he mused and met the man's ferocious gaze.

Slightly bothered by the keen yellowish eyes that seemed to gaze into his very being, Harry reached for his phoenix's bond in an attempt to feel the familiar comfort it provided; one of the many perks of having a phoenix as a familiar.

'I need to stall,' he thought and the despair that was previously trying to claim him halted.

A tiny, burning flicker of hope was born inside him. It was enough to calm his ferociously beating heart down.

"Ah, I'm afraid that Mr Black didn't quite like the atmosphere here and decided to take his leave," Harry said, falling back to sarcasm as a defence mechanism.

Thankfully, the insidious ring on his finger didn't just change his appearance. It made one wonder just how such an artefact was created…

The man frowned at Harry's sarcastic response and yet Harry didn't mind.

As long as the aurors didn't start shooting spells, all was good.

Fawkes was coming.

Even though the fiery avian couldn't use their soul radio just yet, Harry could feel his presence closing, albeit at a slower rate than he initially believed.

"Who are you?" the auror asked, not bothering to hide his annoyance.

"No, that's the wrong question. I'm sure you'll find that one out after you capture me," Harry answered, albeit he wasn't sure if they would be able to find the appearance-changing ring on him.

"And what's the 'right' question?"

He could practically feel the quotation marks in the old man's question.

"What do you know about… Sirius Black?" Harry inquired, hoping that the man wouldn't simply order his aurors to take him out.

That wouldn't end well at all…

He'd be thrown into Azkaban, none the wiser about his true identity, and when the time for the second task came, he'd forfeit his magic for not participating.

That scenario made him shudder.

Still, it was better than being found out and somehow landing in Dumbledore's custody…

"He's a Black, a serial killer and the first escapee of Azkaban. What else is there to know about him?" the man asked, somewhat confused by the question, albeit there was a glimmer of curiosity in those piercing yellow eyes.

"What about his trial?" Harry fired.

He was immensely pleased by the bewildered look the man sent him.

'Come on.'

"What about it?" the team's commander asked.

Harry let out a dramatic sigh, drawing everyone's attention even more if possible.

He was also careful to not perform any sudden movements.

"There was none," he simply stated, opening his arms.

And there it was.

His hope.

For a moment, a single moment that was no longer than the blink of an eye, the old aurors, and Rufus Scrimgeour stalled.

They didn't expect that.

Worse, they knew that the young man's words were true. After all, all of them were on duty back in the first wizarding war…

How come no one realised that little fact until now?

What did it mean?

Did it even mean anything?

Needless to say, Harry didn't let that minuscule window of opportunity pass by.

With how long Fawkes was taking, he had to act…

His best bet was a desperate but successful Phoenix flash. However, to attempt one, Harry would have to be outside of the aurors' field of view.

And so he acted…

He had already decided on the spell.

No one managed to react in time as Harry flicked his wand in his and swished it in a semicircle-like shape.

'NEBULUS,' he inwardly shouted.

A thick and obscuring smoke quickly spread with Harry as a centre.

He immediately fell on the floor, hoping to dodge the spells that would no doubt come in the next moment, yet someone's surprisingly fast cast still managed to hit him…

"ARGH," he cried as a cutting curse tried and failed to cleave off his arm.

Despite the disorientation he felt due to his agony, Harry still followed his plan and phoenix flashed through the anti-apparition wards.

As he reappeared in a different space, Harry waited for the additional pain to come…

However, by some miracle, he didn't splinch himself.

He swiftly cast 'therapo' multiple times on his left arm, until it felt mostly normal.

Rising slowly, Harry glanced around to determine his destination.

He wasn't sure where he wanted to go before he performed the flash.

He only wished to appear somewhere he felt safe…

"Oh, for fuck's sake," he cursed and slumped back on the floor.

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